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Sun to set on Rise, Boston's long-running after-hours club
By adamg on Mon, 03/09/2015 - 4:04pm
Rise is announcing it will shut for good at the end of April.
As many of you know, our lease expired several years ago and we have been open since on borrowed time.
It’s been an amazing run of over 16 years which is rare in the club business and even rarer for a club that never served a drop of alcohol. ...
I know I speak for the entire RISE staff (past and present) when I say how much we all appreciate each and every one of you who come and dance and socialize in the wee hours of the night in the sleepy town called Boston.
Via Adam Castiglioni.
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Comments
Wow
Not surprised really.. they have been on borrowed time for many years.
Too bad he couldn't move somewhere else. It was a nice place to go to after the bars closed, even if you weren't apart of the drug crowd that seemed to dominate the place. They always had decent DJs.. many that would never get heard in Boston due to the politics of nightclubs here in town.. and always a good vibe in the crowd.
Sad to see it go.
* A former member from 2000 to 2003. (and semi-annual guest from 2003 to now)
The Loft
Is this the same place (or located in the same place) that use to be "The Loft" in the late 70s/early 80s? For those who remember their Boston gay history, that place was a bit sketchy. Back then it wasn't a membership club, and since it was an after hours club they technically couldn't serve drinks, but the way they got around it was by having big signs that said "complimentary drinks, tipping STRONGLY encouraged", i.e. they wouldn't serve you unless you paid. What killed me about this shady arrangement was that it was right across the street from where Boston Police Headquarters was located at the time.
Not the Loft
Different place, different owners, different vibe.
The gay/straight clientele varied over the years, recently straight except for one Saturday per month.
Not the same
The loft was on Stanhope street, closed in 1996.
The Loft had various incarnations
I dimly recall various themes at the Loft and not always that alcohol situation. Some times there was a gay night. There was a members only lesbian night called the "G Spot". I was a member along with my lesbian housemates and their softball teammates. Given the late hour, it had a half-life even shorter than most lesbian nights in those days (nothing like the packed monthly nights at Machine more recently) My favorite time at the Loft was towards the end when there was some amazing house music on the second floor and packed crowds, making it a real fire trap to rival the Coconut Grove night club, but smaller.
I too was an early member at Rise. In those days I preferred the second floor lounge/chill music to whomever spun on the 3rd floor, though it was sometimes good.
I remember the Loft , it had
I remember the Loft , it had this garage door as an entrance near old BPD headquarters in the Back bay. Best nightclub in Boston was Axis long before Rise!!
My favorite club
They brought great DJs to town, as cybah mentioned. There was always a good vibe (not counting the NYE when a Boston cop went nuts and shut it down.) Music you wouldn't hear in Boston otherwise. Some of my best nights out ever.
I think they are closing because the owners moved to Brooklyn and the lease, which has been month to month for a while now, is done.
RISE, I will miss you.
Something I've wondered
What time does an "after hours" club actually close? It's been a while since I've been to such an establishment. I picture people emerging, maybe a bit worse for wear (presumably having been to a club before the after hours club), at five or six in the morning in their nightclub clothes while in the other direction people are on their way to work in their workaday clothes.
That's pretty much it
They used to open around midnight and close at six or seven (depending on the night). Rise was open during the week, but it was mainly busy on weekends for obvious reasons (more people went out on the weekends). The club attracted not only club patrons, but many club workers, who wanted to just come and relax before going home.
It never really got busy until after 1am.. and after 2am it was packed. (which is when the normal clubs close). By 4:30-5am it thinned out. And then then die hards were there until 6am.
I was many of these die hards who stayed until the near the end. It was always interesting leaving at 6am during the summer, right as the sun was rising. You'd walk out onto an empty Stuart Street while seeing those early morning joggers getting a start or see people leaving for work.
We'd also hit up a dunks before going home.. (We needed SOMETHING to eat after partying all night). Always interesting to be there with the morning crowd, in our club get ups we used to wear (phat pants!), half strung out, half awake.. just wanting to go home to sleep. Only to get up late afternoon to do it all again.
To this day, I am still wondering how I used to do that every weekend and not hate myself for the next week. Some things you do when you are young I guess. Now, if I am awake past 11pm on a saturday night, something real special is going on.
damn. 16 years. i feel very,
damn. 16 years. i feel very, very old.
tell me about it
I feel old also.. but then again I seldom party in the manner I did at that club many years ago.
Kinda sad.. makes me feel a part of my younger years has died. To be honest, kinda glum about it closing. It always such a special place, even years after I stopped going regularly. I reflect on that club as a place that I very fondly remember many many good times that I'll cherish until I'm very old.
Seriously
I was never a patron, but my son has been there!
That's old.
Last visits
I want to go at least two more times, maybe this Saturday and one more. I feel the same sadness, and have lots of great memories, as well as friends that I made there and still have. It's making me wish that I had made the effort to get out more. But those late nights/early mornings did wreak havoc with my weekends.
And yeah, even though I'm now older than most of the other patrons, it was one place where you didn't have to deal with obnoxious drunk bros or rude straight girls who treat gay men like we're a featured part of a petting zoo. People were chill.
right with you
I'm right with you Anonyme...
Makes me want to take a nap Saturday afternoon and head on out this weekend to say good bye. Unfortunately I'm out of town this weekend, so I won't be able to go.
And yes I regret that I stopped going out.. to some degree. I also no longer drink booze (well not often) so the drinking crowd gets on my nerves very quickly and can destroy any sort of good listening of decent artists in a minute.
