Northern Nights

American superclub Echostage has stormed the top of our poll in the last five years or so, even taking the top spot in 2021 for the first time — something no other American club has ever done. Despite being located somewhere that isn't usually associated with dance music in the States, the Washington, D.C. venue has managed to make an indelible impact in its first decade, and it isn't done yet. The last 12 months have once again seen it offer up a real mix of sounds and scenes from the maximal end of the EDM spectrum through to house and techno sounds. Pendulum, Tale Of Us, GORDO, Nora En Pure, Vintage Culture, Claptone and Sonny Fodera are just some of the names to have played recently. The hybrid nightclub and concert venue celebrated its 10th birthday back in December with a series of special events, live shows and high-profile DJ sets that embodied everything the club is all about: shipping in talent from around the world, but also booking the biggest American artists. Next to superstar DJs, it has also hosted some of the biggest pop and hip-hop stars in the world, from Cardi B to Sam Smith, Miley Cyrus to Juice WRLD. They play on the club's vast hybrid stage, a 30,000-square-foot behemoth powered by the East Coast's first German-imported d&b audiotechnik V-Series sound system, with D80 amplifiers that pump out a massive 48,000 watts of sound. The venue's styling draws on its history as a warehouse but, of course, there is an array of dazzling lasers, confetti cannons and cryo-jets to fire up the synapses, while miles of bars, bottle service tables and a VIP mezzanine all offer a number of different ways to experience the club. Formerly known as DC Tunnel and DC Star, the building now known as Echosatge was taken over in September 2012, and soon transformed into a large-scale venue with an advanced 14-by-40-foot LED screen, visual displays and unobstructed sight lines throughout. All of this has helped to make it into the East Coast's leading venue, and one that spearheads the whole of the American scene. Add in the club's own multi-stage music festival concept, Project GLOW, which mixes up art with world-renowned headliners old and new, and it's no wonder Echostage remains the most talked about venue in America.