My photographer and I were kind of stunned, taking it all in. We were in the “small” room on the Infinity Hornblower (the name of the boat I was on), a 2 story dance floor with 270 degree views out into night in the city. It was pouring rain and while you could still see across the Hudson, the view looking in the other direction was even better.
The openers were tag teaming, keeping the crowd excited by dropping a mix of electro, dubstep, pop and big room house. The beats were large and in charge, with only one issuance of “I’m On A Boat” during both of the opening DJs sets, to their credit. The sets weren’t cerebral or stacked with obscure tracks, but this wasn’t the atmosphere for that. People wanted to cut loose and really enjoy themselves to some of their favorite anthems, pop remixes and pure, hard bass.
To be clear, the railings you see, look down on the first floor of the dance floor. That’s right, it’s a two story club with full VIP and bottle service…on a boat. Because, where else are you going to drink champagne, on land like a sucker?
Everyone was eagerly anticipating Chuckie. Everyone was eager to get down to the beats of the Dirty Dutchman, who has produced for 50 Cent, Ke$ha & Akon and more or less pioneered the EDM version of dirty dutch. The set was massive but tight, nuanced but dirty, and in sync with both his VIP and his GA dance floors all night. The remixes came fast and furious, with anthems that rocked dance clubs for years being put through a glorious bassy filter and dropped on veteran party people and rising stars alike. The table dancers, the well dressed crowd and even the boat all seemed to move on beat with Chuckie. If you needed a breather, you could always step out onto the bow of the ridiculous boat and take in the sights. Like this one that we had during Chuckie’s set.
This was the maiden voyage of SoundCruise, an idea that’s had a lot of success on the West Coast, and I can see why. This is fantastic opportunity to create another club where headliners can play, with sizable space to party and options for VIP and bottle service that you simply can’t get on land. It’s an interesting idea and I can’t wait to see who they bring in next. Boat parties have been a thing in NYC for a little while now, but they’re rarely done with this much backing. As I walked through the VIP where the table service was, I saw the very dressed up, fashion-week party popping off, and I had a feeling this would happen again. This is Terry Gotham, see you on the dance floor.
Photos by: Josiah Dominski