Randomly Critiqued New Year’s Eve Flyers
Montrealers can turn any Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night into New Year’s Eve all year round. What’s so great about Tuesday? Nonetheless, our local clubs, restaurants, and event spaces push out the boat and find headliners that promise to make Jan. 1st, or at least the post show hangover, last well into Jan 2nd. Good times, good times.
Oh, and if you do go out and shouldn’t be driving yourself back, Operation Nez Rouge can give you a ride home. Call 1-866-Desjardins or 514-256-2510 or *639 for Videotron users on mobile. Yes, you can and should tip the driver. You can always pick up your car the next day.
Rather than listing the best, here’s just a list… because these flyers are quite possibly the best part of the whole night! Some free critique is provided on my favourites.
Free!
Old Port — Montreal en Fetes. The Lost Fingers at Place Jaques Cartier. 7 p.m. – 2 a.m. Fireworks! Easy to read with the eye catching woman in the red coat.
Off-Island Shenanigans:
DJ Keith Dean (#1 Dj in Canada**) with DJ Podz and DJ Bouda. At Le Astoria (2019 Blvd Taschereau, Longeuil). $20/30/40. This flyer is working on that red-black-gold theme and a non serif square font. Looks so cheezy, but I think the claim to the #1 DJ in Canada is hubris itself.
**according to??? fill us in, someone!
Reveillon 2014 at Kabana (6000 Blvd de Rome, Brossard). $75 for dinner. Bottle service available. DJ Unique. The woman here is reminiscent of a CGI Nicole Kidman. I’m not sure she’s selling anyone. Again, notice the emphasis on gold, black, and red colours. I’m sensing a colour scheme to watch for.
L’Odyssee Burlesque at Usine Bar and Bouffe (2239 Roland Therrien Blvd, Longueuil). She’s blonde. She has big boobs and a short skirt with a frilly trail. She has a silly hat. I suppose they’re going for cute-sexy.
Bemag Productions presents The Orquesta Ritmo Caribeno at the Vercheres Community Centre (92 Calixa-Lavallée). $45 for adults, $25 for 5-12 year olds. Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Cumbia, and Reggaeton! Okay, for whatever reason, this flyer didn’t rotate. But, check out the well-done photoshopping of the band next to the bottles of Moet and champagne flutes. This flyer screams class act and family fun.
Fireworks at Moomba (1780 Pierre Pedeleau, Laval). 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. Anthem Kingz, Cece Frey, and Beat Breaker. I’m not sure if 60% sold out sells me.
On the Island:
The Goods at Sala Rosa (4849 St. Laurent). With DJs Scott C and Andy Williams. $20/25. 10 p.m. – 3 a.m.This is a solid flyer. The gold, black, and red has been reinvented in a creative way, with an old coca cola ad feel.
Tripes and Cavier at Verdun’s Tripes and Caviaar (3725 Wellington). $50 for 6 course meal. 8 p.m. – “tard” Going for a more unusual style with block press printing, T & C’s choice of graphics has religious overtones with the praying hands with spirit beams and the Holy Meal cleaver in the background. Perhaps a little bit confusing with the blue callout bubble, but huge ups for breaking away from the pack and trying something atypical.
Houseparty 2014 with Sage Wondah at Apt 200 (3643 St. Laurent). $30. Invite only. 8 p.m. – 3 a.m. Looking more hand-drawn and with a hand-written-style font, this bottle of Brut with a label of information sets the houseparty mood. If I had a big place in Westmount and threw a party for my nearest but not necessarily dearest, I might opt for an invitation like this. Black and gold prevail again. Note the continuing use of spirit beams, or in this case highlight beams, to showcase the chalky looking NYE 2014.
Nouvel an Balkan! with Roma Carnivale, DJ Touski and VJ Ira at Divan Orange (4234 St. Laurent). $20/30. 9:30 p.m. – 3 a.m. Balkan love, okay. Check this shameless flyer out! Terrible colors, hokey Christmas motifs, a rooster headed Balkan dancer, and a call-out with a poorly centered OPA!. It’s no wonder everyone loves these Balkan parties. Good times are not about looking good, they’re about dancing until you lose your shoes.
The Darlings with Prison Garde, Zubi, Hatchmatik, and Kyle Calma, and immersive visual experience at the SAT (1201 St. Laurent). 10 p.m. – 3 a.m. $20/25. The SAT never fails to outclass. A gorgeous flyer with a nice mix of coloured light dots that semi-reference the immersive Satosphere, an art-deco font, and appropriate use of blank space.
