- Day parties are an interesting breed. On one hand, what's better than being able to enjoy the warmth and sunshine of a gorgeous summer day while listening to good music? On the other, electronic music events have historically been relegated to dark indoor spaces, and as such it can be a bit jarring to observe (and be observed) while taking in a performance. There's a long history of good ones, though: The Need I Say More parties at the Old Miami in Detroit have been the highlight of many a Movement Festival. Moving up north, the Piknic Electronik parties in Montreal offer a "family friendly" relaxed atmosphere around a famed Alexander Calder sculpture.
The members of the Varsity Allstars crew are no strangers to quality day parties, and this past August they hosted their fourth event in Chicago at Moretti's. The lineup was a diverse one, with regional names like Naveen G, Todd Sines and Varsity Allstar Mike Khoury backing up Seth Troxler. It would be hard to pick a better place for a weekend day party in Chicago than Moretti's. Located in the near west side, it's accessible by CTA or car but far enough from downtown that the surrounding streets are extremely quiet, verging on abandoned. The venue itself is a sports bar with two main areas: A fenced-in grassy outdoor space with a cabana that acted as the main DJ booth for the day, and a TV-speckled indoor area with a surprisingly large bar and side lounge area.
The indoor and outdoor "stages" provided an interesting contrast to each other throughout the day. While the outdoor's musical atmosphere stayed deep and heady, there was an edge and aggression to the overall sound inside. If you were fast enough, you could catch the music director of local Chicago venue Smart Bar, Nate Manic, for example, playing a tough and gritty set inside and then move out into the sunshine in time to see Naveen G drop the harp glissandos of Dub Taylor's pretty new tune "The Dial."
As the day wore on, the majority of the crowd stuck to the outside, partaking in the grill buffet and playing cornhole when not grooving in front of the cabana DJ booth. Eventually the sun went down and by the time Seth Troxler came on, the sun-soaked listeners were very much up for the slow chunky techno that the Detroit native presented. Things came to a head when Troxler dropped Art Department's "Without You," which turned the grassy dance floor upside down. Things wore down and, around 11 PM, Seth turned the outside into the chill room, finishing up with two singer-songwriter cuts to cool everybody off from a long day.