Despacio is Heaven
It has been nearly twenty six years since I attended my first rave as a fifteen year old lost soul in Santa Fe, NM, and in that span I have experienced many dancefloors. Thankfully, I’ve remembered nearly every single one; whether they are at a festival, a warehouse, a nightclub, a bar, or even just some random plaza that we were allowed to overtake for the weekend.
Each has been different, and passionate, and even a bit spiritual in its own way, and I suppose deep down I was comparing them, and even, dare I say, ranking them as perhaps the best I’d ever experience in my life. Granted, up to this point I’ve struggled with naming just one, and although I have quite a few in mind that stand out, I’ve never been willing to commit to the idea that one stood above the rest; that is until I recently took a trip to Miami for a festival named iii points.
Now, to be honest, iii points was not the specific dancefloor that I thought to write about just right now, but rather a hidden stage towards the very back of the festival, which was in a place so casual, that the only way you’d be able to find it is if you were purposely and actively looking for it.
And don’t even get me started if you wait till too late in the night and you’re a little too fucked up to go on a mission in the first place. You have to commit to it, and even if you don’t know what you’re gonna find when you get there, you at least know one thing. You found Despacio.
If you don’t know what Despacio is, a brief description of it goes like this. Designed by James Murphey, lead singer of LCD Soundsystem in collaboration with soulwax/2manyDjs, Despacio is a sound system focused on slowing down the pace of the modern dancefloor, and focusing more on sound quality as opposed to whoever is playing on it. 50,000 Watts separated amongst at least seven stacked cabinets of speakers each set in a specific spot that created a circle of sound all around the dancefloor the minute you entered its center. Almost like a force field of sound.
And what was at the middle of that center? Not a DJ, but rather a giant disco ball. In fact, there was no DJ. At least not the center of attention way we have become accustomed to nowadays. Despacio was different. There was a DJ, but they were nowhere to be found, hidden behind a makeshift wall overlooking the dancefloor that was just hidden enough that we could not see them even if we knew they could see us.
It’s an idea I think many of us have flirted with and yet I feel this may be the very first time in a very long time where somebody actually acted on it. The DJ was not important; instead what mattered was the music, the dancefloor and the people on it. What mattered was how you felt, and how all you could do was dance. Here’s how it felt for someone right there on the dancefloor.
As mentioned Despacio was not an event itself, but rather a stage at a festival known as iii points, and as we arrived on the first day of the festival our goal was clear from the minute we stepped foot onto the festival grounds.
“We have to find Despacio.”
It was our first goal of the night, and thankfully we got there around 8pm, early enough to find it without there being any overlap with any of the artists we wanted to see later in the night. But there was still the task of finding it, which proved to be a bit more time consuming than we realized. Hidden back at the very end of the festival, next to a larger stage we found a building with the words posted on the front of it.
DESPACIO
Forget the fact that it took us almost a full hour just to find it, or even the fact that when we got inside there were multiple art installations and stages in every direction of what appeared to be a massive warehouse space turned into a festival for the weekend. And this wasn’t even the entire festival, just one small part. Miami and the people who made this festival impressed me immediately not just with their commitment to this idea, but also with the amazing way they pulled it off.
In fact the line to Despacio was not even labeled in anyway, leaving most of us wondering if this was even the right direction. Someone in the crowd waiting alongside me even stopped to ask,
“Is this the line to Despacio?”
With me shyly admitting,
“I don’t know. But I hope it is.”
Yet swiftly the curtain was pulled back just enough for our line to move forward and we slowly and suddenly realized we were the first of the festival to be let in, and without a doubt we knew as we got closer and closer, this was definitely Despacio,
“Watch your feet.” The man at the entrance told us, and I felt that feeling in my stomach like it was the very first time. We had made it. We were in. Despacio was about to begin.
As soon as we walked in the first thing we noticed were the speakers. Each column was stacked at least four high and they seemed to be run off of these futuristic McIntosh monitors that I’ve never seen before. It all had a sense of the future and yet I could not help but be immediately drawn to the music being played. It was slower for sure, but not in the way you’d think. It was more like acid house, and breakbeat and the original sound of disco, which is not the disco you hear today all around the world.
In the seventies and eighties, when disco was just getting started, there weren’t any disco tracks made in studios that were available for DJ’s to play on the dancefloors. Instead the DJ’s would get creative and search for B-Sides and rarities of RnB and funk bands that would make these songs and hidden gems and side tracks.
They had a bit more soul, and understanding of the rhythm of the beat than perhaps we know now, and hearing it on those speakers at that moment made me feel like I was transported to another time. I imagined the Hacienda in Manchester in the 90’s, or the warehouse in Chicago of the 80’s, or even the magical and legendary Paradise Garage in New York City.
I could not believe what I was hearing and feeling and yet all I could do was what everybody around me was already doing, and that was dance. We danced without care in a darkened room side by side as the giant disco ball stood at the center and we were like monks praising our idol that stood just beyond our reach. It was again, almost a spiritual experience, and not one I was expecting to have so early in the night.
It shocked me how impressed I really was. Then something happened, something we did not expect, and yet the minute it did we all reacted in such a way that it sent chills down my spine with a feeling I will remember for the rest of my life.
