Chicago, IL -
This past Sunday night the future paid a visit to the Windy City at Crobar Chicago in the form of the Queer As Folk - Future Babylon Tour. With the kick-off event here in Chicago, the Tour aims to bring forth what a night of clubbing would be like in the year 2050 at Babylon, the famous nightclub from Showtime’s Queer As Folk television series. From the look - and sound - of things, the future is going to be lots of fun.
Related: QAF - Babylon Tour Photos
I must admit that when I first arrived at the Weed Street district I was wondering if nuclear devastation or a biological outbreak would be a hallmark of the future. It was way too easy for me to find parking and way too quiet on my walk toward the velvet ropes of Crobar, suggesting that Chicagoans had shunned this second QAF tour and found other more current time activities to busy themselves with. However, once inside the club I soon realized that plenty of my fellow citizens were the adventurous type and wanted to know what clubbing some 45 years from now would be about.
While Crobar already has a terrific visual and lighting system that some would suggest is futuristic in and of itself, the QAF Tour’s design team, RKM Future Boys, added their signature style elements around the club. There were lots of boldly colored stretch fabric panels, oddly shaped objects, and ribbed columnar structures surrounding the dance floor and seemingly coming out from the ceiling. The neatest (can I use this 1950s term to describe the faux 2050s?) visual for me was when the Future Boys came out at about 1:00 a.m. and did a performance wearing these superhero-like outfits. This was very very cool and provided for a peak of excitement for the night. As a whole, the décor and visuals were quite interesting though I did find the inclusion of some of the sponsors’s name in the designs somewhat distracting and off-putting.
Related: Interview with RKM Future Boys
As most viewers of QAF know, one of the fun parts of Babylon is the hedonistic backroom. Well, the Tour attempted re-create it at Crobar on this night by sectioning off a part of the upstairs side seating area. During my visits through the Crobar “backroom”, which admittedly were during the earlier hours of the party, the mood hadn’t really transformed into a den of sin as the folks back there were using it more like a chill-out room. Whether the sitting and talking activities turned into something more carnal later on as the friskiness level increased inside the club, I can only speculate about.
Of the three rotating DJs for the Future Babylon Tour, Miami’s Tracy Young provided the musical beats throughout the night for the Chicago crowd, a crowd that was probably the most diverse I’ve ever seen in this city. Rising to the challenge of keeping not only the shirtless Boystown representatives happy, but attracting the “bridge and tunnel” folks (suburbanites and Milwaukeeans) to the dance floor, Young kept the energy up with her trademark tribalistic sound. While some (though definitely not me) may have been bewildered at the absence of non-stop diva vocal anthems from her set, the diet portions Ms. Young fed to the dance floor were plenty and a hopeful hallmark of the future.
All in all, I had quite a nice time on Sunday night at Crobar glimpsing into the future. Kudos to all in involved (including Embrace Productions) with the Queer As Folk – Future Babylon Tour for bringing a high level of energy and fun – and even naughtiness – to clubbing of the present day.
Related:
QAF - Babylon Tour Photos
Interview with RKM Future Boys
Tracy Young's Ferosh Records
Related: QAF - Babylon Tour Photos
I must admit that when I first arrived at the Weed Street district I was wondering if nuclear devastation or a biological outbreak would be a hallmark of the future. It was way too easy for me to find parking and way too quiet on my walk toward the velvet ropes of Crobar, suggesting that Chicagoans had shunned this second QAF tour and found other more current time activities to busy themselves with. However, once inside the club I soon realized that plenty of my fellow citizens were the adventurous type and wanted to know what clubbing some 45 years from now would be about.
While Crobar already has a terrific visual and lighting system that some would suggest is futuristic in and of itself, the QAF Tour’s design team, RKM Future Boys, added their signature style elements around the club. There were lots of boldly colored stretch fabric panels, oddly shaped objects, and ribbed columnar structures surrounding the dance floor and seemingly coming out from the ceiling. The neatest (can I use this 1950s term to describe the faux 2050s?) visual for me was when the Future Boys came out at about 1:00 a.m. and did a performance wearing these superhero-like outfits. This was very very cool and provided for a peak of excitement for the night. As a whole, the décor and visuals were quite interesting though I did find the inclusion of some of the sponsors’s name in the designs somewhat distracting and off-putting.
Related: Interview with RKM Future Boys
As most viewers of QAF know, one of the fun parts of Babylon is the hedonistic backroom. Well, the Tour attempted re-create it at Crobar on this night by sectioning off a part of the upstairs side seating area. During my visits through the Crobar “backroom”, which admittedly were during the earlier hours of the party, the mood hadn’t really transformed into a den of sin as the folks back there were using it more like a chill-out room. Whether the sitting and talking activities turned into something more carnal later on as the friskiness level increased inside the club, I can only speculate about.
Of the three rotating DJs for the Future Babylon Tour, Miami’s Tracy Young provided the musical beats throughout the night for the Chicago crowd, a crowd that was probably the most diverse I’ve ever seen in this city. Rising to the challenge of keeping not only the shirtless Boystown representatives happy, but attracting the “bridge and tunnel” folks (suburbanites and Milwaukeeans) to the dance floor, Young kept the energy up with her trademark tribalistic sound. While some (though definitely not me) may have been bewildered at the absence of non-stop diva vocal anthems from her set, the diet portions Ms. Young fed to the dance floor were plenty and a hopeful hallmark of the future.
All in all, I had quite a nice time on Sunday night at Crobar glimpsing into the future. Kudos to all in involved (including Embrace Productions) with the Queer As Folk – Future Babylon Tour for bringing a high level of energy and fun – and even naughtiness – to clubbing of the present day.
Related:
QAF - Babylon Tour Photos
Interview with RKM Future Boys
Tracy Young's Ferosh Records
