Listen, I know, there is no ocean that boarders Montreal, so what does “Beach Club” actually mean? To be honest until yesterday I actually had no idea either. But I soon made a pretty cool discovery that has further strengthened my already growing appreciation for Quebecois culture.
If you have ever been to Montreal and taken a little dip into the night life, you will know how absolutely diehard and unrelenting our French-Canadian brothers to the North are. With scores of top notch night clubs and countless after hour venues that attract the worlds biggest acts, the city’s night life is European in flavor and commitment to the electronic music scene. Now what happens when the Quebecois want to party outside, in the sand, by the water? Well there is no shore line close enough, so about 20 minutes North they went ahead and created one and called it Beach Club. The club is about 20 minutes North of the city in an area called Pointe Calumet and in short is a sprawling aquatic play ground. Beach Club from what I could observe is a manmade body of water that is complete with a full wakeboard cable course, a water park and a large club in the center.
A small peninsula connects the entrance of the wakeboard park to the dance floor where close to a couple thousand people can congregate to see acts including but not limited to Steve Angello, Tiesto, Moguai, Hardwell, Ben Gold and many others. This past Sunday I had the pleasure of seeing Prok & Fitch, The Cube Guys and NO_ID as well as discovering a few new DJs that I am going to share with you today.
When I went up to this mysterious playground it was to see the main attractions of Prok & Fitch, The Cube Guys and NO_ID, but to be honest, the group I went with and I all agreed that we were very disappointed in not one but all three headline acts. The music was okay, the transitions between songs seemed a little rushed and completely focused on the coordination of the VDJ screens and performance acts that were going on at the flanks of the stage. The entertainment levels were really spot on, but being as connected to music as I claim to be I was really interested in hearing something new and creative, not top 40 EDM from the last 8 months (we heard “Your Love” by Mark Knight four times on the main stage). It was very surprising, but there was a silver lining to all of this that was at the side stage named South Beach.
My friends and I all seemed to really enjoy gathering on this side stage more than the main stage because it was less crowded, the bar set up was easier to access and the sound was better, and it also appeared that everyone over at the side stage cared more about the music, and the main gathering was just for people who wanted to get fucked up as all hell on their Sunday afternoon. Showcasing a variety of DJs throughout the day the South Beach stage really rocked.
Mike Larry was the one who really killed it at the side stage, even some of the other acts such as NO_ID came and hung out to watch Mike Larry right in the crowd! Inspired by individuals such as Danny Tenaglia, Carlo Lio, Dubfire, The junkies, Ron Costa, Marco Carola, Loco Dice, Richie Hawtin and playing venues such as System After-hours in Queens, Governor’s island New york City, Discotekka Miami , Comfort Zone Toronto, Baraderes Terrace in Playa Del Carmen Mexico, Stereo Montreal; Mike Larry seems to have a very blossoming career and I was really happy to catch him on his home turf to play a really great set. . So below take a mix I pulled from Mike Larry’s Soundcloud to get a taste of what we all got to experience on a beautiful day in Montreal.