Wolfgang Gartner Gives It Hard to South Beach's Story Nightclub, January 18

Via statigr.am/pflemming

Wolfgang Gartner
Story Nightclub, South Beach
Friday, January 18, 2013

If LIV is among the world's premiere locations for high-profile socializing and progressive house, then SoBe's new hotspot Story Nightclub is Miami Marketing Group's answer to a bottle-service "alternative." As much as a club with a strict dress-code can be "alt."

Inside, Story's impressive layout comes off a bit "edgier" in its design than LIV's sleek look. You can smoke inside Story, which is pretty uncommon for South Beach. And so far, the bookings have come with a bit more bite.

Like Friday night, when Wolfgang Gartner laid waste to the place.

See also:
-Story Nightclub, Formerly Amnesia Miami, Opens on South Beach
-Story Nightclub's January 2013 Lineup: R3hab, Porter Robinson, Wolfgang Gartner, Others

He took over the stage at about 1:30 a.m. under flashing blue and white lights. Standing solo behind the decks, surrounded by ambient atmosphere and dancing shadows in the VIP, Gartner threw his arms up and air piano-ed the first rising melodies.

Photo by Lisa Ferrera

Wolfgang started his set off smooth with a hint of disco, getting the crowd ready for what would be a straight shot to an energetic climax. The intimate dance floor at Story is surrounded on every side by tables while stairs at the back of the club lead to the second and third floors, with more tables and more bars.

The walls are covered in geometric patterns lined with bright LEDs, much like the pillars dividing the floor from the side bars. The whole thing has a kind of alien look to it. But the pièce de résistance is absolutely the cascading light bubbles that hang elegantly above the heads of party-goers, blinking along with the beat.

Gartner amped up the mood a bit, running through a tight remix of Justice's "Civilization." Dancers in small black bras and panties accessorized with head scarves and sunglasses danced on top of either side of his booth, as well as by the stairs and in the VIP. Even the dancers seemed edgier than their LIV counterparts, as though they might bite your head off if you looked at them funny, but in a sexy kind of bitch way.

Via statigr.am/genesisnieves

Known for his edge and prowess behind behind the decks, Wolfgang didn't take it easy on the bottle-service crowd at all. He went all-in, looping and wrecking his tracks almost beyond recognition, hitting the filters and glitching out everything for ultimate insanity. He's the father of what the young kids call "complextro," a fidgety brand of hard electro that bleeps and bloops like a robot on the fritz with a serious funky side.