A crisp late night in Saratoga began with DJ Leila and Jon Santolla (aka Mentally Ill) throwing down a heavy set to warm up the audience. Even from down the street it was obvious that this dynamic duo had taken the stage at Putnam Den with a vengeance. The set varied from hard drum and bass to more down-tempo trancy beats that layered into each other infiltrating the crowd with intensity. Leila and Santolla were the perfect opener to set the tone before Spencer and Bethany of Orchard Lounge took stage.
Orchard Lounge electrified the crowd into an all night dance party. The bar was pumping out glasses of water for all of the crowd, ragged form the hard dancing. Although the crowd was small, it left nothing to be desired in the way of energy. Bethany repeatedly looked up from her table and pointed out to the crowd mouthing “I love you guys,” clearly feeling the amount of energy the crowd was permeating out into the venue. A few times throughout the show, Bethany even jumped down off stage and let Spencer take charge while she fraternized and danced with her adoring fans. It is not very often that you see artists with as sizable a following that Orchard Lounge has being so down to earth and engaged with their fans. The entire set crossed so many boundaries and genres and took the night to levels of intricacy that are rarely seen from a set of DJs. One thing is for sure, when Spencer and Bethany take stage – there is no laziness and their stamina is impressive. Orchard Lounge took no breaks and continued the party well into the early hours of the morning, as the crowd lost no steam for the dance party that raged on. There was absolutely nothing lackluster about their entire set, which is why Orchard Lounge holds the following and fan base that they do. It is evident that all parties involved had a great time for O-Lounge’s first Saratoga experience.