But yes I agree. Those very late nights/early mornings really killed my weekends and usually the Monday and Tuesday too. The old body just can't take that kind of abuse anymore.
But sometimes I'll put on an old mix or listen to an old song from 'back in the day', close my eyes and I'm right back in the moment again. And for a brief moment, I'm 22 again and living large.
Oh to be 22 again!
No loss, 18+, no booze,
No loss, 18+, no booze, filled with annoying kids rolling. Yes, we do lack an EDM scene other than one offs at the middle east like... uh, can't remember the name but 18+ is a surefire way to lose an entire crowd.
Phoenix Landing
Is what you are thinking about. I wouldn't go near the place even if you paid me..
They must have been doing something right if they were around for 16 years. Far more than I can say for many many clubs that have come and gone.
Even still.. I also heard Estate was also closing, and this iteration has only been around for six (before that it was the Roxy). And they sold booze.
I'll take a rolling 19yo, than a drunk "bro" any day of the week. Easier to handle.
Couldn't pay you to go to Phoenix Landing?
I'm now intrigues by what kinda of electronic scene you'd like to see. The Landing is home to RE:Set, which just had Derrick Carter last Wednesday, if you're into house, maybe you've heard of him. They also host Elements, a d'n'b night that has been running for like 10+ years. Aside from that, I would implore anyone to check out Make It New every Thursday at the Middlesex, they bring electronic artists from all over the spectrum. In Boston proper, the Good Life has amazing bookings almost every weekend, sometimes the upstairs can be a bit deterring, but go downstairs. Look around, it's not just shite big room EDM around here, I know that's what is overbearing, but you can escape the bros. I'm not lecturing, I felt much the same until recently when the veil was lifted, but there are some really great things happening in these parts.
Yup
The crowds are enough to keep me away.
Let me tell you gently, I'm over 35. I don't sit well in a sea of early 20year olds. And I'm sure this 'old fart' would not sit well with them also. Plus, generally, any club that advertises 18+ typically is overrun by annoying kids since these places are usually rare, so the 18+ crowd tends to flock to them.
This is what I liked about Rise. Sure it was 18+ but only because they didn't serve booze. And because since it was after hours, many of the drunk 'bros' stayed away. It was too late for many of them (too late after drinking for long periods). Plus at Rise, you had to be a member and/or get invited by a member and/or (in later years) pay more to get in. (and that was cost prohibited to many 18-25yos... ). It just kept the flocks of 18+ from going often.
If you were at Rise to hear someone spin, you wanted to hear them spin. You weren't there to pick up chicks, or drink yourself into oblivion, or 'seen and be seen' because Rise was not like that. It was far different crowd than the average club. It didn't matter what you wore, or what you drank or who you were with, you were there for the music. That is the difference. I just don't get the same feeling I do at other clubs as I did from Rise.
I've heard of all the names you've suggested. Just because I'm older, doesn't mean I don't follow EDM as intently as many younger kids today. I just no longer go out six nights a week like I used to. My schedule just doesn't allow it (which is also why many of the dates/times/places you state, I'd never go to. I rarely ever do anything other than dinner out during the week because other things like my job take more importance to me nowadays than clubbing).
It also doesn't help that I've all but given up alcohol, and just no longer like being around a bunch of drunks (which is why I seldom go out in general).
As far as what venue's I'd like to see.. Two types
Larger Venues that can host a headliner and a lot of people. Ones that can attract and pay for the large EDM artists. I hate to say it, but I miss Avalon (pre-HoB) for this very reason. Sure it was filled with Bros and ditzy drunk chicks, but every week there was almost someone awesome spinning. (and it helped that I got in for free since I dated someone who worked there).
Smaller Venues like Rise. Sure there are some, like you suggested, that do exist, but I can do without the attitude, the bro's, the 'seen and be seen' crap that goes on in most Boston Clubs. I'm not saying the ones you suggest are the same way, but more often than not, they are flooded with these types of people. Not my scene anymore
I'm not trying to give you hell anon, it's just I'm older. I'm also "old school" now.. so my tastes and what I am looking for in a good night out often are no longer in line with what is offered these days.
Times just simply change..
I liked Avalon too for some big DJs
and hated that they were on for maybe 90 minutes before closing time, at which point I was eager to head to Rise for more dancing after that teaser. What I found best weeded out the bros was music that wasn't strictly 4/4 with at most two layers on a bass track. More complicated than that and they couldn't follow the beat to do their fist pumping. Alas, bros buy drinks, so most clubs kept the simple aerobics class music for the bros.
I too got to old to keep going out, first with my knees. Now, music enhancing party favors don't work anymore either! Years before, I stopped going to raves because they were full of 16 year olds and I just stuck out like a narc, parent, or pedophile. But back in my 20's, I would go clubbing in NYC monthly to enjoy house, deep house, garage, tribal, and trance at mixed clubs. Rare in Boston until The Loft.
Actually I was thinking of
Actually I was thinking of Throwed at the middle east but Phoenix Landing's uncharacteristic edm night is pretty crap as well
World class city??
It seems all the clubs in boston are closing. Emerson bought The Alley, that unique space was great...The Estate is also closing. How does this "world Class City" expect to keep up? No place fun to go just bars and restaurants. A World Class City in my book is a City that has options for everyone and that is 24/7 7 days a week with 24/7 transit. Boston has become of big suburb full of NIMBY's So sad