Where Are the Freaks Going Out?
On performance, scrolling, and the loss of being in the room
The number of times I’ve gone down internet rabbit holes asking things like “where do all the creative people hang out in New York?” “where can I find underground art?” or even “where are the freaks going out?” is honestly insane. And somehow, I still haven’t found a real answer. Nothing like The Cabaret Voltaire, the Blitz, Club 57, The Limelight, Roxy, or Tunnel – nowhere that captures that same live, avant-garde, bohemian energy.
I’m talking burlesque, drag, go-go dancers, aerialists, stand-up – full-on theatrical nights. That kind of immersive, chaotic, expressive scene. I crave that energy: being surrounded by music, art, and people who are completely, unapologetically themselves.
Which makes me wonder: if those spaces don’t really exist in the 2020s…what’s our version of that now?
Maybe the answer isn’t a place at all. Maybe it’s something we’ve been scrolling through this whole time.
In an era of instant gratification, I’m starting to think we’re losing real-life experiences. You want to watch a short film? Skip the screening, watch it on your couch. You want to see a drag show? Open TikTok. You want to see an artist’s new collection? It’s already on your Instagram feed.
But that strips away so much of what makes these things beautiful. You lose the sensory overload – the smell of a gallery, the thick heat of a crowded club, the bass vibrating in your chest as a performer takes the stage. You lose the conversations, the shared reactions, the feeling of being part of something happening right now. Comment sections can’t replicate that. They never will.
I’m not just missing that feeling. I’m craving it – the rush of experiencing art surrounded by people who are all in on the same moment. And when you do find it, they rarely last. A one-night thing. A pop-up. Gone as quickly as it appeared. I want consistency.
So maybe this is our modern equivalent. Not a physical space, but a digital one. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube have become the new places where creativity thrives – where anyone can perform, experiment, and be seen. In a lot of ways, they mirror what those clubs and cabarets once were: chaotic, boundary-pushing, and expressive.
But the difference is how we experience it.
Those older scenes demanded presence. You had to show up, take part, risk being seen in real time. Risk being bad. Risk not being liked. Now, everything feels curated. Edited. Safe. We create and consume from a distance. We post, we scroll, we like, we move on.
What was once immersive has become observation. What was once collective has become individual.
And maybe that’s the trade-off. We’ve gained access, visibility, and endless creative content, but we’ve lost the concept of being in the moment.
Or maybe we haven’t.
Maybe those spaces still exist. Just harder to find. Less documented. More word-of-mouth. The kind of places you don’t discover through a search bar, but through knowing someone who knows someone.
And if that’s the case, I need in.
Because I don’t think scrolling is enough for me anymore. I want to be in the room.