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Music

Around The World In 80 Raves: LDL, San Francisco

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Around The World in 80 Raves takes you into the basements, warehouses, and back rooms where the magic happens—from Caracas to Calgary and back. 

NAME: Lights Down Low
RESIDENTS: Sleazemore & Richie Panic
RECENT HEADLINERS: Duke Dumont, Cyril Hahn, Simian Mobile Disco, Cajmere, Waze & Odyssey
VIBE: Weird and wired. Party all night and sleep all day.
VENUE: Get in where we fit in. Lately it's been moving between Monarch, Mezzanine, Public Works, and Mighty.
COST: Around $10
WHEN IT HAPPENS: All the damn time.

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WHATS THE DEAL THO:
Live freaky, die freaky. San Francisco is a hub of weirdos, and it was definitely hard for me to leave. Lights Down Low is a staple of San Francisco nightlife that's grown over the past seven years into one of the city's most notorious raves. Using a mixture of loud noises, laser beams, attractive people, artificial chemical compounds, and an enthusiasm for wildness, LDL's crowd continues to grow.

"The crowd is constantly evolving, mixing, kissing, fucking, touching, dancing, moving," describes resident Richie Panic, who along with partner Corey Sleazemore, is passionate about the passion of partying. With an audience ranging from "a close core of hardcore freaks, party monsters, vogue children, cross dressers, underage party girls, and hedonistic house heads," you will not find any "chill vibes" at LDL.

As fellow San Francisco lover Hunter S. Thompson would say, "buy the ticket, take the ride." With one eye on underground parties of the past and the other enlarged pupil on the future, Lights Down Low is an electric corner carved out by two maniacs.

ONE UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT: "My memory is only as good as the last party. But… I seem to remember Duke Dumont—someone LDL has followed, spun tracks by, been amused by, and interested in for years—wrestling yellow painted mannequin butts out of the sweaty hands of overenthusiastic crowd members, and still keeping the tracks awesome and on point. That is what we like to call a consummate professional."

Keep your eyes wide open because they keep the lights down low.

Lina likes popsicles and walruses. Follow her - @linalovesit