Vienna Calling 2: A Prolonged Rave Weekend at Flucc, S.O.U.L. and Flex
Thursday Jan. 25, 2024: Bea’s Birthday Bash at Flucc
Despite having had an intensive DnB rave weekend, I can already feel the EDM dancing itch badly on Thursday. I find and decide to go to Bea’s public birthday bash at Flucc (Instagram) — a Pink Mayhem event — to satisfy my needs/urges/cravings and also so as to expand my horizon in terms of EDM clubs, DJs and the local scene in general:
I arrive early at around 22:20 since I don’t want to miss the first act this time. But since it is Thursday and since clubs typically only open at 23:00 in Vienna, there are only about four people on the dancefloor during pinklotion’s (Instagram) opening set and in the so far still rather empty Flucc and I do not really feel inspired to join yet after some tentative dancing.
Instead, I feel a bit silly in my overeagerness, and the fact that I am more of a DnB head whereas the night’s music is predominantly hard techno does not help either momentarily.
I still feel somewhat down during the first half of DJ Beruska’s (Instagram) set and actually consider going home early. But things fortunately pick up somehow — including audience-wise, with significantly more people on the dancefloor — during the second half of Beruska’s set:
I consequently decide to stay, also because I want to experience the third artist and his set. And it is during Joey’s (Instagram) set where things become really good for me dancing-wise and overall. The little smoke break outside and sometime around Joey’s third set certainly also helped.
But it was during salvatore’s/bludhound’s (Instagram) set where things got even better still:
While the space in front of the deck was full, there was plenty of space to the sides. I consequently used that space to add some partially one-legged gyrations — up to eight full rotations on the spot at some point — and some other new elements such as kicking to the beats to my jumping and sliding while also covering more ground than usual. I had never done that before, it felt really good and kinda unlocked a whole new level of dancing for me that night which was amazing.
A young woman who was there with her male companion later came to me and told me that my dancing looked “genial” (i.e. ingenious) or something like that, so I guess a few others such as the gay couple behind me and another guy who gave me a nod of approval and who looked on interestedly probably also enjoyed it. ;)
Another sign that bludhound and I are vibing is that I had already decided that the title of this article would be “Vienna Calling 2” as a tribute to Austria’s greatest contemporary international music export Falco — and also because Vienna’s EDM dancefloors are clearly calling me — before hearing a sample from Vienna Calling in bludhound’s set. Quite the coincidence. :)
The last two sets are by Mel/murcylss (Instagram) from Pink Mayhem and a shared set by all five DJs:
As usual, my legs and feet are largely toast at around 4:30am, but I still push myself to bounce a little bit longer:
I exit while the DJs still keep playing for a surprisingly long amount of time, but at the door I hear that it is their final track. I consequently return and we give all of them a nice round of applause after they are done. I then leave for good at around 5:30am and after a very enjoyable night with an amazing longer progression from ‘still fairly lame’ to ‘new dancing level unlocked.’
On the social aspects: There was the usual crowd of mainly teens and twens, and this night with both a pleasantly low degree of dancing space incursions or occupation as well as a pleasantly high degree of queerness. I also did not forget to congratulate birthday Bea at the front, with a little chat ensuing.
A few younger male hetero drunkies from nearby Prater seemingly also found their way into the event during the later hours. But aside from one trying to talk to me too much while I really wanted to dance — I eventually wave and pat him off in a friendly manner — and one guy talking too much to the dancing female companion of a DJ — he comes out and sends the hetero drunkie away from her with some words — they did not cause much disturbance. These instances also once again underline that especially a lot of alcohol is a pretty bad drug choice for EDM events and raves and that people who drink plenty tend to be and remain outsiders of sorts.
Relatedly, a fun poll on the issue of being talked to on the dancefloor, not understanding anything and reactions to that:
Friday Jan. 26, 2024: Drum and Ass at S.O.U.L.
The next night, my girlfriend and me go out to the Drum and Ass event at S.O.U.L. (Instagram; from “symbiosis of united love”) — i.e. a sexpositive space (no, NOT a swinger club) which also hosts drum and bass events.
It is because of the house policy and a different setting that I do not take any samples that night.
To keep it short: It was nice dancing barefoot for a change — I remember Skabe’s set in particular — and to observe a woman with a similarly jumpy dancing style; we still chatted outside a little while later and it would be nice to see her dance again. The evening was also conducive to my girlfriend appreciating and getting more into DnB, and there was also a nice little chat with some others, including about how alcohol is a pretty bad drug for EDM events.
However, there were a two hetero solo men there who, without going into details, unfortunately engaged in some disgusting nonconsensual behaviors that made the night less than great for us. So while it was still a decent night overall with good dancable EDM, I would not give the experience more than a 7 out of 10 due to the solo male hetero idiots. Not very surprisingly and even though we have no issues with the nice people and organizers from S.O.U.L. themselves or the music artists, neither me nor my girlfriend currently feel the need to go for a second round of Drum and Ass.
Saturday Jan. 26, 2023: Drum and Bass at Flex
The final and once again much better rave event of the weekend was the Switch! DnB event at Flex (Instagram):
I try to catch but unfortunately miss Vienna’s Splinta (Instagram), not to be confused with a Splinta from Australia or a Splinta from Nottingham:
My dancing night at Flex consequently starts with Switch! Recordings’ (Instagram) Pandora (Instagram) and her enjoyable DnB:
Next up was DJ Lilith (Instagram), and while I managed to catch some nice drops from her set, my impression was that the overall flow of it could have been a bit better and that this made dancing to it somewhat less enjoyable. The footage someone someone from the audience enthusiastically dancing to it on stage:
The fourth but unusually short next set was Skore’s (Instagram) which was fine and the first to be announced by MC Longman who can also be seen and heard during this and the following sets:
I take a quick smoke towards the end of Skore’s set to be ready for the two British main DnB acts afterwards who both turn out to be amazing.
First there is Tsuki (Instagram) with a 10/10 set during which I managed to record five samples in between my intensive dancing:
Then there is Shifu (Instagram) with another 10/10 set of which I recorded four samples:
It is during both Tsuki’s and perhaps more so Shifu’s sets that I spontaneously unlock yet another amazing level of dancing which I have never done before and that could perhaps be characterized as ‘interrupted robotic flow’ where you very briefly interrupt the usual flow with some robotic, jerky and not exactly human movements that nevertheless flow and that also felt really good to me while dancing them.
It was later pointed out to me that the woman dancing to Kaytranada at a Boiler Room set was doing something like that, and I could indeed see and feel the similarities (start watching at 2:30):
Like her, I was also mostly dancing with my eyes closed and grinning, and when I opened them, a guy in his twenties stood there with his fist pointing towards me. I was a bit confused, briefly thinking the guy wanted to give something to me in his fist. But he simply said “top” and we did a fistbump when I realized that his gesture was meant as a compliment for my dancing.
Later, two guys who knew each other were also firing and cheering me on and enjoying my dancing that night which was yet another very nice spontaneous social interaction and a confirmation that I am apparently not making a fool out of myself on the dancefloor. It also meant something since, that night, there were more young people than usual who pulled out proper DnB dance moves. A possibly fourth guy — or the same guy twice — also says something in approval of my moves.
At some point and probably due to MC Longman calling for it, a ‘friendly moshpit’ suddenly began to form where people dance close to the stage in a circular area. I feel that I should be in there, but some people are blocking the way in front of me and it is over fairly soon anyway, so I end up missing out on that, but no big deal.
The second to last set is the 4am set of Fourtex (Instagram) during which my physical dancing exhaustion sets in and during which I settle for more modest and basic moves:
The final set of the night’s DnB lineup is Shimazu’s (Instagram) which is also good:
Since I am already wasted and still preoccupied by the amazing things that happened during Tsuki’s and Shifu’s sets, I grab my coat and head home sometime after 5am and after another very satisfying DnB rave and dance night.
Wrapping it up
Overall, the weekend was outstanding since I managed to spontaneously and significantly level up my dancing twice (Thursday at Flucc and Saturday at Flex) in just one longer EDM weekend. It was also nice to receive clear and unsolicited signs of approval for my dancing moves during each of those raves. More to come, and I already look forward to what the next weekend will bring in terms of EDM and, in particular, DnB experiences.
