The Juice Box

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 bottles of water

by Joanna Parks

Every year Pride ends up being a weekend long circuit party for me and my friends. Throw in rehearsals, performances, brunchs and occasionally sleep to round out a full but fun weekend. Sanctuary is always a party I look forward to and this one was no different. I was telling people that Sanctuary was the light at the end of the tunnel for me so my hopes were high and my expectations were set. And wow, did that party deliver. Suzan, Graig and I decided to skip Fresh so we could take a nap instead and within a couple of songs of arrival we knew we had made the right decision and patted ourselves on the back for getting some rest so we could fully enjoy the party. We arrived at 1015 a little before 11PM and noted the outside smoking area was already full of sweaty guys taking a break. The line was starting to form out front to get in and once we walked in we could tell that party was going was to be good.

The music the first half of the night was fantastic. DJ Blaine Soileau played music that was driving all of us to dance, no matter how exhausted we were, giving us vocals so we could all sing together on the dance floor – he was pitch perfect. Somehow his set was appropriate for both a Pride party (happy, uplifting) and Sanctuary (dark and a little dirty). You know it’s a good party when you never leave your spot on the dance floor or for that when no one in you group leaves the dance floor. I kept feeling like Blaine was channeling DJ Abel a bit with tribals, vocals and with so many layers everyone on the dance floor could find a beat to grab on to and dance.

1015 was packed, the heat was on, everyone seem to be in same smiling space. Friends bringing water to everyone at once, everyone dancing and not just pushing through the crowd to see what’s on the other side. Everyone wanted to dance and celebrate. 1015 had cryo tanks going, which made for some cool effects but it did not really bring down the temperature at all. But it didn’t matter, we were all hot, sweaty, and still dancing. The lighting was also cool and well done with not too much of the strobes and a couple of great moments when the lights flooded the place perfectly on cue with a big moment in the music – bright but soft white light so you could see the whole place, the whole community that came to celebrate Pride. The only thing that was brought to my attention, and felt a bit out of place was the visuals on the wall above the stage. The picture projected with lasers seemed inappropriate but also silly and pointless, but in the end it really did not matter.

Soon the music changed, the DJs switched off off and DJ Alexander was on the decks and began giving the crowd the harder stuff. The dance floor was still packed but exhaustion took over our little group and without any vocals to help keep us going we called it a night. We had made it through a crazy long weekend and Sanctuary was everything I was hoping it would be and more. It was exactly the way I wanted to end Pride weekend.

Thanks to Gus, Edgar and the rest of his team for putting on such a consistently fun party. 1015 is a great club space and Sanctuary is a great party for that space. I hope to see Blaine Soileau spin more, he really nailed the vibe! Well, both DJs did actually, but I’m just not a fan of the darker beats, and I look forward to dancing with Blaine again.

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Tags: Alexander, Blaine Soileau, Sanctuary