Where do you choose to go on a Friday night? What goes into the decision making behind waiting in line for an hour, just to get in and leave after 15 minutes? For two spots right across from each other, why does one have a line down the street and the other recruit its bouncers to invite people off the street? Of course, there are underlying factors that people wouldn’t even be consciously aware of like crowds, physical space, location, drink prices, and memories. McKenna Cummings, a first year kinesiology student at Laurier, talks about waiting in line for The Prohibition Warehouse. She attributes the draw to the cheap beers, sangria deals, the good lighting, coming as a big group of friends, and of course, the good music.
On the note of music, it seemingly is an undeniable factor in defining the energy of the night. The fact that students can listen to the same song three times in one night and still jump up and down every time. Or the fact that you can almost count on hearing a song depending on where you choose to go for the night. What makes the difference in all the spots for Waterloo nightlife? What are students looking for? The different spots in Waterloo can be grouped together in many different ways. Grouped together by location, such as central spots on King Street, music type, demographic, and prices.
But they can also be grouped together just by general vibe. There’s The Pub on King and The Prohibition Warehouse. These two spots have heavy student influence and demographic, open daily but packed with lines out the door by the weekend. When students talk about going out for the night or hoping to see their friends somewhere, these are the two likely spots.
Then there’s the spots that align more with what would be considered a country theme, Kentucky and Dallas. While Dallas has a mechanical bull and self-advertises as a nightclub, it’s located further apart in Kitchener from the other spots in Waterloo. Kentucky is a barbecue restaurant that turns into a student bar by night.
Rare, The Crown, and Empire also carry a large student demographic, operating more as what you would consider a ‘nightclub’. Melody Zhou, in her final term of biochemistry at UW, says that she likes Empire for their music, particularly ‘Afrobeats.’ The Crown also has DJs performing for the two days the venue is open.
And finally, McCabe’s, Molly Blooms, and Morty’s are more sit down, pub vibes, carrying a more diverse demographic of both Waterloo locals and older students. These are the spots you go to for different things like live music, having conversations with strangers, watching sports games, or to get a few appetizers and beers.
So how does music interweave itself into these spots? How does music impact the environment and maybe the culture that makes certain spots a go-to for a night out? Professor Simon Wood has a Bachelor of Music and a Masters in Music Criticism. He lectures on a variety of topics like Western Popular Music and has extensive experience with composing, playing the bass and producing. Wood provides a good basis to the prevalence of music and what it might mean to students and the nightlife in Waterloo.
Wood says that people like things that make them feel like a part of something bigger. With the nature of streaming services and binge watching now, there seems to be less of a community with TV, like when a new episode would release every Saturday night at 9 p.m. But what seems to persist is the community of music. For students leaving home for the first time, stressed from a long week of studying, or just trying to celebrate their last few months before they graduate, this sense of fun and community can really go a long way. Drinking and going out is heavily associated with the adolescent student population, something that distinguishes young adults from true adulthood. Wood describes the history of how the emergence of rock and roll music after World War II helped establish the identity of teenagers. Teenagers for the first time have a separate identity, a separate culture that distinguishes them from adults and children, filling in that in-between stage.
But when asked about how music can be used to draw students in and keep a crowd going, Wood says there’s no formula. Drawing on his experience playing in a band, he talks about how there will always be the songs that everyone knows, that maybe a DJ or band doesn’t necessarily want to play anymore. But he also recognizes that what works one night might not work next summer or even the next weekend.
When asked about songs before the 2000’s and why they still persist in the night scene today, Wood provides the analogy of an old t-shirt, stating, “It’s like a really, really old comfy t-shirt that you’ve got in your drawer and, yeah, it’s got a goofy logo, but you’ve had it your whole life and because you’ve always had it, it accrues memories.”
So, when “Dancing Queen” comes on and every student turns to their friends to prepare to sing along, they’re putting on that old T-shirt again and feeling the nostalgia of everything that came before that moment, while simultaneously creating a new memory to remember down the line. And after a huge exam, or a full schedule, a celebration of those memories with others going through the same thing can create a huge sense of relief. So, even if there is no set formula that can 100 per cent determine a good time for the crowd, there still is an underlying feeling that can translate into different nights.
Ryan Labrie is a regular DJ at Pub on King, consistently playing sets for large crowds of drunk students and creating that feeling of community for students in Waterloo. With over seven years of experience with Pub, his approach echoes the idea of how there really isn’t a consistent formula. Labrie states, “What’s interesting, at least how I approach it, is seeing who comes in. As much as I want every week to be the same, there is a difference each week. 9-10:30 p.m., it’s figuring out who’s coming in.”
