Official Kiss & Fly Review / Club Rumors

So I finally made it to Kiss & Fly and by “made it” I mean I got past the throngs of people and into the actual club for a two-hour analysis. My review in a nutshell:

“Pink Elephant – without the energy or the crazy French people.”

If Webster needed a visual example for the phrase “copy cat,” Kiss from Pink would be an ideal definition. Sure Kiss & Fly wins the décor award. They put in these aesthetically pleasing gold archways and the whole place looks expensive (and in no way resembles Aer!), but the decorations are the only unique thing going on here. Stop me if any of this sounds familiar:

- They have elevated tables around circular dance floor (like Pink Elephant)
- A center piece disco ball (like Pink Elephant)
- A siren sound (a pitch higher and more annoying than Pink Elephant’s)
- Lounge-y house music (like Pink Elephant)

And the music’s not just like Pink Elephant, it’s identical because Pink Elephant’s least impressive DJ has taken up house residence at Kiss & Fly. This was reassuring, since before I knew this I assumed I’d officially ODed on house music since I’d sworn I’d heard the exact musical set I heard on Friday night a dozen times on 27th street. Turns out I had.

A clubbing concept first at Kiss & Fly:

“Coat check girl on the prowl.”

That’s right. Not knowing how long I’d be staying at Kiss & Fly and having no circulation (I’m chronically cold) I’d opted to keep my jacket with me. I laid it down on an out of the way, empty table behind me only to turn around five minutes later and discover it had vanished. At first I panicked thinking a klepto girl with a fur fetish had stolen my leather animal collared mini coat. Then another girl whose jacket had been abducted informed me that a roaming coat check girl had taken them and would be brining us tickets, which she did – twenty minutes later. Having my personal property unknowingly taken from me by management in a club/restaurant setting was an unpleasant first. To their credit, coat-check-chick-on-the-prowl had a great smile and actually delivered me a ticket, which miraculously led me to my coat at the end of the night. I guess we can deduce that Kiss & Fly has a pet peeve about stray clothing.

I skipped out around 2 A.M. since fellow clubbers mentioned Mr Grey might be stopping through. After my Punta zen-style enlightenment, I don't want to even dip my pinky toe into any of that old fog.

In sum, I think Pink Elephant struck gold with the boutique, intimate, international nightclub trend – a trend that has know been replaced by lounges disguised as mini clubs like Goldbar and Socialista. So while many may see Kiss & Fly as a success, I think they’re surfing a passing wave. They won’t be the deranged phenomena that was Pink. That doesn’t mean you might not squeeze in a good night there if they’re hosting a DJ from Europe.


Other club rumors of note:

1. Get ready for Miami’s Mansion opening in the Chelsea space that used to be Crobar on or around Febuary 4th. No one wants to go to big clubs anymore. Mansion’s owners know this. Apparently, they’re planning to deal with the space issue by filling Crobar’s carcass with lots and lots of furniture. No dancefloor. A lot of couches and beds. Will this work? Boogie-ing in what feels like a storage facility? We’ll find out.

2. The owners of Room Service have bought the sadly shutdown New York signature club PM and plan to open Room Service 2 / something else (hopefully of worth) in Meat Packing.

Onto much more interesting topics (i.e. Punta) tmrw.