Club Yellow closing week: Friday with Laurent Garnier

Club Yellow closing week: Friday with Laurent Garnier

2 July, 2008 | 10.18AM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: Yuko Asanuma

After drawing way more people than the space could contain every night since Monday, next came the weekend.

The final Friday night at Club Yellow.

We all knew that it was going to be an outrageous night, especially with the night’s host, Monsieur Laurent Garnier. 

I got to the club early, at around 11:30 PM since I had to interview the French king of techno for a Japanese magazine just before he started.

The place was completely packed already, which is unusual for Club Yellow.

However, it was understandable that the usual latecomers decided to arrive early for the night.

Because so many people had to be turned away on previous nights, they queued up early to make sure they could get inside, rather than miss out on the festivities.

At around 1 AM, after having a local techno veteran DJ Toby heat up the dance floor by playing some of the old school rave anthems, it was Laurent’s turn to take over.

Club Yellow is known for it’s dark lighting, especially when they have techno nights.

The lighting is often kept to a minimum so it’s effective in providing maximum impact when that explosive moment in the music comes.

When you walk into the main room, it usually takes a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. 

And on this Friday night, the view in the dark space was incredible.

It was like a jungle, with a room full of people going absolutely wild.

A very dark jungle with strange animals all over the place.

And of course, Monsieur Garnier knows very well how to handle them.

It was everything and anything goes.

He played all the techno anthems you could think of, as well as house, disco, drum ‘n’ bass, funk, rock, new wave, reggae, hip hop, salsa, afrobeat tunes—all somehow seamlessly rolled together.

He maintained the intense party vibe for— just guess how long—13 hours!!

It was insane. I gave up keeping up with the crazy people just before noon, but the party was still going full blast when I reluctantly left the club.

I think it was earlier in the morning I saw Francois K with his big camera taking pictures of the jungle room.

I heard later that the party had ended at 2 PM with Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ which turned the dance floor into a big mosh pit.

What a night—I mean, and half a day.

What really struck me that morning was the professional spirit I saw in all the staff at Yellow.

Despite the extended hours of working all week, they just kept serving drinks, kept the dance floor tidy, kept all the bathrooms very clean, and swept the countless broken glasses all until the end.

Not only that, as I was leaving the club, I saw them already carrying in a new set of balloons, flowers and a truckload of heavy drinks for another party that night (i.e. the closing party on Saturday night).

I could hardly stand and there was a party still going on downstairs.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I greeted them, thanked them a million times in my mind, and somehow managed to get home in the bright daylight.

Photos by Kenta Fujiki

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