Party Nouvelle Année with Polo et Les Jeepsters at Foufounes Electriques. $12/15. 8 p.m. – 3 a.m. Fouf seems kind of atypically uppity with this one. Colour choices are unusual (a deep blue-aqua rather than black), though the usual red and gold. THe crown on the Electriques seems so Brooklyn for a place that is usually rather heavy in emo-punk black and rockabilly.
Porier and Koyu at Bobards (4328 ST. Laurent). $10. 10 p.m. – 3 a.m. Bobards didn’t work hard on this one, but who cares? Bobardians love the place for its world of dance music so much that they keep getting busted for offending the neighbours.
2013 Tu Veux Creuver en Paix at Quai des Brumes (4481 St. Denis). $5. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. Quai goes arty with this one. The mix of religious themed Mary (?) in pink with a shower of body parts is open to interpretation. The details make this flyer worth a second glance — the fantastic rainbow, the hand holding the can. I also like the banner of the party’s title over Mary’s head.
Deadly Jour de L’An with DJ Napoleon and Phil Clem. Rockette Bar (4479 ST. Denis) 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. $5. Neighboring bar Rockette went from prayer to the return of the dead with its skeleton rising from the earth and crow at the tombside.
R’N’R — Robert Lavoie Trio, The Men in the Gray Suits, and Mighty Swells at Underworld. $10 9 p.m. – 3 a.m.The skull theme continues at Underworld, though with the guitairs and roses this is actually a Guns N’ Roses style flyer. Oh so clever!
La Seconde Avant Minuit. at Auberge St. Gabriel/Velvet (426 St. Gabriel). Dj Pronovost at Velvet. $40 and up. 6 p.m. for meal. Can’t make much of this one — tasteful, but sort of boring.
Countdown with 92.5 at Roxbury (1432 Crescent St). 10 pm – 3 a.m. $60. Open bar. Exactly what I’d expect. Conventional colours, fonts, composition.
Fluid New Years at Club Soda (1225 St. Laurent). 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. Drinks and tips included. DJs from NY, Toronto, and Montreal. $90 and up. This flyer is painfully bad. Sorry, Fluid.
Montreal XS at Le Cin5 (1234 de la Montagne) 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. $80 and up. Oh, wow, photoshop in action.
NYE Countdown at Metropolis (59 St. Catherine E). 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. $25 and up. I wonder how much Metropolis paid to style this horrific flyer?
Gala at the Hyatt Regency (4th floor, 1255 Jeanne Mance). 8 p.m. – 3 a.m. Formal attire. House, R&B, Mashup, club, top 40. Tickets $40 and up. Another lousy flyer.
Kiss Me at Atame Restaurant (351 Duluth ST). Aphrodisiac meal. $100. This famous image is not what it looks like. The poor nurse the sailor is kissing has no idea who the man is. There’s nothing romantic about this — she’s being sexually assaulted.
Paul Chacra’s 1945 at the Rialto (5723 Parc). $175 includes show, champagne, and dinner. 7 p.m. – 3 a.m. Wow. Cheezy.
Speakeasy’s Swing La Bacaisse with DJ Eliazar, Khalil, Don Mescal, Pranapapa (Balkan DJ), Gwen (Drum and Bass, Ragga, Jungle), and performances by Cirque avec Carmagnole, at Bain Mathieu (Rue Ontario). $40/50. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. 18+. Although the colors are ho hum, the drawing and the phonograph make this a far more creative flyer than I initially got at first glance.
Luminous New Year’s Eve at New City Gas. (950 Ottawa Street). 9 p.m. Norman Doray and Paris and Simo, and Junior Sanchez. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. $85. Ugh. Horrible.
Bye Bye 2013. at Comission des Liqueurs (4521 St. Laurent). DJ Leon. $25 for women, $35 for men. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. I dig this one. It’s grey scaled. It puts together the 50s woman and the clock in an appealing composition. The bird flying off… well… whatever. It fits. I especially like the shadows underneath the title text.
Carnavalesque at Lion d’Or (1676 ONtario E ). $50 without alcohol, $70 and up with. I can’t bring myself to like this flyer. I hate the lame font. By now, anything that is red, black, and gold has become so eye-rollingly repetitive that I find it hard to take them seriously. However, the woman photographed with her tattoos is an eye catching point and is quite suggestive of the event’s Dionysiac atmopshere. I also like the gold star Open Bar.
