Majestic Casual. The first time I heard about it was 2013. Someone who only listened to Noir and Alle Farben normally showed me this youtube channel that was running music from various artists I never had heard of. The styles were chilled and pleasant, but not something I’d play in a club. It was rather a channel I opened on youtube while working, since the music did not interfere with my productivity. In between, the channel got blocked by youtube, but at this time, Majestic Casual is operating fully (with side channels like dubstep and drumand base). Here are a few of the social media channels that channel owner “Nick” from Stuttgart is operating:

• Majestic Casual x youtube channel
• Majestic Casual x facebook
• Majestic Casual x instagram
• Majestic Casual x twitter
• Majestic Casual x Spotify
• Majestic Casual x google+
• Majestic Casual x soundcloud
• Majestic Casual x tumblr
• Majestic Casual x Shop

On November 25, 2015, reddit user /u/Salve_Eels asked: “What happened to the YouTube channel “Majestic Casual”?”  stating

• “I had over 200 songs saved into a playlist from this channel, as I found so many new kinds of music through Majestic Casual. I went to autoplay the playlist, but noticed every single video was [Deleted Video]. Whats even worse is that I can’t even recover the title of the song or the artist. What happened to Majestic Casual?”

A deleted user answered:

• “Majestic has been both a blessing for artists whose music featured on the channel reached a huge audience (that you’re part of it) and also apain because it gave them little traction to attract audience on their own bandcamp/soundcloud page. Audience of Majestic Casual for the huge majority didn’t bother to go check artists pages (I believe you qualify as that kind of person) and just stuck with the channel and the arbitrary selection made there. From a fan channel willing to just spread love of music, it turned into a sort of taste maker that was very prejudiciable for a lot of artists of various genre. Majestic first tried to diversify itself by launching an EP (or several?) under its own label. And the new addition to its repertoire is now acting as a tour promoter featuring prominent NuDisco artists. Several dates have already been set up in various cities around the world. Majestic Casual has helped a small amount of artists to become prominent, but most of the others have not benefited that much from it. I believe the take down of the videos has been made as more and more labels were threatening Majestic. A result of a behind closed doors deal, and a greater focus on organization of the Majestic Casual tour now.”

And they did a great job organizing: In January, word reached stylistberlin.de that Majestic Casual would go on world tour, and the kickoff party would be held in Berlin.

https://majesticcasual.com/mlive

Majestic Casual’s Nick was so nice to invite me to the party where MUNK (Gomma Records) and SHIR KHAN (Exploited Records) were playing. It was at Malzfabrik that is usually not a venue I would go to for a gig – but then again, nothing about Majestic Casual is “usual”, so why not?

The venue was welcoming, there was a food truck at the entrance until around midnight, the letters (and hashtag) MLIVE was projected on the walls of Malzfabrik, and the place was full. You could only enter if you were on the list – no cash at the door, and if you weren’t on the list, you could still call somebody from the team to get in (according to the guestlist managing ladies).

Along with a card that listed the playtimes and the announcement to “win two tickets and a trip to London”, you got a “Jägermeister shot” chip. Since the ticket fees began at 22EUR for early birds and ended with a 36EUR ticket later on, this was a nice “compensation”.

Right at the entrance, we met some friends and had a look around the place.

Here is a snapshot with the Nokia Lumia 930 of HONNE:

These guys made a lot of the guests dance and even sing along.

Opinion: Nick and his team seem to be real marketing pros. Everything – from announcement to website to ticket purchase to logistics was very well organized. They had cared for dinner (burger truck) and enough security who checked IDs and bags. The foyer had enough space, so guests could use the wardrobe without stress, and another doorman checked your wristbands upon entering the concert venue.

The hall was big enough for the crowd, the bar staff was quick and friendly – ordering drinks was not a problem.

The crowd was very mixed, from suit-wearers to DJs and producers, to teens who just barely made the minimum age limit, from hardcore HONNE fans to normal hipster ravers, from alternative rastafarian to Westberlin chics – it was hard to grasp the target audience of Majestic Casual. We figured that this was the key to the huge success – music that was appealing to a large audience, picked by “Nick”. It was amazing to see all those people mingle (and when midnight struck, several highly drunk) and interact with each other.

However, we didn’t know that people NOT on the list weren’t allowed to enter at any cost. That explains the several people lignering around the venue (which was quite a wa from the next public transportation) discussing what to do.

The normal ticket fee of 36EUR seemed a bit high for Berlin standards, but then again, you had bands and DJs, for eight hours straight – and you got Jägermeister shots and the chance to win a trip to London for the London showcase.

The sound was only medium – being in the back pf the concert venue, it was hard to catch any melody of the tracks. The bass was so heavy that it reminded me of the Berghain floor – and the actual song wasn’t heard that well. Here, either the organisers or Malzfabrik could have done a better  job. Everything looked fancy, so the bad sound was a bit underwhelming.

Overall, the Majestic Casual World Tour 2016 kickoff party in Berlin was quite an event, and we had wished that Shir Khan would have played before 3am. This is a cultural phenomenon that people should keep an eye on – we are very keen to see if the concept will work in the future, too, and how much more Majestic Casual will grow. Thumbs up!!