Photo via Wikimedia.
BY NICOLAS STERGIOU | nicolas.stergiou@gmail.com
I love music. I love Astoria. I think silent discos can be fun—maybe a little awkward if you’re only watching. Living here, I wish my neighbors would adopt headphones when they have backyard music parties until 2 a.m. But I was in my twenties once. I get it.
But if there were ever an inappropriate moment for a “disco” of any kind — silent or otherwise — it’s probably a September 11th memorial.
A friend sent me a promotion from Quiet Events for a “NEVER FORGET — A SILENT DISCO FOR UNITY & SUPPORT” at Bohemian Beer Garden, one of Astoria’s longtime neighborhood staples. The promo promised “3 DJs battling live,” “3 channels in your headphones,” and “one electric, glowing dance floor filled with connection.” On September 11th.
And boy did Astoria NOT forget.
It also said: “Tonight… we honor, we remember, and we dance with intention.” Like many in Astoria, I thought: Is this satire?
I’m not quick to cancel people over a bad idea. My sense of humor is pretty dark, so I tend to laugh at the absurdity before passing judgment. I am, however, quick to be entertained by a comment section, and Astoria did not disappoint.
Across Instagram, Discord, and the Astoria subreddit, people questioned whether a 9/11-themed nightlife event was really the best way to honor the day. The AI-heavy promotional artwork didn’t help. One image showed a woman praying while wearing headphones in a crowd of dancers, accompanied by a fire emoji and the word “Remembrance.” Wooooof.
One commenter summarized the entire thing better than I ever could:
“3 DJs. 1 silent disco. 9 elevens.”
Quiet Events initially defended the concept in the comments, saying it was about unity and remembering the feeling of togetherness after 9/11. But as criticism continued, the company changed course and deleted the posts.
In a later statement, Quiet Events wrote that tying a nightlife event to 9/11 “was completely tone-deaf and insensitive,” adding that its follow-up responses had “made things worse by being defensive instead of listening.”
That’s a pretty direct admission, and appreciated.
The company removed the 9/11 “theme”, said the event would continue as a regular gathering and announced that 20 percent of ticket sales would go to Veterans Rebuilding Life.
By that point, curiosity got the better of me, so I wandered over to Bohemian Beer Garden around 10p to see what all the fuss had become.
And what I found was basically… a silent disco.
No great civic collapse. No dancing memorial. Just people wearing glowing headphones at Astoria’s legendary beer garden. And that would have been fine without all the awkward promotion.
Bohemian Beer Garden remains a neighborhood institution, and this seems less like a reason to condemn anyone than a reminder that sometimes a promoter reads the room badly, gets roasted by Queens and—eventually—listens.
For an event built around a moment of silence, it somehow made an incredible amount of noise.
Luckily, Bohemian has plenty of more traditional reasons to make some noise.
See everyone back at the Beer Garden for Bohemian Battles and Oktoberfest on September 26.
Nicolas Stergiou is an Astoria-born social media manager, labor organizer and unofficial “Astoria Street Spectator.”
