(Joseph Victor Stefanchik/ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST ) - Porter Robinson, renowned DJ, plays the midnight to 2 a.m. set at Echostage in Washington, DC on Sunday December 23, 2012.
They came here to dance to big sounds, deep into the tiny hours.
So they peel off their bulky winter jackets at the coat check like 2,000 Clark Kents and stride onto the dance floor, faces fixed with sequins, ears pierced with golf tees, garments aglow with chemiluminescent piping.
(Joseph Victor Stefanchik/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) - Porter Robinson plays a set at Echostage.
It’s the second-to-last Saturday night of 2012 at Echostage, a massive new club on Queens Chapel Road NE, just north of New York Ave. In three short months, the venue has already hosted some of the biggest names in electronic dance music — EDM, it’s called — and tonight, the big name is Porter Robinson, a 20-year-old DJ from North Carolina whose dazzling rise mirrors the genre’s global success.
Locally, the opening of Echostage feels like physical evidence of EDM’s good health. Nationally, that vitality can be measured in investments by concert promotion colossus Live Nation Entertainment and radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications, as well as hordes of other entrepreneurs lining up to cash in.
And while skeptics wonder whether the sudden arrival of monied patrons signals a craze bound to fizzle, it’s the genre’s ecosystem of artists, promoters and fans that they should be watching. For any type of live music to thrive, you need artists to push envelopes, promoters to give them a solid platform and fans to stay engaged. Echostage faithful seem to be experiencing just that, pledging their loyalty to the venue, the acts and especially to each other.
“The stage is sick, the lights are amazing and the crowd — they bring good people here,” says Bree Payne, 23, wearing a fuzzy hood fashioned to look like Cheshire Cat pelt. It’s Payne’s third visit to Echostage, and she prefers it to other area venues. “There’s EDM in clubs, but you’re packed into a tiny place. But here, you feel like you’re at a festival, and people come with that festival mentality. Everyone has costumes and glowsticks, and everyone’s ready to party.”
Before she can say much more, a friend wraps her in a hug and drags her off into the sparkly masses.
Striving for a ‘full experience’
It’s been a busy December for Echostage. Tiesto, the Dutch trance DJ who made Forbes’s Celebrity 100 list this year, played two consecutive sold-out nights. The club booked Steve Angello of the Swedish House Mafia for Dec. 28. Flux Pavilion and Doctor P are scheduled to co-headline New Year’s Day. And after that, Echostage will go dark until March for renovations.
“We really want it to be a full experience on an international tier of quality,” says Echostage general manager Matt Cronin, who was brought in by the club’s parent company, Panorama Productions, in August. Before Echostage, Panorama was best known for its regular Glow parties, which brought world class DJs to packed Washington nightclubs. They’ve also hosted their share of full-blown raves at the D.C. Armory and have collaborated with Live Nation at the annual Identity Festival at Jiffy Lube Live.
Management is reticent to describe Echostage’s forthcoming upgrade in detail, but expect big things. This fall, after leasing the venue formerly known as D.C. Star, Panorama transformed the boomy, inhospitable nightclub into something bright and inviting. And in order not to miss out on a busy fall touring season, they did it in a hurry. Now, with the circuit slowing down for winter, they’ll have time to make serious tweaks.
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