Under The Canopy

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There’s a small word that sums up Marquee Nightclub and Dayclub in Las Vegas: epic! Last year they rocketed 69 places up the DJ Mag Top 100 Clubs poll; and that’s because the shows and nights that they put on are

out of this world.“The story behind it was simple. To design the first club in Las Vegas that was custom-built for electronic dance music and had all the bells and whistles,” explains Sol Shafer, Director of Special Operations and Music.The creative team bring together an experience that’s completely over the top. It’s a visual, optical illusion with a walloping great soundsystem. A profusion of the world’s best DJs play there three nights a week to 6,000 ready-to-party clubbers, give or take. “The crowd is very eclectic and has a little of everything. When being such a hot spot in the world’s No.1 destination city for entertainment, you are constantly being visited by people from all over the world as well as many people from right next door,” explains Morgan Deane, Director of Marketing.

DJ Mag took a gamble with the eight-hour time difference to Las Vegas and had a heart-to-heart with Morgan and Sol from the club…

What’s the ethos behind the Marquee DJ Mag CD?Sol: “It’s based on making sure that when people listen to it, that it would make them dance with a smile. From the infant stages of this project we wanted to make sure that whether you were an old school seasoned veteran or a brand new music enthusiast that this CD was going to touch you all in different ways.”

How did you choose the tracks to include on the mix?Sol: “Arny Bink from our partner Black Hole and the Marquee team reached out to all our residents and contacts with a direction and vision of what we were

trying to achieve. With countless hours of hard work, we felt comfortable with the project and this idea finally came to fruition.”

What have been your personal highlights or magical moments of Marquee?Morgan: “For me, Marquee has been just being a part of something that we all can truly say changed the dance music scene in America forever. Right now all eyes are on America, as all the DJs are moving here in hopes of expanding their brands. Companies from overseas are trying to produce events in every major market, and more and more we are seeing this movement being interjected into our every day lives. I am truly happy to be part of such an amazing movement. But, if I had to pick a singular moment, I would say NYE 2012 when we debuted the Kaskade 2012 show. Nobody had ever seen production or a performance like that in a club before and it went down so well. We were all hugging, it was very emotional.”

Marquee has become internationally renowned in a very short time — what do you attribute its success to?Sol: “It’s several things. In the past two years we have had almost every major artist at one point or another play at our venue. The design of the venue was created not only from the artist’s point of view, but also keeping in mind the customer experience, which has helped with its success. When people leave they always seem to have had the time of their lives. Lastly, it’s the entire Marquee team that strives every day to ensure that everything is perfect. Everyone on our team was chosen because they were the best at what they do, and because with all this passion we can easily all be proud of what we have accomplished.”

Morgan: “And our company ethos is gracious hospitality, and this permeates everything that we do. From the way we treat patrons to the way we treat our artists and manage our key relationships. The success of Marquee is really a testament to what being the nice guys who are the very best in their field can accomplish.”

What have you got planned in 2013 that’s new? Morgan: “We’ve redone several of the big production shows for our residents and made them bigger and better than before. Shows such as Kaskade, Benny Benassi and others have been injected with better

Words: helene stokes

Marquee Nightclub and Dayclub is the Las Vegas phenomenon that’s had a big hand in the EDM revolution Stateside. With our covermount mix CD this issue offering an insight into their music policy, we caught up with Sol and Morgan from the club to find out more about its unstoppable rise...

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The essence of Marquee Dayclub anD nighTclub, las Vegas is suMMeD up perfecTly here on Their DJ Mag coVerMounT cD in 15 Tracks…

01. FESTEN ‘WASSUP VEGAS (MARQUEE EDIT)’ “The perfect opener for this mix combines an electro lead over relentless progressive beats. Let’s get the party started!”

02. JUNKIE XL ‘MOLLY’S E (NICKY ROMERO MOLLY’S E REMIX)’ “Boasting a big room house stomp, this release from Junkie XL is turned into a brand-new electro/tech monster by Nicky Romero.”

03. ATB FEAT NERRA ‘NEVER GIVE UP (STEFAN DABRUCK & TOCADISCO)’ “An amazing combination of talents that have added a great electro-house spin to this energetic club tune.”

04. ANDAIN ‘PROMISES (MARCO V REMIX)’ “Josh Gabriel and Mavie Marcos have re-emerged with an instant anthem. Marco V turns the former trance anthem upside down, creating a signature style big room tune.”

05. DIGITALISM ‘ZDARLIGHT (FEDDE LE GRAND & DENIZ KOYU REMIX)’ “Digitalism’s ‘Zdarlight’ was re-released on Toolroom recently with this stunning remix, it’s definite dancefloor dynamite.”

