Standing in the cold, waiting to be invited through the darkened doors of Sala Sonora, we were slightly unsure what to expect. Obviously, at the launch of a new Friday club night in Madrid, a party city that rivals London, Milan, New York and even tearaway-twin Barcelona, for pant-shittingly good nightlife and all-night partying, we were hoping for something truly off the hook.
Not least because this was not just any club night, but the Madrid launch night of something different, adventurous and possibly even mind-bending. Now, we’re talking about Sala Sonora of Bilbao fame here, nor your usual pretentious, mediocre nightclub with extra body odour and Pitbull on top.
This Basque nightlife staple is fucking infamous, attracting local ravers, buzzed up tourists and hopelessly lost Erasmus students to some of the sickest underground nights in the Basque Country every weekend. Sonora are the guys putting the E in ‘Euskadi’. And as everyone new to Spain quickly finds out, Madrid always wants a slice of the tasty pie.
Thanks have to go to the security, who did their best to make us shiver with anticipation in the queue outside. Now these guys might not have been too out of place working in a Syrian interrogation centre. And one of our crew was wearing cycling shoes. Fucking cycling shoes! Did he think this was VICE magazine? Cycling shoes, as bouncers world-wide seem to have noticed, don’t quite mark you out as a big spender, heading for the bottle deals, sleek leather sofas and glam decked-up VIP chill-out zone. It didn’t look like this was what most people were queuing up for though!
We did our best to make light conversation, but our new security buddies weren’t interested. They could have taken the opportunity to big up that night’s headliner Julian Pérez, who smashed it later on. But no, apparently they were too busy trying to look tough to be up for having a chat about the night’s entertainment. At least we can expect plenty more eargasms to come. They didn’t even want to share tales of the shit hot new sound system – an audiophile’s wet-dream, we would later find out, while downing shots and throwing shapes to some cheeky techno tunes on the spacious dancefloor.
It was just nipple-chillingly cold. And it may have just taken them a while in the clear Madrid night, to work out exactly what kind of dance-music loving loonies they could now be expecting regularly for forthcoming Fridays this year. I think they will be in for a rude awakening when they realise the kind of crowd who will be frequenting Sala Sonora.
Collective memories blurred a bit from that point on, or at least other details got in the way! But we all agreed. This was one bitching place for a techno rave. It seems someone had put the word around Madrid’s party scene. We even spotted a single solitary man-bun bobbing away at the front, and everyone knows that means cutting edge cool. At least until you see more than one.
Anyways. We are talking reasonable drink prices, a top atmosphere, clean-cut booming bass and smooth psychedelic lighting. No, none of that trippy shit you did with your torch that one time you took mushrooms. This was the real deal, sucking the real mix of ravers around us right into the underground sounds. Even those not on the floor were jiggling. If the grins on everyone’s faces around us were anything to go by, one of the best clubs in Madrid has just landed. Clearly Saturdays are going to be a bit painful this year!
Want to go to the next party at Sala Sonora? Get on the Guest List for free here or download the app for the best deals to all the clubs in Madrid.
Want to see more, check out the official launch video
– Richard HallSala Sonora MadridFormerly Sala Pirandello II.Calle de Martín de los Heros, 14. Argüelles.http://www.salasonoramadrid.com/Facebook