😩💃 Why Gen Z is ruining the club

🎃 You smell that?? Yup, pumpkin spice is BACK at Dunkin’ tomorrow. But lowkey, we’re more pumped for the Tiramisu Shaken Espresso … Your move, Starbucks.

💗✋ PAUSE. Early-bird ticket pricing ends Aug. 19 for The Pause Festival! It’s $30 for B-Side Members and $50 for everyone else. Get yours here before the pricing goes up to $70 on Thursday! (Members, you’ll still save $20 during the regular sale.)

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

No sleep, bus, club, another club screen time … more screen time. Ya, you’re not seeing things. The club is NOT lookin’ the same as it used to … ‘cause no one is breaking it down on the dance floor anymore.

Here’s what to know:

🤳 TL;DR: It’s allllll about the DJ. Unfortunately, the club is seemingly no longer just a place to go out, have a drink, and bust a move — it’s now a venue for the DJ’s performance. That looks like people are inching closer and closer to the DJ with their phones and snapping pics for the gram, instead of just, ya know … dancing and enjoying the music. (And yes, there’s a LOT of room in the back.)

😡 The audience is getting rowdier … Not only is everyone fighting for a piece of the DJ, but they’re also drunkenly reaching over the booth and touching equipment. One DJ even remembered how someone messed with his gear, and the track actually cut out mid-set. And it seems that this *ahem* gross behavior is happening at concerts, too.

😎 Clubs are going for an ~exclusive~ vibe. And color us shocked, it boils down to $$$. Clubs don’t really care about the music and just want to bring in popular DJs that will rake in the moolah. Plus, nightlife culture is now driven by appearances and creating a hot, sexy image to attract people, especially online (think: filling the DJ booth with baddies). 

🫣 Everyone’s much more self-conscious. People used to feel more free to be themselves at the club, not caring what anyone else thinks … But ya know, since we live in a self-inflicted surveillance state, everyone’s now focused on how they’re perceived — shoutout social media! “People don’t dance because they’re scared of what they look like,” Boston DJ Ella Bahari said. 

💃 So now, the club feels … performative. Yes, partygoers are worried about how they look, more than the actual music, a major buzzkill for the DJs who just want you to dance.

🪩 Wanna dig deeper? Read the full Globe story.

🌇🎺 There are still a few warm Wednesday nights left. Use them well! The Platform Free Summer Series is bringing live music outside to Termeer Square in Kendall Square, with Bad Bunny collaborators Chuwi on Aug. 19, Boston’s own party band Kotoko Brass on Aug. 26, and Big Easy Grammy winners  Rebirth Brass Band on Sept. 2. Come hear three very different takes on party music, get a preview of The Platform — Cambridge’s newest performing arts destination opening in November — and squeeze in a few more epic summer nights while you can. Check out what else is coming to The Platform, and we’ll see you there!

🚲 Somerville’s street safety is ELITE. In fact, it’s had *zero* deaths from traffic collisions in four years, despite it being New England’s densest city. And they cut the number of serious crashes in half in 2025 from the year prior. How? The city has added *tons* of new speed humps, more stop signs, and more shielded bike paths. But the biggest game changer has just been slowing down cars. The default speed limit is 25 mph, and it’s only 20 in many other zones. Maybe Boston could take a page out of Somerville’s book. 

🍽️ Reservation platforms are at war in Boston. Platforms like OpenTable (the old guard), Resy (the cooler hip one), SevenRooms, and Tock are fighting for local restaurants to use their services by merging with big companies, offering $$$ incentives, and most importantly, gathering your data. These platforms are building more diner profiling tools that help restaurants add a lil’ *pizzazz* for guests (i.e. birthday desserts), aiming to become a one-stop-shop concierge service for restaurants.

🤠 Save a horse. Ride a Boston cowboy. ‘Cause Boston Rodeo (a.k.a. the Wild West Out East) is ridin’ back into town Oct. 16-17. This year, it’s a two-day festival in Seaport featuring classic rodeo events like bull riding, steer wrestling, and breakaway roping, plus *lots* of live music. And this isn’t just fun and games — this is a real deal profesh rodeo competition where athletes can get a chance to qualify for nationals in Vegas. Sign up for presale tix here! 

🧑‍🍳 Tiffani Faison really said, “Out with the old, in with the new.” The bad news: The celeb chef and “Chopped” judge is closing both Sweet Cheeks Q and Fool’s Errand after Nov. 24. The good news: She just opened Temp Agency, a new office-themed bar at High Street Place, where sipping on Manhattans and martinis on company cards is the vibe. There’s even a cocktail called the expense account (vodka, strawb pepper shrub, citrus) that we’re sure will hit after a loooong day in the office.

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Wake up, babe! A new Boston landmark just dropped. The Fairmont Copley Plaza, a.k.a. this massive gorg hotel in Back Bay, just got crowned with its landmark status. Basically this means the 114-year-old hotel is protected from any exterior changes, plus any interior ones that would weaken it.

Fun fact: This hotel has a LOT of firsts for Boston like being the first to accept credit cards and completely install AC.

But our fave part of its history? Its Merry-Go-Round Bar. Yes, the bar literally moved, and did a full spin every hour (would love to see this concept play out in Capo Basement).

Sadly, the hotel got rid of it in 1978 when they turned the space into a more formal dining room. But if you look closely, you can still see traces of it in the Oak Long Bar + Kitchen on the floor.

— Written by Kelly Chan and Emily Schario

🎠 Thanks for reading! If the Rose Kennedy Greenway team is reading this, consider this our petition to BYOB on your carousel.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, The Platform, for supporting local journalism and giving us a few more very good reasons to get outside this summer.

🏘️ The results are in: 42% of B-Siders think we shouldn’t slash Boston’s affording housing mandate. But one reader said, “Shouldn’t ALL housing be ‘affordable’ … ?” REAL.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and X. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] and [email protected].