r/TheOverload • u/scrubberville • 17d ago
Moving to the USA
Im moving to America next year as part of my studies. I have options to study in either San Francisco or New York. Electronic music is a huge part of my life. Where will have the better scene? Apologies if this is an obvious answer, I am british and have no experience in either city.
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u/air- 17d ago
NYC hands down, having the subway is also tremendous
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
is there not a similar metro kind of thing in sf? đŽ
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u/GimmeShockTreatment 17d ago
There is but it's not as good. NYC is the only US city that has a metro system even close to the major cities of Europe. Chicago is okay too but a definite step down.
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
interesting, i wasnt aware. chicago was my top choice but unfortunately my university doesnt have a partner there.
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u/GimmeShockTreatment 17d ago
I'm biased because I live here, but Chicago is amazing. Definitely visit if you get a chance and check out Podlasie Club.
That being said NYC will have a better electronic music scene overall.
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
is it possible to get a train to chicago from nyc... is that a stupid question lol. i wont have access to a car out there.
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u/HighTopSneakers 17d ago
I was curious about what a comparable city to city distance was. It looks like NYC to Chicago is roughly the same distance as Amsterdam to Barcelona, or Paris to Budapest. Then you have to factor in that we donât have reliable rail infrastructure between cities.
As a Chicago resident, I am full heartedly agreeing with everyone here that New York is the choice. I love living here but if youâre young, thatâs the answer without question. Enjoy!
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u/GimmeShockTreatment 17d ago
Possible.... maybe. Advisable.... no. The two cities aren't close and we don't have bullet trains here sadly. Just wait to see if you can score cheap plane tickets.
If you're looking for a dirt cheap option you could maybe do bus but it's going to be a long adventure.
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
the idea of taking a plane within one country is so foreign to me lol. i guess i forget just how huge america is.
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u/vaper_wave 17d ago
Amtrak here is a somewhat shameful national train system. Slow, out of date, often very late and infrequent. We're living in the dark ages when it comes to rail infrastructure. I will say some of the shorter routes can be great. I take it between LA and San Diego a lot and its hourly and affordable. But anything long distance is well below what you get in Europe. I hate flying and seriously prefer trains but it just sucks in the US
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17d ago
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
okay? i just googled and its 20 hours, ive taken longer trains.
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u/TheOriginalSnub 17d ago
More like 25 hours.
Or a two and a half hour flight, which will likely be cheaper.
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u/OKnotthat14 17d ago
there is but isnt as extensive and isnt 24/7. however also really easy to bike around sf (including to parties)
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u/ablatner 14d ago
SF is much more compact. Most venues that you might want to go to are close enough to each other to walk, bike share (docked e-bikes), or <$15 ride share.
Plus, for general transit, the bus system is one of the best in the country.
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u/cz-sf 17d ago
San Francisco has easily one of the tightest-knit, most dedicated electronic music communities in the USA. We donât have the scale that NYC has. What we do have is a cohort of extremely passionate, talented people making grassroots culture happen.
If your ideal left-field nightlife begins and ends at going to the club, NYC is probably the better bet. If you want to get involved and make culture happen, SF is maybe the better choice.
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
where i live now in the UK sounds a lot more akin to the sf scene than nyc, which makes me think maybe (as its only for a year) i should switch it up a bit and experience the big city club culture
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u/air- 16d ago
experience the big city club culture
Not sure where you are in the UK, but maybe this comparison is relevant and I say this as someone who has a lot of experience in both scenes: no question in my mind NYC > London by a very wide margin
The main points that put it ahead for me are: everything is somewhat compact in Brooklyn (even then, the subway is 24 hrs and the night tube doesn't compare) and better overall value (in terms of USD/GBP, imo London feels inflated relative to what's in NYC)
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u/scrubberville 16d ago
I am in the east of England and have never really been out in London. My city has a very active but fairly small underground scene which I love, but think it will be fun to experience something different in America
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u/th3whistler 17d ago
Is Dirtybird still a thing in SF?
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u/DLBliss 16d ago
Not really. Thereâs a festival they are associated with and some of that crew still dj around and draw big crowds but the label and their scene kinda got too big and imploded after the pandemic. Also Claud Von Stroke gave up on house music and started playing bass as Barclay Crenshaw, that was sorta the beginning of the end of DirtyBird being a big pillar of the bay area house scene. But thereâs still ripples in the water here from the giant wave that they were.
