It was back in 1970 when David Mancuso held the first ever Loft Party in New York, called Love Saves the Day. The invitation-only event was an anti-commercial, intimate version of a nightclub, which would go on to influence house clubs such as Paradise Garage, Warehouse, and The Gallery. Revellers flocked to Mancuso’s apartment on 647 Broadway once a week to dance the night away, and the gay community found it a safe haven as it wasn’t uncommon for them to be hassled in clubs at the time.

Future legends Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan attended the early loft parties and took note, incorporating elements into the clubs they would later open. Throughout the years the party moved venues, and is now based at a secret location in the East Village. Along with promoter Lucky Cloud System they bring the spirit of the original Loft Party to London four times a year.

The upstairs of The Light Bar in Shoreditch plays host to the event, and is decked out with balloons whilst the floor is covered with talcum powder to aid the tapping of feet. The atmosphere is very much that of a house party – the restaurant downstairs provides a free buffet for the first couple of hours, there is a masseuse on site, and children run around popping balloons and dancing with their parents until their 7pm leaving time, giving the adults the chance to let their hair down on the dance floor.

Revellers here are slightly older than the average clubber hitting Fabric every weekend. One glance at the crowd who are mainly in the 30-40 bracket reveals that they are here for the music alone (they even clap at the end of every record) and a few very happy looking silver-haired couples dance to Mancuso’s records. No longer an invite-only event, tickets can be purchased for £23 in advance – an ironically restrictive price seeing as the original events were free – however this is the 2009 way of creating an intimate setting.

Having abandoned the DJ staples of mixing and beatmatching in the 80’s, Mancuso chooses to play each record in its entirety on his favoured old-school, high quality sound system which used to be considered one of the best in the world.  His set is brimming with early house and disco, however he includes reggae, the odd rock track, and current dance music – the most recent party featured mixes by Pete Herbert and The Unabombers which elicited great cheers from the happy punters.

The Loft Party will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in New York on Valentine’s Day 2010, the same day the first ever party took place. After six years in London they still continue to sell out, proving how successful a friendly place to dance can be.

For more information on the Loft Party go to www.loftparty.org

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Leila Hawkins

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3 Comments for Loft Party

Tim

Thanks for the review. There are a few small errors that should perhaps be set right:

– The downstairs restaurant doesn’t provide the buffet; it’s put on by the party organisers and is included in the price, as are the cloakroom provision, and iced water on demand.

– People show up for the music, but also for the experience of dancing in a friendly and sociable environment. It’s hard to find places like that these days!

– David Mancuso would be the first to point out that they’re not his records per se — he’s just the guy who is performing the humble task of putting music that other people have recorded onto the turntables.

– The original Loft parties were never free, and today cost something close to $45, or perhaps even a little more.

– The £23 price is fully reinvested in the party — the organisers have never taken a penny’s profit out of the party. The party is also set up as a non-profit entity.

– The £23 price is not a tactic to create an intimate setting — it’s the price required to meet the costs of putting on the party, hosting David for five days in London, and repaying a loan on London’s finest audiophile sound system.

– It remains an aspiration to bring down the price of the tickets. For now, the fact that the parties are selling out in advance, adn this during a recession, demonstrates that many people consider them to be good value for money — once a dancer has paid the £23, they don’t need to spend another penny on food, drink, the cloakroom, etc, for eight hours of entertainment.

Thanks for your time and the generous review — we hope we’ll see you at the next party on 21 March. For more information, please visit http://www.loftparty.org.

LSD
Tim

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Tim

I posted a piece correctly the numerous errors in the article, but it seems to have been deleted! How frustrating…

Anyhow, the Loft has never been free, and David currently charged something like $50 for his New York parties. They, like ours, sell out in advance because they represent good value — dancers get food, iced water, aren’t charged for the cloakroom, and dance in a very comfortable venue with a gorgeous sound system for nearly eight hours.

In addition, the restaurant at the Light doesn’t provide the food — we provide the food. David never beat-matched, not even in the 1970s.

We hope we’ll see you again – the next party is on 21 March — http://www.loftparty.org.

Tim

Reply

Colleen Cosmo Murphy

Overall a good commentary but the author needs to be informed that the parties were never free and The Light is only the venue – they don’t actually bring David over – Lucky Cloud Sound System does. I am one of the hosts, a director of Lucky Cloud Sound System and have been a friend to David for nearly 20 years. Please feel free to contact me for more info. Thanks for the posting!

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