Second time’s a charm for Club Darc. A week after opening-night sound complaints led to refund demands, Goldenvoice’s heavily hyped — and sold out — new electronic dance music series vastly improved the soundscape in time for Peggy Gou’s Saturday show at Shed A on San Francisco’s Pier 48, according to attendees.
The turnaround follows a wave of criticism about the debut show on Feb. 27, which was headlined by DJ Chris Stussy and billed as the start of a new marquee EDM experience in San Francisco from the promoter behind Coachella. During and after the show, attendees flooded social media complaining that they could barely hear the music: “A ’90s Honda Civic has a better sound system,” one commenter wrote on Instagram. “My bathtub has better acoustics,” wrote another. In response, on March 5 Club Darc acknowledged the issues, saying the sound during opening weekend “didn’t meet our standards” and pledging that the team would improve it before the next show.
Gabe Hougard, who attended both weekends, described a dramatic difference on night two.
“It was kind of crazy,” Hougard said. “Anywhere you were in the warehouse, you could hear it. Even in the back, the sound was better than the best sound you could have heard at Chris Stussy.”
At the sold-out second night of Club Darc, the music could actually be heard. | Source: Meg Tanaka
Warehouse venues are notoriously difficult spaces for sound engineering, and experts told The Standard that opening night is often a time to identify and troubleshoot problems.
Goldenvoice declined to explain how it fixed the issues.
“It was definitely much better than the first weekend,” said an attendee named Miles, who declined to give his last name. “The venue overall felt different.”
Miles said he noticed several changes around the warehouse, including large black curtains hung along the walls near the stage. Several attendees speculated that additional speakers may have been added or repositioned around the warehouse’s support columns, while others pointed to the curtains as possible sound treatment.
Jonathan Spoelstra, an attendee who has experience producing music, said the second weekend felt like a transformation, including revamped and stimulating visuals.
“Compared with the first weekend, it felt like a totally new club,” Spoelstra said. “The crowd was better, and the atmosphere totally matched.”
Audio engineer Jonathan Claybaugh, who attended the second show, said the sound on the general admission floor was solid but there were lingering issues in the VIP section, which he said was “only good on the corners.”
“For what you are paying to be up there, it should sound great,” he said. Tickets for this section run approximately $200.
Several people said ventilation inside the warehouse also seemed better, thanks to additional fans placed near the exits. (Many concertgoers had complained about the heat the week prior.)
They also praised the promoters for handing out phone camera stickers, which are used to discourage filming inside the venue, and which left less sticky residue than on the first night.
Club Darc’s run continues through mid-May with a lineup of major international DJs including Mau P, Prospa, and Michael Bibi.