Snow Strippers: New York City

By Jack Tellier

Photos by @yungwinddex

It is a cold and wet Saturday night in New York, but one building in Hell’s Kitchen is about to become a sweat lodge due to the large crowd inside. Hundreds of young people are lined up in the rain and around the block waiting to see Snow Strippers, the electronic duo who are just beginning their U.S. tour.

Inside Terminal 5, there’s even more concertgoers. Hundreds are in the crowd watching the first opener, Anna Luna, perform. The line for the merch stand is packed too but fans are diehard and willing to wait as long as it takes.

The venue is three stories and filled with people on every level. Teens and young adults bustle underneath the giant disco ball and step on confetti that falls from an unknown place. Girls and guys converse by the bars and in the bathroom line as one poor soul leans drunkenly over a trash can at a concert that has just started.

Eera and evilgiane are now performing their set and the massive crowd cannot be contained. “New York, what’s up?” Screams. Semi-hardstyle dance circles start while water bottles are thrown, it is too hot in the crowd, a sweaty hoodie flies through the air and wraps around someone’s face. A guy crowd surfs on his back, sneakers to the sky, past a spectacled man who tries to light a joint over and over and over. Security extends a hand from the barricade to grab the crowd surfer and pull him to safety, the crowd surfer just high fives him instead.

Ksuuvi performs. What were just dance circles turn into mosh pits that swallow a quarter of the crowd. Security guards lift up unruly guys and drowning girls from the crowd and carry them away like babies. Ksuuvi brings out Yuke and crowd erupts. The bass can be felt in the teeth and the diaphragm and the eye lashes. Another wet hoodie flies. Two pits almost combine but never quite do; separated by a thin taint of bodies.

A collective shriek in anticipation for Snow Strippers makes the second floor feel like it’s going to give way. Tati wears a white, knit dress with fuzzy snowballs that swing when she moves. Graham is cloaked in a big black hoodie. The duo are black and white among a fog of strobing colors. N-N-N-Night Killazzzzzz weurrrr.

For the short moments in between songs, the people in the crowd are almost completely still. They are entranced by the music and in awe of the beauty shared between strangers. Seconds later, they are dancing and jumping in unison and have become one living, breathing body.

The same is true for the upper two floors. The collective crowd is smiling and dancing. “Under Your Spell,” oh-oh ah-ah another hoodie soars, peel it off the face, wet skin. K-keep it comin’. Tati struts down the stairs and grabs hands during “It’s A Dream.” Beep beep beep buh beep buh beep. “New York we love you guys for real!” Beep beep beep screetch screech boom boom b-boom boom Night Killaz beep weuuuurrr keep it comin’.

Even after the show, the venue is bursting at the seams with people. They dance to the music played while security and cleanup comes in. Smiling and sweat and dapping and reconvening. Smashed and stomped umbrellas. Water bottles, sweatshirts, a pink chunky heel, a tail, lipstick, an Apple Watch crunching from security guard shoes, sweep it up with broom sweep, unfortunate girls wait behind barricade asking if security can find their lost articles. You cannot hear yourself speak, can I?

The line to pick up coats has become its own crowd. A girlfriend slips on exit stairs and screams but boyfriend catches her. A kebab truck outside plays Snow Strippers songs while a slender 40-something sells bootleg shirts. A couple lashes spitty tongues against the wall of the venue as teens pass by to catch the subway.

More photos: