Labyrinth of Jareth Review
So, the Labyrinth of Jareth ball was last night. I had mixed feelings about it.
Unfortunately, we had a lot of difficulties getting down there. We didn't manage to complete all the costume elements we wanted, so we had to improvise, and ended up with costumes that, while passable, were not terribly impressive. Combine this with a last minute errand or two, and we got on the road nearly two hours latter then we wanted to, and didn't get to the ball until like 10 PM. Also, shiatretiel was getting sick. We almost stayed home as a result, and in retrospect I wish we had. However, I had put so much work into preparing for this, I was really loathe to do so.
Now, the event was huge. To one side of the entryway was a small restaurant. Beyond the entryway was the "threatre", which basically looked like a traditional movie theatre with all the seats removed, and a dance floor put down instead. They had pretty decent music pumping through from the DJs, though I would have removed a couple items from their set, given the choice. There was a fully staffed (like 4 or 5 bartenders) bar in the back. Back out in the lobby, there were staircases on either side. Go up one level, and there is a hallway, with four sets of staircases. Two sets lead up to the third level, which was the balcony, with stadium seating looking down on the dance floor and the stage beyond it. The other two sets of stairs lead up to a back patio, which was basically a mingling area with more chill music. There were additional bars at the back patio, on the balcony, and in the restaurant downstairs, bringing the total to four separate bars.
So, that was the layout. Now the costumes were stunning. Sure, quite a number of them were kinda boring, but it seemed every 10th person (out of what must have been over a thousand) was an absolutely amazing work of art. Plus, there were a large number of very, very attractive people in very, very small outfits (many females wearing little more then thongs and paint). The place was a visual feast on multiple levels.
Now, the complaints.
First of all, they have no coat check. This I could live without. However, they ALSO didn't allow you to leave and re-enter the ball once you had given them your ticket. So if you brought in anything you didn't want to carry around with you the whole time, you're fucked. And there was no way to know this until it was too late. We got stuck carrying around shiatretiel's leather jacket the whole time as a result, which she had worn on the walk over to protect herself from the cold.
Secondly, I only caught one of the musical acts, but they sucked. The DJs were decent, but the band... Well, they played one song that I liked, and it was the last one in their set. I consider it a bad sign when most of the dance floor is SITTING DOWN while the band is playing.
Thirdly, after dancing for a while, I got parched, and went to get a water. At MOST bars, when you ask for water, they pull up a nozzle and poor some into a cheap plastic cup, and it's free. But no, the bartender fished up a bottled water and asked me for $4. I told her that was ridiculous and let her keep her overpriced water. I don't even want to know what an actual alchoholic beverage would have cost. After paying $31 to get in, I expect reasonably priced drinks. Assuming they had only 1000 people (it could easily have been twice that), and every one of them bought tickets for the cheaper online price (which I know isn't true since I saw a few people buying tickets at the door), they would have brought in $31,000 gross from tickets alone. Considering every expense I can think of, I can't imagine the event cost more then $10,000 to put on, leaving a minimum of $21,000 in profit. I don't expect free drinks necessarily (though it wouldn't be unreasonable), but I expect at least reasonable bar prices.
Anyway, I had one other odd observation. When I first walked onto the dance floor, I had my gauntlets on. These add a good pound of weight to each of my hands. I danced around in them for a while. As any of you who have seen me dance probably know, I'm very heavy on the hand motions. This tired my arms out pretty severely. So, eventually, I took the gauntlets off, and tried dancing without them. I had gotten used to having a high momentum on my hands. Suddenly my hands didn't seem to weigh anything at all, and it actually threw my whole rythmn off. This was a VERY strange experience.
Unfortunately, we had a lot of difficulties getting down there. We didn't manage to complete all the costume elements we wanted, so we had to improvise, and ended up with costumes that, while passable, were not terribly impressive. Combine this with a last minute errand or two, and we got on the road nearly two hours latter then we wanted to, and didn't get to the ball until like 10 PM. Also, shiatretiel was getting sick. We almost stayed home as a result, and in retrospect I wish we had. However, I had put so much work into preparing for this, I was really loathe to do so.
Now, the event was huge. To one side of the entryway was a small restaurant. Beyond the entryway was the "threatre", which basically looked like a traditional movie theatre with all the seats removed, and a dance floor put down instead. They had pretty decent music pumping through from the DJs, though I would have removed a couple items from their set, given the choice. There was a fully staffed (like 4 or 5 bartenders) bar in the back. Back out in the lobby, there were staircases on either side. Go up one level, and there is a hallway, with four sets of staircases. Two sets lead up to the third level, which was the balcony, with stadium seating looking down on the dance floor and the stage beyond it. The other two sets of stairs lead up to a back patio, which was basically a mingling area with more chill music. There were additional bars at the back patio, on the balcony, and in the restaurant downstairs, bringing the total to four separate bars.
So, that was the layout. Now the costumes were stunning. Sure, quite a number of them were kinda boring, but it seemed every 10th person (out of what must have been over a thousand) was an absolutely amazing work of art. Plus, there were a large number of very, very attractive people in very, very small outfits (many females wearing little more then thongs and paint). The place was a visual feast on multiple levels.
Now, the complaints.
First of all, they have no coat check. This I could live without. However, they ALSO didn't allow you to leave and re-enter the ball once you had given them your ticket. So if you brought in anything you didn't want to carry around with you the whole time, you're fucked. And there was no way to know this until it was too late. We got stuck carrying around shiatretiel's leather jacket the whole time as a result, which she had worn on the walk over to protect herself from the cold.
Secondly, I only caught one of the musical acts, but they sucked. The DJs were decent, but the band... Well, they played one song that I liked, and it was the last one in their set. I consider it a bad sign when most of the dance floor is SITTING DOWN while the band is playing.
Thirdly, after dancing for a while, I got parched, and went to get a water. At MOST bars, when you ask for water, they pull up a nozzle and poor some into a cheap plastic cup, and it's free. But no, the bartender fished up a bottled water and asked me for $4. I told her that was ridiculous and let her keep her overpriced water. I don't even want to know what an actual alchoholic beverage would have cost. After paying $31 to get in, I expect reasonably priced drinks. Assuming they had only 1000 people (it could easily have been twice that), and every one of them bought tickets for the cheaper online price (which I know isn't true since I saw a few people buying tickets at the door), they would have brought in $31,000 gross from tickets alone. Considering every expense I can think of, I can't imagine the event cost more then $10,000 to put on, leaving a minimum of $21,000 in profit. I don't expect free drinks necessarily (though it wouldn't be unreasonable), but I expect at least reasonable bar prices.
Anyway, I had one other odd observation. When I first walked onto the dance floor, I had my gauntlets on. These add a good pound of weight to each of my hands. I danced around in them for a while. As any of you who have seen me dance probably know, I'm very heavy on the hand motions. This tired my arms out pretty severely. So, eventually, I took the gauntlets off, and tried dancing without them. I had gotten used to having a high momentum on my hands. Suddenly my hands didn't seem to weigh anything at all, and it actually threw my whole rythmn off. This was a VERY strange experience.