Tritonal at Marquee Review: An Unforgettable House Experience

On Friday night, I traipsed down to Marquee Nightclub to see Tritonal, the Texas-born house duo of Chad Cisneros and David Reed. Marquee is well-known as an EDM hub in Manhattan, having played host to internationally famous DJs, from Dash Berlin to Armin van Buuren, Dada Life, Afrojack and Carnage.

Before I go on, I’ll admit that I did not venture down to the first floor (there are two stories in Marquee) to get my Tritonal experience. I stayed by the railings on the second floor for numerous reasons, but chief among them was that I, as a relatively small individual, had no desire to compete with a crowd of people so tight that it made rush hour on the subway look like nothing. 

Sam Allan, a New York based progressive house DJ played the opening and closing sets for Tritonal. Allan did a good job setting the stage for Tritonal, he played tracks that were decidedly different from what Tritonal themselves would play, but he kept the energy high and the mood hyped. Even after the legendary duo departed from the stage, Allan kept the crowd jumping until well past 4 AM. 

Then at 1:20 (or so) Tritonal came on and everyone went wild. I’ve heard good sets before, but this set definitely ranks among my top five.

Tritonal played many of their fan favorite tracks including: Broken, Until You Were Gone, Hung Up, Now or Never, and their newest single, Strangers. You knew there were true Tritonians in the audience when we were throwing up the triangle symbol of Tritonal, and singing along to every word of Hung Up.

But in addition to their own music, Tritonal played anthems by other producers such as Porter Robinson and Madeon’s Shelter (guilty of fan girl screaming at that moment), The Chainsmokers’ Something Just Like This and Paris, Gareth Emery’s Saving Light (full disclosure: I almost started crying) and Flosstradamus’ Prison Riot. 

As if this wasn’t enough, Tritonal did something I’ve never seen producers do before at a club show, and played the lyric videos on the screen behind them. They showed the lyric videos (exactly how you see them on YouTube) for Paris, Something Just Like This and sections from Porter and Madeon's Shelter animation video. 

There wasn’t a dull moment throughout the entire set, and Tritonal did a phenomenal job matching their visuals and special effects with the tracks they played. As house producers, it isn’t as simple as waiting for the huge bassy drop to fire off the confetti cannon, and Tritonal rode the wave of emotion in Marquee.

All in all, their two-hour set managed to simultaneously feel like a 5-hour set and a 15-minute set all at once. It lasted forever but was too short.

Seeing a producer at a nightclub is always a different experience than seeing them on a stage at a festival. Apart from the obvious like special effects (has anyone tried setting off fireworks in a nightclub?) and venue space (I call this the sardine effect), the main difference is the intimacy of the show.

There is usually only one headliner at a club show, whereas at a festival there can be multiple, depending on the number of stages and the size of the festival. Club sets tend to be longer and the producers connect on a deeper level with their audience, whom they know is made (primarily) up of true fans. Festivals have the wow effect with lasers and fireworks, they have more space to dance and shuffle, and if you walk in wearing a flufflies and pasties, no one will look twice.

Tritonal continues his tour down to Miami Music Week for the week of Ultra and then out to Denver, Colorado and Las Vegas. 

All I can say is that if Tritonal makes a return visit to New York, I know I’ll definitely make the trip to see them, whether that’s at a nightclub or a huge stage, I wouldn't mind either way.