To witness inversion of the underground at its most ingenious, house and techno listeners need not look further than an elrow event.

Long associated with the dimly lit dance floors of dark clubs, underground sound goes open air under the oversight of elrow, a family-founded party brand that dates back to 1870. As attendees of previous elrow events know and know well, the secret to elrow’s longevity in entertainment circles is no secret at all, but a perceptible emphasis on crowd immersion, specifically in a vibrantly colored, visually transfixing environment that engages audience members in a way that is entirely unique to elrow, and largely anomalous in the current context of electronic event production.

Photo Credit: Pablo Dass, Alex Caballero & Andrei Oprescu

Crowd interactivity takes center stage at an elrow event, where the performative nature of elrow’s production places stilt-walkers and puppeteers among those in the crowd, creating a constant and blissfully chaotic sense of activity that keeps pace with the live music.

An avant-garde entity in the electronic event market, elrow derives much of its influence in the increasingly popular trend of experiential nightclubbing from its deemphasis on the music as the primary point of focus, and its redirection of that attention to the thematics of event production. In addition to actors interspersed among the audience, elrow amplifies the affective quality of its high energy events with ornate stages tailored to the given event theme, massive inflatable decorations displayed throughout elrow’s often outdoor venues, and large confetti canons that provide the climax of an elrow affair, enveloping the crowd in brilliantly hued clouds of paper, the confetti drops occurring in sync with DJs’ beat drops.

Photo Credit: Pablo Dass, Alex Caballero & Andrei Oprescu

 

“elrow is an immersive experience and I believe that’s what sets us apart. We don’t only focus on front of stage decorations, there’s always something happening around you, the decorations are all around you, floor actors walk around, stilt walkers, confetti showers“

–Victor de la Serna

 

Photo Credit: Pablo Dass, Alex Caballero & Andrei Oprescu

elrow’s maturity from a weekly, Barcelona based party series to White Island resident, and currently, to one of the most widely acclaimed party brands in the world–elrow has hosted more than 132 shows across 33 countries in 2018 thus far–evidences the allure of elrow, a name that signifies a larger than life electronic experience quite unlike any other.

elrow will bring its unparalleled production to New York City for the second time in 2018 come July 28, where the brand will follow its initial April appearance–elrow: The Residency Begins–with a 10 hour fiesta at the Brooklyn Mirage for Elrow Open Air. Those interested in attending the Elrow festivities can purchase tickets to Elrow Open Air, here.

Dancing Astronaut caught up with elrow’s Music Director, Victor de la Serna, to get a closer look at the psychology of planning the international party series ahead of Elrow Open Air.

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Dancing Astronaut: Being that you’ve been with elrow since the beginning, involved in the booking for each event/residency branded with the elrow name, I’d love to hear how you’ve approached booking strategy wise/curatively for the theme of the current residency, “Nomads, New World.” Can you talk a little bit about what you take into consideration when booking with this theme in mind? I’m curious to know what “Nomads, New World” means to you, and how it affects how you book the artists who play the events, with this “Nomads, New World” concept in mind. Those familiar with elrow productions know that concept is crucial to how elrow envisions the given event, so thinking a little bit about concept in relation to booking strategy seems like a great place to start.

Victor de la Serna: I wish we could cater the DJ line up to the theme, but that, for the moment, is not possible I’m afraid… I always try to find DJs that are the right fit for the party, which means fun, uplifting music. We stay away from darkness and look for house and tech house as well as some techno DJs more on the funk side of things. However, in an ideal world where I would book artists according to the theme, in this case I would only program up and coming DJs. A very risky move for any promoter but, if we are looking for the new world, that’s what I would need. If we look at the Nomads part it would be far easier as all DJs could be considered Nomads with the amount of traveling they do.

Dancing Astronaut: Does your booking approach vary at all when it comes to lineup cultivation in the states? This is another question that ties in well with the “New World” branch of the thematic concept here. If so, in what ways does your booking method differ?

Victor de la Serna: You need to have a deep knowledge of your party and have a clear idea of what works and what doesn’t in each country and city. Each place has a different story and maybe a DJ that works great in Barcelona or Ibiza has never even played New York, so as a booker it comes the time where you can always go for the well established artists or try and bring someone that you know will work with the vibe of the party but might have never played that city before. The good thing about elrow is that even though the themes change, the vibe of the party doesn’t, so we are always looking for that kind of sound we know works well with the style of the party.

Dancing Astronaut: Given your experience with booking, and with Elrow, one of the most successful parties in the whole world, what do you consider to be absolutely essential when it comes to booking events/residencies that will flourish?

Victor de la Serna: When it comes to bookings we always come back to fun, energetic music. When it comes to events there should always be a strategy. You need to find a city where you can grow into a big format event, a residency or part of a bigger strategy within the country. Doing events for the sake of just doing events doesn’t really take you anywhere in the long run.

Dancing Astronaut: As Juan Arnau Sr. states in Elrow’s recently released mini-doc, “When you manage to make the audience the main show, then you’ve achieved success.” Actors and stilt walkers are evidently important to making Elrow audiences “the main show.” In your opinion, how else does Elrow strive to make the audience “the main show,” so to speak, and how does this set Elrow apart from other party entities?

Victor de la Serna: elrow is an immersive experience and I believe that’s what sets us apart. We don’t only focus on front of stage decorations, there’s always something happening around you, the decorations are all around you, floor actors walk around, stilt walkers, confetti showers, etc… so this is very different from a regular club night where all the focus has been put on the DJ. With each party we try to better ourselves and improve this experience, so two elrow parties won’t be 100% the same!

Dancing Astronaut: So to narrow our focus, elrow came to New York in April for its beginning event of 2018 at Avant Gardner. elrow is no stranger to New York City, yet when it comes to this year, these curated events, what specifically has elrow sought to bring to New York City this year that it might not have brought in its previous visitations?

Victor de la Serna: Every party we have done in NYC has been a totally different theme and we will carry on like this. The time we bring back a theme to New York will be because that theme has been changed, which happens every year. Each year we take out a couple of decorations, premiere a couple of new ones and refurbish and change all the existing ones. If you think about it, it works, as either you have not seen the theme before or it might be one of your favourites. We see that a lot of people also come back as they love the theme, so we just try and balance everything :)

Video Credit: Billboard

Tags: ElRow, elrow NYC, victor de la serna

Categories: Features