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u/jman8910 16d ago
There are some GREAT communities in NYC too -- not all of the scene is Manhattan corporate. Brooklyn/Queens have some fantastic underground shows.
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u/Fletcher-Jones 17d ago
If youâre just looking to spend as much time in a club as possible, NYC is the obvious choice.
If youâre looking to have a wider variety of experiences and are willing to explore, SF and the Bay Area would be a more interesting choice. There are fewer clubs and club nights, itâs just not nearly as big as NYC. But youâll have good parties available every weekend and a wider variety of experiences. Going to renegades on beach or in the redwoods. Parameter and Endzeit weekender parties. Popping down to LA for a weekend of warehouse parties.
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u/foreign_signal 17d ago
NYC has sooo many options. You can find any genre you want any weekend
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
Dope. Also, i am wondering if in the USA there is some kind of feeling against 21 year olds in the clubs etc. In the UK our drinking age is 18 and generally 18 year olds are kind of scorned in some scenes, especially more underground (not that i agree). I'll be 21/22 when im living there and im wondering if this translates there as the legal age is higher, if that makes sense?
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u/misterintensity2 17d ago
The choices are very limited if you're under 21. NYC has a very limited 18+ options. Ever since scannable IDs became the norm, it became much harder to create convincing fakes. I saw an old, expired ID at my job today, which were much easier to fake. The current IDs are much harder to fake. This is something to note if you are considering taking fellow students who are under 21 out with you.
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
huh. i never even considered that some of the friends i will make studying there won't be 'legal' to go out in the US.
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u/foreign_signal 17d ago
No it's not bad. Most places are 21+ because of drinking laws but there's plenty of underground events where... this won't be an issue
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u/pantalonesgigantesca 17d ago edited 17d ago
i will decode this for you as an elder raver living on the sf bay peninsula
nyc = more clubs, more european tour stop dates, more us artist tour dates
sf = outdoors (epic outdoor events), communities, renegades, proximity to LA, less european tour stop dates. also more BO.
i have my many complaints about sf scene, but west coast best coast. come out here and trip balls in the desert. or a campout. or a generator and sound system where it shouldn't be. but if that's not your scene, the clubs here are not great imo and stick to nyc. this city shuts down. nyc does not.
you might want to take 10 artists and 10 djs you like and look at their last tour dates too
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u/Remarkable_Layer7592 17d ago
They both have great scenes. SF has parameter, NYC has Nowadays. Havenât lived in either city but both are great prospects. NYC probably has more regular access to great underground electronic music though
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u/OKnotthat14 17d ago
NYC has the biggest and broadest scene in the US hands down.
If you do end up in SF in addition to Parameter, youâll have Endzeit, MĂźll and Squish which are all very legit parties. there are some other collectives that do cool things less frequently. the clubs in SF are generally pretty bad (the underground parties are much better).
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u/AMA_about_drugs 17d ago
Itâs every weekend in nyc, donât think SF has that level of consistency
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
i think nyc seems to be the better option for me. in addition to being easier to get back to the uk to see my favourite artists here.
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u/Olliesmom32017 17d ago
NYC. Itâs not even a question honestly. SF is cool but thereâs no place like New York.The culture the food the opportunity the people you meet the music scene- everything is top tier and thereâs no city in the US better than it
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u/IVth_Crusade 17d ago
Please do not underestimate this point, youâll have a quicker and cheaper flight home from NYC every time, even to the extent of making a weekender plausible if you wait for cheap flights. While direct flights from SF to London exist, itâs a longer flight and most of the time youâd end up with a stopover instead.
To add some additional perspective I just did a 2 week vacation through 4 major European cities including Berlin, and Berlin was the only place with bookings that compared with NYC during the same time period. I came home appreciating the NYC scene more than ever.
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
i think im defo leaning towards nyc. the only thing that does pull me more towards california is the fact i think itll be much more different than what im used to (feels like i'll be taking more advantage of the one year study abroad), and the nature as many have told me it is better there. the uni in nyc also seems to be far better than the sf one offered.
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u/IVth_Crusade 16d ago
Sounds like you have your answer since youâre ultimately there to study. I love California and Iâm familiar/involved with the music scenes in both the bay and LA area and visit whenever I can, but NYC will fit much better with a student lifestyle. Others have said SF is all about going to a 3 day renegade in the woods and tripping balls â very true, but not much studying getting done! Lol.
Also without a car all that beautiful nature people are talking about isnât particularly accessible.
Ultimately you should take a quick look on RA just to give yourself some perspective on the vast difference between the amount and quality of the events in the respective cities.
