Neon Liger started out small.
The underground dance party, which ran successfully for seven years, began as a onetime party at Spannk, later known as The Motor Room, on Feb. 2, 2008.
What started as a gathering between friends to listen to electronic music, which wasn’t popular at the time, turned into a party of about 300 people.
Vijaya Seixas, a 30-year-old DJ who created the party back in 2008, stuck with the project for nearly a decade.
What he created became a memorable experience around Gainesville, and not just because of the unique name.
“We just wanted something that you literally couldn’t forget,” Seixas said. “If you Google Neon Liger, it’s always the very first hit.”
Neon Liger was the only dance party in Gainesville playing electronic music in 2008, Seixas said. Patrons flocked to it for that reason and more, packing out The Motor Room every Saturday night to get down to good dance music.
Beyond good music and a good time, Neon Liger offered an open environment for all kinds of guests.
“We gave the hipsters, outcasts, weirdos, locals and LGBT community a place to come and feel welcome,” Seixas said.
The weekly event concluded in 2015 with the closing of The Motor Room, Seixas said. The dance party was what was keeping the club alive at the time, so Seixas and his partner, Jimbo Rountree, decided to close as things began to slow down.
“I didn’t want it to be in anyone else’s hands,” Seixas said. “I wanted it to end on its own, how it started.”
Although its weekly run ended years ago, Neon Liger returned in 2016 for its eight-year reunion.
The dance party is returning once again this Saturday for a multi-room, nine-year reunion at The Atlantic, The Alley and Arcade Bar, all located downtown.
The event, which will run from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and cost $10 at the door, will bring Neon Liger’s resident DJs from over the years back to Gainesville to perform.
Artists will be traveling from cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and more. Although Seixas isn’t giving the DJs anything specific to play, he said the night will revolve around the same music Neon Liger always had.
“The underlying thing that brings it all together is house music,” Seixas said. “That’s what the party’s always been, that’s what it’ll be primarily.”
Jimbo Rountree, the 29-year-old former co-owner of The Motor Room with Seixas, still works in Gainesville today as the manager of Arcade Bar.
Although Rountree never performed with Neon Liger, he became a part of the event a year in and has remained with it ever since.
He said he and Seixas became co-owners of The Motor Room in order to be more in control of their events.
“We saw a lot of opportunities in parties that weren’t being done and events that we wanted to see happen,” Rountree said. “We thought we could implement a lot of other things if we were essentially in charge of the operation.”
The Motor Room and Vault, which is now known as the Florida Theatre, went on to host acts that dominate festival stages now, from Steve Aoki to Odesza to Skrillex, Rountree said.
Each of these artists started at grass-roots parties such as Neon Liger.
As for the nine-year reunion, both Seixas and Rountree look forward to a party reminiscent of the Neon Liger events that dominated Gainesville for years.
Along with that, the two are excited to reunite with old friends who moved on to new parts of their lives.
“I have so many friends coming in,” Rountree said. “I’m honestly looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in years.”
Guests 18 and up are welcome at the Atlantic, but The Alley and Arcade Bar will only be for those 21 and up.