They turned on the lights.
And it’s not like they turned all the house lights on, but rather individual lights placed all through the dancefloor, and they didn’t just turn them on, but as they did so, they pointed them all directly at the disco ball, causing the disco ball to reflect back out onto us as we danced and marveled at what this really meant. Despacio was open, the music was playing, and the dancers knew the moment that was this weekend had finally begun.
We all in unison let out a controlled yet joyful roar to the image of this and it felt as if we were all sharing one heartbeat and one beautiful reaction. It’s a wonderful feeling to feel so connected to those around you on the dancefloor, and Despacio gave me that before I even saw or felt anything else.
We danced for a while more then finally agreed to leave once we knew it was time to finally see somebody else, but we knew the feeling and the message was clear. Despacio was more than just hype. It wouldn’t be our last moment with Despacio that weekend, but it would be one of the most memorable we’ve ever had. As we left for another stage I was already thinking one thing.
“When can we go back?”
The answer to that was not until the very next night sometime around midnight, as we did what we often do and just got lost in the festival for a bit there. And what a festival it was, although, I will refrain from describing it until I’m done with Despacio itself.
True to what I expected we still had one more moment to experience it firsthand; which I wanted to wait until later in the night this time, to see how it felt at its peak, which is exactly what happened when we passed through that curtain one more time and found that beautiful circle of speakers surrounding the dancers and that disco ball which was still the one and only star of the night.
This time there were far more people, though, as the festival was in full swing. It was a two day festival and we were now in the home stretch of the second day, with everybody and anybody trying to experience every little corner of it that we could; Despacio was a part of that journey. And man, what a feeling it really was.
The minute I stepped into the circle of speakers it’s as if the hair on my arms stood up in reaction. I even spent a few minutes going back and forth through the force field to feel that feeling over and over again. But isn’t that the idea behind all the dancefloors?
A one of a kind moment that we could never get back, and yet we’d spend so long trying to feel again; it was magic, and we could feel it so completely that all we could do was dance in approval to this music that I recognized but could never name. They were hidden in plain sight, and yet they would always and only be associated with this moment and this night.
The lights this time were actually a type of purple which created a black light experience all throughout the dancefloor and as my green hair glowed like neon we slowly made our way through the packed dancefloor trying to get as close to the middle as possible.
With each step causing us to feel the music more and more as we reached the vortex of what the circle of speakers created on that night. It was amazing to feel and I struggle still to compare it to anywhere I’ve been before.
I could compare it to the four corner funktion-ones at Beta Nightclub in Denver, or the stacks down in the basement that is Smartbar in Chicago, or even at the Leland Club in Detroit, but then again those just weren’t the same. This was deliberately trying to be a legendary sound system and by all standards it exceeded that with flying colors.
I say this with great understanding and experience behind my words; Despacio was the best sound system I ever heard in my life, and from this point on I will always compare all the others to exactly this one. Whereas before the weekend I struggled to name a number one, now I have no doubt and will carry that with me to whatever dancefloor I find next. I have no idea how long we actually stayed there that night nor do I have any recollection of what was played by the DJ, still hidden behind the wall, but I do remember how it felt, and I think in the end, that’s the idea.
We try so hard to find the coolest, and the hippest, and the most popular moment, yet all we should be doing is searching out what makes us feel good, and embracing that. For me, Despacio will always be that moment where I found something I didn’t even know was there, and yet I am no so thankful to know it is.
Eventually we left the dancefloor again, and we promised to come back one more time, although we knew deep down the festival was coming to an end, and our chance to feel it again was growing slimmer with each moment passing by.
We even went back again, just before 4am when the festival ended, and we wanted to feel it once more, but as we got into that building and towards the curtain we found a massive line of people waiting to get in that would more than likely not happen by the time the last track was played.
As we stood there we realized our final moment with Despacio had already happened, and we didn’t even know it, but just as we were about to leave I could hear a sound I knew so well that it could only be a proper goodbye that I suppose we were waiting for. Emanating from those beautiful speakers from behind the curtain was a song I love so much, “Let’s Go to Bed,” by The Cure.
It was so 80’s, and yet a hint of electro, and goth, and maybe a little pop, and the vocals of Robert Smith radiated into the night and served as not just a final memory of Despacio, but also of the entire festival itself.
We stood there as people rushed around us trying to experience everything they could and we simply just stopped and enjoyed it one more time. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Our experience with Despacio was much shorter and quicker than we could have ever expected and yet I know it was more than enough to last with me for the rest of my dancing days as perhaps the best dancefloor I may have ever experienced in my life. And I know there’s no actual way to prove that, or even to compare or analyze this or any other dancefloor, but that’s sort of the idea.
This is my story, and my journey, and that path, with its many different turns and twists, led me to this place we call Despacio.
For me it was beautiful , and I know, although I’m not a religious man, if there is a heaven up there beyond the clouds and the stars and all the dreams we have throughout this life, it will look and feel and sound just like Despacio. Because to me,
Despacio isn’t just happiness; Despacio is heaven.
See you on the dancefloor.
Ourdancefloor.net 