There was never any doubt in my mind that Samsung throws the
best events. If there were ever a problem with throwing amazing events
constantly, it’s that you (have to) raise the bar every time, to outdo your
last party. The last Samsung event I went to was at Irving Plaza, it was a free
Santigold show with a complete open bar and more food than anyone there could
eat. Simply put, quite amazing. I knew this one would be insane, just based on
Samsung’s past exploits, but also because it was the launch party of their
amazing new phone, the Galaxy SIII. One would assume the event-throwing masters
would go all out…they did.
Before I tell you how it was, I must say this about the
launch party, it was an easy 5 out of 5 event. Simply put, they did everything
right basically. Lets start at the beginning: check-in. You can tell a lot
about the organization of an event just by checking in on the guest list. If it
takes a while to find your name and there’s a whole ordeal just to get inside,
you can pretty much rest assured that the event itself will be sort of on par
with that. Last night, with the line formed, there were two people coming down
the line (before 9pm, which was when the event started) checking people in.
After they found your name, you got a wristband. After that, a security guard
came down the line to check everyone’s ID, to make sure we were all legal
drinking age. All of this was done BEFORE the doors opened. So by the time they
did, which was right at 9pm, you just walked right in. Simple.
Upon entry, you see than the Samsung people decked out
Skylight Studios so you knew you were there to party in the name of the SIII.
They handed you a little pouch with these little squares in them. You use these
squares to play games on the new SIII and win prizes. AWESOME! Once you were
really inside, there was a little basketball hoop where you could take cool
photos looking like you’re dunking on none other than Stephen Curry, who is a
super nice guy by the way. Walt Clyde Frazier was there as well but he left soon
after we arrived. Ah well. It happens.
DJ Craze was mixing up the party music, and everyone was
heading to the respective SIII stations to try and win stuff. I won some light
up glasses (which I surely was not leaving there without) and also a stuffed frog,
which my friend named Pedro. It was one of those kinds of nights, because
Samsung had a fully stocked bar and the bartenders were churning out drinks
with the quickness. You could just order whatever you wanted, or, you could
order from one of the Galaxy SIII phones that was attached to the bar. They had
specialty cocktails that you could select, and then the bartender gets the
order through a device they had, and makes it for you! It was like partying in
a spaceship!
Sebastian Ingrosso was the first DJ to take the stage.
Sebastian, who is one of the DJs of Swedish House Mafia, jumped into his usual
mix of house and techno tracks, getting the crowd rocking as only SHM can. On
the invite I got, Samsung said there would be a surprise guest performance.
Earlier yesterday someone who is usually in the know ruined that surprise, and
they told me that the surprise performer is Skrillex! After Sebastian heated
things up, Skrillex hit the stage and burned it down. I was so close to the
stage at that point that it was hard to see all the visuals going on behind the
dubstep master, but there were some cool ones. Confetti falling, air blasts
going off, and just all around pandemonium were on the bill for Skrillex’s set,
which was much longer than I thought it would be and also far more diverse than
I thought it would be. I was expecting him to play a heap of dubstep, and
mostly his dubstep stuff, but that wasn’t really the case. He played a lot of
dubstep (obviously), but not only his stuff, plus he played Drum & Bass and
techno tracks as well. The dude can really mix it up. They had the AC on in the
place but I was sweating from all the dancing, especially since Skrillex was on
the tables for so long too.
After his set was done, DJ Craze got back on to finish off
the night, but some people had already left by then. I don’t blame them; it was
really late at that point (I think the event officially finished at 1am). As I
made my way out, Samsung had one last awesome surprise up their sleeve: free
glasses! They were giving out Samsung beer glasses that light up. YES! Parting
gifts make parting way sweeter sorrow. Another 5 star event in the bag for
Samsung, and another awesome phone on the market, that you should surely pick
up.
Twitter.com/clintwwcd