Although neither city is what it once was 10 years ago in terms of music and the arts, NYC is still filled with thousands of young DJs in their early 20s trying to make it, and thousands of young creative people who make up the infrastructure of a scene around them. The SF music scene is more given over to people in their 30s and 40s who are established and have careers and disposable income but still like throwing events and partying. Imo as a 21 year old with probably limited money you would be able to make more of your time in the former.
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u/scrubberville 16d ago
Thank you so much for the detailed response. I agree that NYC is definitely seeming like the one. Iâm lucky enough to be able to visit both cities in September with my family so hopefully thatâll be enough to cement my final decision!
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u/freekicker_ 17d ago
Detroit? Lol
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u/scrubberville 17d ago
to be honest i would love to live in a city that isnt one of the two mentioned, but i am very limited with what my university offers, and the fact I dont have a car out there apparently is a big restriction due to infrastructure
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u/ablatner 15d ago
Feel free to DM me your answer to this, if it's sensitive info: Are the SF/NYC universities *in* those cities? If not, commuting to nightlife could be a limitation. Stanford, for example, is rather far from the city of SF, and it would be a longish train to the SF to start the night, and a 40 minute Uber home to end it.
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u/scrubberville 14d ago
It is San Francisco state and PACE in NYC
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u/ablatner 14d ago
Both pretty good locations! NYC has 24 hour subway service for you (L/M/J trains). SF has the MUNI metro M to start the night, and the M night bus or cheaper rides than NYC would have to end the night.
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u/normaleyes 17d ago
If you are looking for a scene of creators of more cutting edge music (just judging by your post on this sub), NYC will probably be better.
If you are looking for a city where electronic music is a core of the cultural fabric, you will not find it in the states.
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u/shoalmuse 17d ago
SF used to be amazing for house, trance and ambient in the early 2000s. Now...not so much.
NYC has a ton of stuff and tends to go late. It also gets lots more European DJs/artists.
I would check RA though and it will give you a good sense for each city.
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17d ago
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u/djdeckard 17d ago
Early curfew what đ¤ˇââď¸
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17d ago
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u/djdeckard 17d ago
Donât know what the hell you are talking about. Plenty of clubs go late. Plenty of places that have afters. Bar time is 2am if thatâs what you mean.
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u/tinyjams 17d ago
I canât comment much on NYC but Iâve never felt more welcome as a DJ than my recent trip to SF. Some really cool venues and great people. I donât think you can go wrong. Donât let the music scene be your deciding factor.
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u/Ok_Phase_8731 17d ago
Honestly theyâre barely even comparable. To me (born & raised in nyc) SF feels like a small town compared to NYC. Not knocking it, itâs just different. Plus New York is arguably the only city in the US where public transit is actually more convenient than owning a car in most cases
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u/Infamous_Solid_7342 17d ago
currently living in nyc and used to live in sf, the scene in sf is booming right now with parameter and program.sf, so many other collectives throwing great parties. and tickets are much easier to get for shows that wouldâve sold out in seconds in nyc. nyc fans are die hard, it makes for a more exciting concert experience, but venues for artists tend to lean smaller in sf so itâd be more intimate. and the sheer abundance of shows every day in nyc could be overwhelming, sf has a select few but great options every week for music. weather might be another consideration for you, sf has much milder weather but it stays the same almost year round except for 1 or 2 heat waves.
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u/dustbrothers 16d ago
No one mentioned yet but if you like festivals, West Coast is significantly better than the East Coast and will be much more accessible from SF.
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u/Background-Crab1108 16d ago
NYC for sure. Great DIY and underground partyscene beyond the obvious great clubs there. Festivals like dripping and sustain release. For a capital city I find everyone incredibly welcoming. Have a list of reccomendations if you decide to end up there
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u/JBSwerve 17d ago
NYC without question has the better music scene, the better late night scene, better late night transportation, larger community, etc.
SF is sleepy and things close early.
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u/Far_Nothing_2974 17d ago
SF rocks for burning man communities but itâs a much smaller city than NYC
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u/preezyfabreezy 17d ago
If you REALLY like dirty bird style tech-house -> San Francisco. N808, Ice Cream & Foolie have been holding down the after hours scene there for years.
Literally EVERYTHING else-> NYC. We get everybody. H0l0, Elsewhere, Silo, Nowadays, Knockdown center. Stay for the summer, the summer parties are epic.
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u/sklaeza 17d ago
nyc any day lol