Circus Maximus MMXIV NYE 2014 with 23 DJs. at Circus Afterhours (917 St. Catherine E). $75. 10 p.m. – 12 p.m. the next day. Circus, yes, Circus Afterhours. I sort of like the flyer. Seriously. THe space age feel, the hands raised up against the columnar elements. It’s a fine job.
Kalumnity New Year’s Bash with Jai Nitai Lotus and the Kalumnity Vibe Collective at Le Belmont (4483 ST. Laurent) $15/20. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. Alright, this relies almost entirely on font styling, some color effects, and the confetti dots. Nothing too showy, just a chilled out, not trying to hard to impress kind of flyer.
Jet Nightclub. $60 and up. Is there anything to say about this one? No, not really. Boring.
Stacey Pullen, Monitor, Ostrich, Jimmy Be, and others at Stereo Nightclub. Font again reigns supreme here. Color used effectively to transform the 2013 to a 2014…
Magic City NYE 2014 with OHM, Orquestra Hispanica de Montreal, and DJ Steve McQueen at Time Supper Club(997 St. Jacques). 7 p.m. – 3 a.m.?. oooh. I’m sure this flyer will find its crowd.
Chromeo, Breakbot, Ryan Hemsworth, Tommy Kruise, and others at the Telus Theatre (1280 ST. Denis). 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. $60 and up. This elegant, largely font dependent flyer seems deliberately understated. Too much so.
Masquerade at the Rouge Bar (7 Prince Arthur W). $30/40. Music with WOrdy Word, Payce, Fabio Russo, and Antone. Eek.
Winnie’s (1455-59 Crescent). $20/30 With Sandy Duperval. I love this because this little complex is so un-flashy. This flyer in no way represents what happens there.
Electric Avenue (1469 Crescent). $25. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. This ad relies heavily on the backlit effect Not sure what’s going on with the use of the “on button” motif to fill in the 2014.
The Montreal Ball New Years Eve 2014 at Musique (3781 ST. Laurent) $35. I’m thinking this an attempt to be classy and elegant. The dark background and gold outline of the two carriages meeting recalls a ball of times past. Note the shadowy black figures making up the background. What’s up with that?
Sharx (1606 St. Catherine W. ). $50 and up. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. DJ Piste de Dance. Good old Sharx manages to keep the bar low. Photoshopped champagne bottles, three photos of the bar/pool hall set at a slant. The gold disco ball for the 0 is special.
Sparkle and Glow, Hustle & FLow with DJ Psychology at Tokyo Bar (3709 St. Laurent). $15/20/??? 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. Tokyo should do better than this.
Wunderbar Plateau and Lounge (901 Sq. Victoria). No cover charge, no tickets. DJs Yao, Quest, and Donald Lauture. A bit wordy. I’m rather fond of the star made out of glasses.
L’Olympia de Montreal NYE 2014 at L’Olympia (1004 Crescent). $50 and up. 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. Oh, Lympia! Why does it look like that woman is singing karaoke into her glass? or is that one of those sexual, subliminal messages?
Intrigue New Years Eve 2014 at Ivy Nightclub. The night sky and glowing letters are pretty cool. The chandelier above also has one of those subliminal advertising with suggestive body parts look to it.
Arena (2313 Crescent). $60 and up. Open Bar. DJs Blaze, Engen, and Groove. Um, inspired by the I Love NY motif, Arena tries to heart New Years Eve.
Ascension at L’Apollon (1450 ST. Catherine E). Dj Stephan Grondin. Free champagne. Whoa, is that the Star Trek logo or what? Beam me up!
Club Unity (1171 ST. Catherine W.) 9 p.m. – 3 a.m. with Chris Milan and Vantasy. Strike a pose.
The Factory hosted by Dina and Danik at the Royal Phoenix (5788 St. Laurent). 8 p.m. – 3 a.m. $10/15. Um, well, it is colourful.
Venue Unknown:
Omosaka 2014 with Jimmy Edgar, Kaytranda, STWO, Lee Bannon, Elaquent, Dead Horse Beats, Pomo, Kyle Kalma, Jay Londo, Construct, Seb Diamond. 9 p.m. – 5 a.m. Location announced at SJUMTL.COM 48 hours in advance. BYOB. $35. Black n’ mysterious.
NYE Coalition with Gladsound vs Acidave, 00:00, Rodroid, Black Cat, Wave Parasites, Muzz Motion, Nocide, Erratique, Narkotik, and more. Venue TBA. 10 p.m. – 8 a.m.$25/30. Confusingly arrow style.
