I went to an underground techno club last night with a LinkedIn influencer.

Here's what I learned...

Having been on tour with some DJs, I thought I had seen it all when it comes to dance music shows.

The craziest fans.

Underground venues.

Large-scale festivals.

But last night changed everything.

I didn’t know places like this existed.

And of course, as every good story does, this story begins on LinkedIn.

Let’s set the scene.

Last week I got a message on LinkedIn.

I was expecting to see a mass message from an overeager IT recruiter telling me that my experience as a photographer makes me a good candidate for their new rotational program.

But no, this message was from a real person, a girl named Jane, who'd stumbled upon my blog about diving headfirst into the big city.

She reached out and said she could relate to my blog and that she had built a pretty solid friend group here in the city that I was more than welcome to hang out with.

Great vibes from Jane!

I took her up on the offer and we grabbed coffee later that week.

Jane’s cool.

She lives in Brooklyn, works at a startup, writes badass LinkedIn content, and is building a business on the side.

We got on the topic of dance music shows.

We both love them.

She mentioned that her friend group was going to a techno show that night.

I asked, “Could I come?”

She says, “Of course! Just a heads up though, the venue is pretty intense.”

I scoff internally, I’ve seen it all. Or so I thought.

We part ways with plans to get together later that night.

I look up the website of the club to try to get a handle on what I signed up for.

Here’s what I see: the club’s website

Hmm. Not a single photo of the inside.

I’ll check their Instagram: the club’s Instagram.

Also no photos of the inside.

Oh boy.

Dress code: all black.

Buckle up kids, we’re in for a ride.

*Later that night*

I pull up to the pregame, 17 minutes late — aka fashionably late.

I had that classic little bit of social anxiety in my gut that you get as you enter a party solo.

The apartment is full of people I’ve never met, aside from my LinkedIn homie.

Luckily, everyone there was awesome.

And they all got the “dress-in-all-black” memo.

Except for one dude wearing all white (more on him later).

People mingle and chat until it’s time to head over to the club.

A quick 20-minute Uber later and we arrive.

I’m going to do my best to describe the feeling you get when you pull up to this place because it was quite unique.

It was midnight but the moon was super bright (Twilight vibes).

The club is underneath an abandoned glass factory that sits on a big lot (see below).

But that place hasn’t made glass in a while, they just make insane techno beats now.

Here’s the venue on Google Maps. You enter through that large parking lot area and then go down into the Basement.

Our group walks along the open pavement and we get in line.

Pretty short line (most techno ravers don’t pull up until 2 AM).

We get to the front of the line and come face-to-face with the bouncer.

But he’s not your typical big, beefy bouncer.

He’s slender, wearing a crop top, and has the most judgmental stare I’ve ever experienced.

I realize it’s his job to “vibe-check” us.

I didn’t know it at the time, but this club was modeled after Berghain, a world-famous club in Berlin that is notorious for its “vibe-check” door policy.

The “vibe-check” door policy states that you can get turned away at the door if your “vibes” are off even if you paid for a ticket!

I quickly pull my vibes together and pass my vibe check with flying colors (hoorah!).

But I can tell the bouncer’s got a bone to pick with someone in our group.

My guess is that it’s our 6’8 friend that looks like he just came from Michael Rubin’s all-white Hamptons party.

Bouncer yells at our friend “Nope! This ain’t workin’ for me. Tonight’s not your night, buddy.”

Silence falls over the crowd as a werewolf howls in the distance.

Suddenly, I remember that I’m wearing a black button-up shirt AND a black tank top.

I don’t need both of these black garments!!

I ask Mr. Bouncer Man if I can give our all-white prince my black button-up.

The bouncer reluctantly agrees.

And just like that, we were in.

*To get a better idea of how unlikely this was to work, look at the Yelp reviews of people complaining about not getting let in.

So here’s the post-doorman experience.

And to make this a more immersive experience, I want you to play this techno song (Apple Music or Spotify) so that you can hear what I heard while heading into the club.

The bouncer points you down a dark tunnel.

“Right this way…”

This is your last chance to breathe some fresh air and to see any light.

As you emerge into the basement, 3 things happen.

1. They put little stickers on your phone cameras to ensure you don’t capture or record anything you see down in the basement (sus)

2. All the light bulbs you will see after this point are red

3. You lose your ability to see 5 feet in front of you as they have pumped so much haze into this place

We take a lap around the basement.

It feels like a mixture of a haunted house, an EDM show, and a construction zone.

My tall friend (wearing my black shirt inside-out) pays me back with a nice cocktail.

It comes in a cool glass. Perks of being in a glass factory, I guess.

We bounce around the venue between the two rooms.

If I had to give the two rooms names, I’d call them:

1. Super loud dungeon techno room of death

2. Pretty fun, more-chill house music room where some people are actually smiling

There are a bunch of old industrial-looking machines down there to add to the “ambiance.”

Makes you feel right at home (if you were born into a glass-blowing family).

Minutes turn to hours as we dance the night away to those sweet, pulsing techno rhythms.

The tall guy in all white ends up being a pretty cool dude and we’ve become friends since.

And I got to see a whole different side of my favorite LinkedIn influencer!

So why am I sharing this with you?

Here’s the rub: we often forget that there is a whole big world out there.

Nights like these are a great reminder that the world is so much more interesting than the little sliver of it we experience in our daily routines.

So go experience the world! Get out of your normal patterns!

There are people living completely different lives than you right around the corner. What a shame it would be to not meet them.

And who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love with a new subculture, find someone you truly connect with, or at the very least, walk away with an awesome story to tell.

If I had to sum this all up with one sentence it would be this:

The next time somebody sends you a LinkedIn message, ask them to go to a Berlin-style techno club with you — what do you have to lose?

Wrap Up

As per usual, thanks so much for taking the time to read. I really appreciate you.

If you’ve read this far, I need you to answer these 4 questions (yes, I really want you to answer - and no, if you hit reply, the reply will not go to everyone who reads this, just to me):

1. Which topics that I write about are your favorite to read?

2. Aside from the fact that you know me as a person, why do you read these blogs?

3. What could I do to make these more engaging to read or to make them more impactful?

4. Is there anyone in their 20s you think would enjoy reading these? Send it to them!

Until next time,

Flickman

P.S. I’m running a little experiment with this concept called Sunday Mornings. I’ll be sending out questions every week that you are supposed to discuss with a friend while going on a walk. If you’ve got any interest in this concept, check out this landing page and enter your email here. Prompts go out every Thursday.