Labrie also recognizes the comfort aspect that Wood describes with the old T-shirt, stating, “Things were different [in previous years], people were big on the new wave. [In the] last couple of years things have changed. Maybe times are difficult and people want nostalgia and throwbacks. People are happy to hear Katy Perry or Flo Rida more than songs that are charting right now.” While he feared being too safe with these songs, when he tries to play the brand new songs, they just don’t have the same impact. He continues to recognize how this plays a role in understanding the crowd stating that, “Club culture has changed. Now, it feels more chill and low committal, so people can just leave [whenever they want]. For people to get out of their head, it’s something comfortable to get them in the mood.” And for those throwback songs, he describes it as bringing people back to a time in their life.
He continues to describe his process of understanding which songs he can save for midnight, that no matter what, will for sure get the crowd going, like “Mr. Brightside.” He also recognizes that most of his job is actually people-reading, and that so much of what he does is paying attention to people’s reactions and the different crowds, “When people come in, [I can see] which people are antsy and enjoying it, [and] what people are more to themselves. I find where people’s comfort zones are and I live there for the night.”
The effort he puts into every single night seems to be drawn from his enjoyment of providing a comfortable space and fun time, “I think in general, the world’s just not in a good place, and I do like being able to provide spaces that give a good vibe. There’s a lot of places that are too pretentious and I don’t fuck with that. When I plug in, I just really like good vibes where everyone is connecting, and DJing is a good aspect of that.”
For Labrie, he describes a change in the past few years and how he sees the night life space advancing in the near future, stating, “I think as time goes on, truthfully the state of the bar and pub industry is dying. I’m not sure what the next stage looks like but I think we’ll have more social house vibes that are more laid back for the next five years. Clubbing and bar hopping is shifting into something new and I’m curious to see how it lands. Places like The Crown are trying something different, building new spaces for a different kind of crowd”
The UW DJ Club seeks to do just that, bringing something different to the space of night life, by introducing different music. Atul Sharma (@tooliebeats), is in his final term of kinesiology and is co-president of the club, along with Joel Bae, a fourth year statistics student, and Evan Ngyuen, in his second year of pharmacy. Sharma says, “Everyone here [UW DJ Club] is very obsessed with music; we think about it more than the regular person would.” The club holds events, seeking to introduce crowds to something more “elevated and cool.” As Sharma states, “We really try to bring something to people that they don’t normally get.”
Their events start with their weekly meetings every Wednesday, where the club has open decks, with upwards of 40 students coming in and out to learn how to DJ. From there, they find a way to spotlight the talent at UW, with different DJs doing one hour sets for a four hour event. For example, their ‘Heatwave’ event and the theme of a global club sound, combining music from a bunch of different cultures, like Brazilian funk, jersey club, and emphasis on Afro, Caribbean, and Latin music. With that being said, Sharma balances the novelty with Labrie’s sentiments in focusing on the energy of the crowd. He describes it as an energy flow: “People go out to have fun, they don’t think of it like a long distance run and pace themselves. You take care of them as a DJ in that sense. With crazy drops and jumps, you have to give them a bit of downtime in whatever way you can, like choosing a slower song. But you always want to return.” He also describes the enjoyment of connecting to people through music and showing people what they don’t know they want to hear yet.
Sure enough, as Sharma plays his planned out set at the event, he can clearly be seen having fun, listening to the music, and watching the crowd. The different DJs stay on theme while mixing in popular songs like Low by Flo Rida and S&M by Rihanna.
UW alumni, Johan Rodrigo, who DJs at The Crown, shares incredibly similar sentiments to Sharma and Labrie, expressing how he leads the crowd through the night and how playing for any university bar means making sure it’s fun for everyone.
Professor Aimée Morrison, a professor that teaches embodied humanities in the age of AI, considers Durkheim’s theory of collective effervesance to understand the phenomena of dancing, jumping, and singing to music and what it might mean for students. Collective effervesance is that joy or energy that people feel when people engage in something together. She says that you can always listen to a song alone but dancing with others as a group activity is different. You’re not really exposing any of your personal tastes when the most popular songs come on, and there’s an emotional release in a crowd so you feel less alone.
It seems that no matter where people decide to go, with a good crowd guided by the care of DJs, there’s much value to the release of dancing with others in the community.
