Welt Discos @ Arroz Estúdios (29/09/13)
It’s about time I did the post mortem on the last Welt Discos party in Lisbon. ‘Post-mortem’ is maybe the wrong choice of words — it was a really fun party! I won’t go over all the same points as last time, but I will reiterate these things up-front:
I’m not a promoter by temperament, so even a low-production enterprise like these parties costs me an awful lot of physical and psychological energy. And while I do genuinely like bigging up the DJs and sharing the amazing posters online, this time round I really felt like I was forcing myself to do the social media. It’s part of the job I still haven’t taken to.
I’m also not operating on a big budget or with high expectations in terms of attendance. My social circle in Lisbon has always been reasonably broad in terms of ‘acquaintances’, but when it comes to a party you really need ‘community loyalty’ or however you want to put it, and my currency in that regard is at a bit of an all-time low — more below on the reasons for this.
As a result my focus for these nights so far has been to invite close friends to play on mate’s rates, thus ensuring we at least all have a lovely time together regardless of how many people come to the event itself.
So how did it go?
Things that went well
After receiving a rather confused brief from yours truly, Samuel Tomsky smashed it out of the park again with the poster:
The disco ball did its job as admirably as last time, lit expertly in blue and orange by Arroz Estúdios tech wizard Ricky (see above photo for evidence). I brought a few houseplants along too but they weren’t really necessary — with just the disco ball and lights we were already set.
Arroz suggested doing some paid promotion through Instagram and I think this was money well spent, as it must have bolstered the attendance numbers.
I took a leaf out of Berlin party Dissident’s book by scheduling the DJ dinner for the day before the party, rather than the night of. This is such a good move as it takes the pressure off everyone, including me (remember last time!).
The music was on point all night. Gwenan and I did the warm-up for three hours, mostly in the same minimal/groovy/housey sound space as when we played at CDV earlier this year though getting a little ravier towards the end of our set. Then Telma came on and killed it: a mix of moody and joyful electro, breaks and bass with a brief foray into trancey territory in the middle. I wish we’d recorded it. And the Arroz sound system sounded great.
It was a good warm-up for me and Gwenan ahead of our four-hour b2b set in Madrid the night after. This was one of the early motivations for me doing this party with this line-up, so I was glad it performed its function.
Some strangers came up to me during the party to introduce themselves and say they followed me and the label and had come down for that reason — this is always an absolute delight.
We kept the party affordable again (5€ early birds/7€ advance/10€ on the door). More on this with the full budget below.
We had a lot of fun!
Things that went less well
Throughout the night several people mentioned to me that it was busy at the party, yet I struggled to believe it because it wasn’t really evident on the dancefloor at any point. On the one occasion when I did pop my head out of the warehouse to look at the courtyard, though, I could see it was indeed pretty busy out there. That day was one of the warmest in this late-blooming summer in Lisbon, over 30 degrees, so I think the majority of people who came ended up staying outside where it was slightly cooler. Also you could still hear the music out there while looking at the full moon.
Since the dancefloor was never that busy, it became quite noticeable at times that it was mainly composed of dudes. Now had this been a gay party that would have been OK (though to be honest I am less and less comfortable with dude-heavy dance floors at queer parties too) but it wasn’t. I thought it was a shame that the crowd wasn’t a bit more mixed, and felt responsible for it.
Only around four people I know turned up. This part was the hardest for me to deal with. I rationalised it by acknowledging that I’d been away from Lisbon for three months, so what did I expect? And I can take some confidence for future parties knowing that we still had a good attendance completely independent of my own social circle. But I had scheduled me and Gwenan in the warm-up as a bit of a special treat for friends who a) wouldn’t normally get to see G in that slot and b) might not want to stay out all night. It was a shame that offer didn’t get picked up by the people I intended it for.
Budget
Just like last time, here’s my original budget:
And here’s the final budget:
Some observations:
The main difference on the OUT side was the travel, which I saved money on by using air miles to buy Gwenan’s flight. Some might argue that’s still money being spent, but in my head air miles are free money so it doesn’t count. I also split the cost of her flight out of Lisbon with the promoter in Madrid.
This reduction ended up offsetting some of the lower than expected attendance, resulting in the party essentially breaking even (if we exclude me getting a fee).
150 people still feels like a pretty good turn-out for a party with this lineup on a very hot day. But I would still have been happier — and the dancefloor would have benefitted — had it been 200.
The pre-party anxiety over poor advance ticket sales was very real again this time. A day before I think there had only been about 35 advance tickets bought. Part of me feels like it might just be better if I didn’t sell advance tickets at all and simply made it 8€ on the door. Of course it would then get less exposure on RA (it wouldn’t be near the top of the listings and probably wouldn’t be made a ‘pick’), but I would also get all of that 8€ directly, and lose less sleep over the small but far from innocuous ‘Interested’ number.
So that’s the summary of Welt Discos (Lisbon) #2! Since then I’ve also co-hosted a collaborative party with Pumping Velvet in London and that wraps things up for label parties this year. Two in Lisbon, one in Berlin and one in London — I’m pretty proud of that record!
I’m working out if I can throw a third and final party at Arroz Estúdios, early next year, before they move to an (as yet to be found) alternative location. You can help them out by signing this petition asking Lisbon City Council to provide them with a permanent space.