It’s Official, Twurkaholics Are Sell-Outs

Published On February 17, 2013 | Around Town

Two months ago (in December, 2012) we brought you the story of Actual Records, the successful rise of their label, and their “Twurkaholics” party at Soundgarden Hall.

To give you a quick recap, the first ever Twurkaholics was held at Medusa Lounge, a venue that holds somewhere between 100-200 people.

The first Twurkaholics party at Soundgarden Hall two months ago, packed over 1100 fans into the 2000 person capacity venue. The January edition, on the night of a snow storm in Philly, still brought in 1000 people.

Last night (Saturday, February 16th), the third installment of Twurkaholics set a venue record for pre-sale tickets (800+) and by midnight the party had completely sold out the venue, forcing staff to turn away anyone without an advanced ticket. Sometimes, selling out is a good thing.

The night before, Soundgarden Hall hosted a sold-out, 21 and over show with the legendary trance group Above & Beyond, making it two consecutive sold-out events.

While the Above & Beyond event sold-out the venue based on the strength of name recognition and rabid fan base of the performers, it was quite a different story for Twurkaholics. The performers, while all very talented in their own right, would not have anywhere near the drawing power of an internationally acclaimed tour in other venues or cities. So how were they able to do it in Philadelphia? Good old fashioned hard work.

We’ll be the first to admit that we’re fond of the dudes from Actual Records. They are all hard working, down to earth, talented, performers and self promoters. However, we don’t need to blow smoke (machines) up their ass. We don’t cover Twurkaholics because they are good guys; we cover their events because they have quickly become some of the largest, craziest, all-out-parties in the region.

Their formula is simple, much as it was in the movie “Field of Dreams”: If you build it, they will come. Of course Actual Records isn’t in the business of building baseball fields, instead, they have built trust among Philadelphia EDM fans. That trust has been built in warehouses, small venues, and large venues. It is trust in the notion that their events are all about the music and the fans.

They might not get the biggest names, okay, let’s be honest, they don’t get the biggest names, but they get top notch TALENT on the decks that throw down from the first set of the night until the last. It’s the trust that regardless who who is performing, that Twurkaholics will provide a full night of stellar music, that compels fans to faithfully pack into these events.

Add in the low ticket cost ($10 in advance, $15 at the door), a ton of giveaways, dancers, performers, and costumed characters (courtesy of Funtown Productions), and it’s easy to see why Twurkaholics continues to raise the bar that they have set themselves.

Last night’s Valentine’s Day edition featured DJs from the Actual Records crew and several others from the Trouble & Bass crew. There were women, men, and even a couple that performed a B2B (tag-team) set. The evening was headlined by AC Slater.

Now that they’ve sold out one of the largest venues in the city that caters to EDM, what is next for Twurkaholics? Will they take the show on the road? Will they draw in fans from greater distances? Will the production value of the show increase? One thing is for certain… when the party returns next month, on March 8th with a Moombah edition called “Moombaholics”, be sure to get your tickets in advance or you could, quite literally, be left out in the cold.