28/07/2019
The Grand Opening of ... The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!
Date: 27th July 2019-- 20h00 to "8h00"
Location: Dehors Brut (10 minutes walk from Porte Charenton metro station.
Ticket price: 15 euros
The Good:
No doubt the space is very nice with an open air ambiance and plenty of space to chill out.
There were a few food carts with reasonably priced pizzas, burgers and vegan options. There are also a total of 4 bars and the drinks and water are very reasonably priced.
The "shower sound system" proved to be impressive and strong, such a waste though since the music was not up to the standard (a point I will come to later).
The Bad:
The event was delayed last minute to start at 20h00 rather than 18h00 as previously communicated on the event page. It was obvious that the team was not ready and that space also was not ready. Although it is open air with a lot of space it was hazardous to walk after sunset. The place is build on old rail tracks with a lot of uneven surfaces, so imagine walking drunk or high or both; there should have been ground light in the chill out area.
The Ugly:
The music. at 20h00 i listened to the most horrible 80s punk music in my life. The night started with GBoi& Jean Mi; unfortunately it also ended with them. To be honest I do not know what those DJs were doing in a techno club, or was it a techno club? Here we have to stop and talk about club identity. For many Dehors Brut is a continual to La Concrete project that was brutally terminated a week ago. La concrete in the minds of many used to be the techno institution of Paris. It truly revolutionized the music scene and, hand-down, they had the best lineups ever in Paris. It is; therefore, expected that Dehors Brut will adopt the same direction. This did not happen. We had to stay in the chill-out area to hide from the brutality of the awful music that was playing until 23h00. At 23h00 Park Hye Jin started playing real techno. She started off so well the crowd went crazy. Suddenly her style dropped dramatically to some sort of music I cannot even classify. As abruptly she dropped really heavy tracks that were awesome but felt weird because many people have already lost the momentum.
at 1h00 Leo Pol started. He was the best DJ for the whole night. really amazing dude with amazing energy. He played until 3h00.
3h00 The Catastrophe: Saoirse cancelled last minute and guess who took over again? yup, you guessed right: the unforgivable GBoi& Jean Mi.
At this point the crowd just gave up and we saw masses leaving in what looked like an exodus.
So back to club identity: I think the grand opening made more harm than can ever be imagined because first impressions last. Myself and many of my techno friends have doubts over what to become of Dehors Brut and if it s really worth the pain. Is it a techno club? is it a punk club? or is it just a trashy club that plays whatever is there with no standards.
To put things in context, it is not unheard of to have a DJ cancel, but usually there is a resident DJ with sufficient skill to keep the night going. What I have witnessed yesterday was a clear sign that either Dehors Brut was not ready (why make a grand opening then) or the standards have changed and this should be a real concern for them if they want to achieve the same heights La Concrete once achieved.
BR