06. EC TWINS ‘ROCK N ROLL MUSIC’ “The brand-new ‘Rock N Roll Music’ is the perfect example of the EC Twins’ energetic style.”

07. PAUL OAKENFOLD & MATT GOSS PRESENT THE CONCRETE SNEAKERS ‘TOUCH THE SKY (DISFUNKTION REMIX)’ “This classic, uplifting Oakenfold track features international pop star Matt Goss on vocals. The remix by Amsterdam duo Disfunktion has been hammered by Paul on all of his recent shows.”

08. INPETTO ‘SHHH! (SANDER VAN DOORN EDIT)’ “Sander’s edit of the Duderstadt siblings sure packs some punch.”

09. AUDIEN FEAT RUBY PROPHET ‘THESE ARE THE DAYS (ORIGINAL MIX)’ “US producer Nate Rathbun has created many outstanding prog-trance anthems, but this is definitely a new high for Audien.”

10. JOE GHOST ‘ARE YOU READY? (HARDWELL REWORK)’ “With the Revealed label boss Hardwell himself on remix duty, the Canadian Joe Ghost couldn’t have wished for a better release.”

11. KREWELLA ‘ALIVE (ORIGINAL MIX)’ “‘Alive’ is probably Chicago pop-dance trio Krewella’s biggest song out there. ”

12. GARETH EMERY ‘THE SAGA (ORIGINAL MIX)’ “Not your typical Gareth Emery track, this mainly progressive house release is so diverse it works in almost every set. Peak-time tune!”

13. ARTY, NADIA ALI & BT ‘MUST BE THE LOVE (SHOGUN REMIX)’ “Of course when these three scene darlings teamed up, the result couldn’t be anything less than spectacular, especially with new trance epiphany Shogun on remix duties.”

14. COSMIC GATE & EMMA HEWITT ‘BE YOUR SOUND (TRISTAN GARNER REMIX)’ “This team-up scales new career highlights with the mighty ‘Be Your Sound’. Tristan Garner can’t resist blowing things up further with his remix stomper.”

15. FERRY CORSTEN ‘KUDAWUDASHUDA (ORIGINAL MIX)’ “Ferry’s latest production is proof he’s still one of the most innovative producers out there today. This is a record you will not forget easily, and not just because of the quirky title.”

concepts and things that will simply blow your mind.”

Tell us about Mr Q…Morgan: “He is Marquee’s mascot and gets the party started every night. His dancing moves are super fresh, he is always dressed to impress and all the girls really can’t get enough of him.”

Is he always the warm-up?Sol: “We usually have the same two local residents warm up and close the night. Jason Lema, who has been in Las Vegas for about a decade now, and Keidy, whom we found in Miami and asked to move here to be part of our family.”

Where do the ideas for your high concept productions come from? Morgan: “Oh heavens! The marketing and performance production teams spend hours and hours brainstorming ideas. We watch hours of videos, read fashion magazines and fly to places like Miami, LA, San Francisco and London in search of new visual artists for inspiration and to find performers. For the artist-specific shows, we work really closely with artists’ teams and try to get a good idea of their vision. We spend months sending pictures back and forth, ordering fabric swatches and taking pictures of strangers’ shoes!”

It looks like New Year’s Eve every night…Sol: “A lot of people say that every night at Marquee is like New Year’s Eve, which is true. People are always completely dressed up and come fully prepared to have a great time. Las Vegas for most people is a two short day trip, and everyone just wants to let loose and go hard at it, which gives us the perfect setting to bring in crazy production to truly create the perfect vibe.”

Morgan: “Yes, we’re very fortunate to be able to be the best night of people’s lives almost every weekend.”

Do you look to Ibiza for inspiration?Morgan: “We look to everywhere for inspiration. Our marketing and production team love what they do and are super creative, which is why, when you see any one of our shows, you will be blown away. We totally get the Vegas/Ibiza comparison, but we believe that if we can be as organic as possible and not try to recreate another scene, we’ll have the most success.”

What makes Vegas so attractive to clubbers? Is it the gambling element, the 24-hour effect, smoking inside, drinking etc… in the middle of the desert?Morgan: “It’s Xanadu really. The best music, best hotels, best food to be found just about anywhere on the planet, topped with 300 days of sunshine a year and a culture of hospitality. Who wouldn’t want to check that out?”

EDM is the buzzword, or acronym, of the moment. How do you feel about the explosion of dance music in the US now? Do you think Marquee has had a role in its success?Sol: “Marquee has been one of the leaders for this, without a doubt. When we opened, everyone said there was no way that we would be able to open three nights a week with the world’s biggest dance music names and survive. We proved everyone wrong and started what I think was the real turning point for all things to become all dance music-based, to what brings us here today.”