The fog-kissed air vibrated as the bass from the subwoofers melted into atmosphere through green and pink flaring lights, as it does every Saturday night at Spannk.
People lined up outside the door shoulder-to-shoulder take part in an underground dance movement and party Neon Liger-style.
The weekend social event is becoming more popular with each year, and this Saturday, it will kick off its five-year celebration party with all five residential disk jockeys behind the booth. Neon Liger will also relaunch its website, www.neonliger.com, with added features and online shopping options.
Neon Liger continues to set the bar for Gainesville nightlife, and for Vijay Seixas, founder of Neon Liger and part-owner of Spannk, it’s all about the music.
“You won’t hear what we play here anywhere else. We stick to the more underground music because we like to introduce new stuff,” Seixas said. “Five years ago, there was no other electronic music nights going on, so we were doing it and had some underground following, and now, it has become a lot more popular.”
Neon Liger’s MC, Will Newton, a UF alumnus, said, “It’s the best dance party that has ever existed. People come here to be themselves, and everyone has a really good time. The best dance music in Gainesville is right here, right now.”
There are 16 18-inch subwoofers that hit so hard the air itself vibrates. The sound waves tickle the inside of your chest as they pass through space.
Rodrigo Lizarraga, the graphic and web designer for Neon Liger, is not satisfied musically anywhere in town besides Saturday nights at Spannk. He is the person responsible for creating the revamped website, which will unleash Saturday.
“The last Neon Liger website I designed was two years ago. The new website will be a lot more full-featured. One of the biggest additions is the merchandise store. And the website itself is going to have a brand-new design. It’s going to be a much larger website to accommodate the growing Neon Liger brand,” Lizarraga said.
Seixas said the name Neon Liger was originally a joke between friends for the first party five years ago.
“Our friend had a cat that he called Liger. We were looking up party names when we first started, and there was a party in Miami called Neon Pony, so we just called it Neon Liger,” he said.
For the first hour, after the doors open at 10 p.m., anyone 21 and up gets free beer, and if you RSVP on Facebook, there is no cover charge. After 11 p.m., there is a $5 cover.
