JadeStation: The Last Great Electronic Gig at Playstation Theater

The cream of the crop in contemporary US glitch-hop - Jade Cicada, Detox Unit, Mickman and 5AM - will soon share the stage together on October 26th at the PlayStation Theater in Times Square. Joining them are four supremely talented VJs, some of whom have become intimately associated with this music: Steven Haman, Cullen Hassel, Tenorless and Dr01d. A full-force Funktion One sound system will tie it all together. This will be the last great electronic show at Playstation Theater before it closes its doors at the end of 2019.

There’s a delightful feeling in the air over this event, a sense of alignment. It feels right. A new generation of stand-out producers will ascend to the main stage to curate a new kind of vibe. It’s a fitting end for a venue that always held it down for New York’s electronic community and served as a germination station for many psychedelic electronic passions. 

During the formative years of my own journey with electronic music when my feelings toward the culture were moving from enthusiastic to obsessive, most of the biggest and best shows I went to were at Playstation, which was then called the Best Buy Theater. From the annual Gramatik runs to STS9’s Fall tour appearances to Tipper’s return to New York in January 2015, I and those who came up around me spent many memorable nights in that blue, subterranean space. 

During the formative years of my own journey with electronic music, most of the biggest and best shows I went to were at Playstation, which was then called the Best Buy Theater.

What some consider to be the theater’s “slightly awkward design” I always found as novel. To enter the theater, you ride down a double-flight of escalators. It gave me the sensation of truly entering another place, somewhere set apart that was dimly lit, loud, and exciting. I knew my friends would be running around and that the opportunity to make new connections was ever-present. Times Square might be the place every true New Yorker avoids like the plague, but at least it’s accessible by public transit unlike some other big *cough* Avant Gardner *cough* venues.

Each producer has great history in New York City, as we’ve highlighted before here and here. Almost a year ago, they each performed in the city on the same night, with 5AM, Detox Unit and Jade Cicada supporting Tipper and Kings Theater and Mickman slinging at our afterparty with Sermon. Before that, they were headlining small clubs in Brooklyn. And so October 26th will be a crescendo of sorts: a great leap forward for Jade Cicada and his cohorts and a fitting way to close the books on an endearing venue. 

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