Most first birthdays call for cake. Refuge NYC is celebrating with three days of dancing and a 12-hour DJ set, giving anyone who forgot to buy a present plenty of time to show up.
The Brooklyn club will mark its first anniversary with a 72-hour, nonstop party from Friday, September 25, through Sunday, September 27. Deep Dish will open the weekend with a 12-hour set on Friday. By the time Brothers Macklovitch close it out on Sunday night, the dance floor will have seen two sunrises and probably several changes of shoes.
Saturday’s lineup features Refuge cofounders John DiMatteo and Craig “Shorty” Bernabeu, along with Ragie Ban and special guests who have yet to be announced. Victor Calderone takes over for a sunrise set on Sunday, before Brothers Macklovitch (the sibling duo of A-Trak and Chromeo’s Dave 1) bring the marathon to its finish.
Refuge opened on Ten Eyck Street last year with an approach that sounds almost radical in New York nightlife: there’s no VIP section and no bottle service. DiMatteo, a longtime promoter, and Bernabeu, a sound engineer, built the 500-capacity club around extended sets and a custom four-point analogue sound system. The idea is to give DJs room to develop a set—and give everyone on the floor the same place to hear it. According to the venue, its first year drew visitors from more than 1,300 cities in 73 countries.
For anyone curious about how a long night at Refuge sounds, the club has also launched a SoundCloud channel featuring live recordings. Its first upload is a seven-hour back-to-back set from Seth Troxler and Calderone, recorded during an unannounced after-hours session.
The anniversary party runs September 25–27 at Refuge NYC, 366 Ten Eyck Street in Brooklyn. Check the club’s website for set times, tickets and entry details before heading over.