Sea Of Dreams

Definitely not worth the price I paid for it. Cool lights and balloons though, and the silent room was nifty. Far too much marijuana smoke in the air.

Too loud! Wear ear plugs if you must go.

I’ve rang in the New Year at Sea of Dreams three times now — 2011, 2013 & 2014.
Obviously, I had a blast the first two times (Thievery Corporation was at the 2011 show, and 2013 featured The Glitch Mob & Gogo Bordello) or I wouldn’t have returned.
This last NYE, though I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Thievery Corporation once again, was disappointing in comparison. It was fun, but I won’t be going back next year. The new venue isn’t as good as the old one for wandering. In fact, I didn’t even realize there were additional stages until past midnight. And, speaking of midnight, apparently they were a couple minutes off. I don’t get it… how do you mess that up?
Nobody seems to be into elaborate costumes the way they used to — half of the fun for me in the past was people-​watching. It definitely seemed like a completely different crowd of people, which was too bad.
The welcoming friendly vibes I’d experienced at Sea of Dreams before were mostly replaced by strong waves of I’m-trying-way-too-hard-to-get-laid-and-angry-it-isn’t-working emulating from large groups of bros. And I met a few angry drunks.
I liked the 2013 party better. I even found some weird hippie parents toting their ear-​muffed baby around that year. And I carded it. It didn’t have proper ID, so I have no idea how old it is, or what its gender is.

300^th review woot!
I didn’t know quite what to expect what with my friends comparing it to burning man and from the interesting collection of website pictures, so I tried to go with minimal expectations. The 12 of us ended up having an awesome NYE! Without going into tons of details, I’ll just highlight some of the pros and cons:
PROS:
— very reasonably priced tickets ($ 75), but outrageous service fee ($ 15/​ticket) from ticketmasters so I would rec getting your tickets somewhere else
— nice decorations
— didn’t feel too crowded, but just crowded enough
— AMAZING sound system
— lots of seating in case you need a break from dancing
— thievery corporation, atrak, and dillon francis were outstanding!
— reasonably priced drinks
— you can (literally) wear anything you want (from pasties, to tutus, to regular NYE attire). i would recommend adding something with lights tho, it’s more fun :)
CONS:
— their NYE countdown was off (how does this even happen??), i think it was 2 min early
— the order of the lineup was bad (thievery corporation was on right around midnight and if you know their music, it wasn’t the right mood for NYE)
— ONLY print tickets accepted at the door? this is 2014! luckily, we were able to get our tickets printed at the ticket window
— it’s an 18+ event
— coat check line was the longest i’ve ever seen

We attended the 2013 NYE event. It was fantastic. Great music, great crowd, very «Burning Man Decompression» type of vibe. Gogol Bordello didn’t disappoint. We bought the VIP tickets — we originally were planning to go to a different event that was even more expensive than the VIP tickets, so comparatively they were a great deal for the benefits — separate coat check with no lines, separate access to the stages. I’ve read from other Unilocal reviews that previous Sea of Dreams events had a lot of problems, but it is apparent that the organizers of the event learned their lessons and have gotten much better at running these events.
At all times we felt very welcome, and there was a great energetic vibe across the whole event; there were plenty of people drinking, however, no fights broke out, and no vomit was to be seen anywhere, which is a perennial staple of other NYE parties.
One of the best things they had this year was a chill-​out room that was run by the mobile unit of Om Shan Tea — this was a great opportunity to sit around, drink tea, and meet new people, which is often difficult to do at huge concert events. The Taco Truck outside was still serving food at 2:30am, which was also fantastic for reenergizing.
Also! They had local massage therapists setup with their tables and give out massages! Some were paid, and some were for tips only — we chose a paid one (we believe in that whole ‘support your local service provider’ thing) — it totally relaxed us for the Gogol Bordello moshpit right afterwards :)
Because no review can go without some negative: we saw that the regular, non-​VIP coatcheck had a very long line. This might be a ding for someone else’s review; however, since we weren’t affected, we are not taking any stars away.

Its a great place to celebrate NYE if your alone or you don’t have anything to do. the music they play are awesome and everyone enjoys it. It goes to the we morning hr. the venue is massive. So for those who like dance music this is the place to be to experience all of the things you want.

Many of the problems referred to in the older reviews have been resolved by the promoter and event staff. I’ve attended this event for the past three years and have never experienced any problems with entry lines. (I suppose if you wait to arrive just before midnight there is a long line — as is true at virtually every event and bar across downtown). Lines at bars were minimal all night. In some years, I’ve had a long wait for coat check, but this year there were really no lines at all. The lines for the indoor restrooms can get a bit long later in the night, but there are tons of port-​a-​potties outside with no lines.
In terms of the event itself, they do a great job of transforming the concourse into a multi-​stage venue and creating a visually interesting environment for music and performance art. There are some issues with sound quality each year, but that has been the case with most events I’ve attended at the concourse. The promoters have done a great job adding to the event each year, for example, more/​better food options and more staff working lines.
The crowd is really pleasant compared to other NYE events in SF… very chill, not a posh/​dressy atmosphere at all. It’s become my default NYE plan if I stay in the city.

To my surprise, Sea of Dreams was actually a really fun event. It was my first time and I had no idea what to expect.
I should say that the decorations were a little cheesy in some areas and the coat check line was ridick (way too long) that we didn’t even bother, but the best part of the night was the music/​live bands and the high energy as you approached midnight.
The space was totally suitable for the event — large enough so you could walk around to all of the different band stages. It was also pretty organized except for the occassional traffic jams near the entry/​exit ways.
The crowd was fun too, the typical SF/​Burning Man/​Hippie crowd. Our group was way over overdressed, but we didn’t care that much, it was New Years Eve! We even bought some feathery masquerade masks and wore them all night that made for some fun photo opps.
The food trucks were awesome and reasonably priced too. We had Filipino food (adobo and lumpia were delish).
The bar could use some work though, no salt or limes for the tequila shots :-(
Yeah, I would probably go back next year!

2010 NYE was the best NYE I have ever experienced. I never thought an event this massive would be so chill. The five stages were bouncing, and the artist lineup was the best in the Bay for that night.
Several of my friends have been coming for four years straight and made many of their first Burning Man contacts here. This can be a life changing event, but if not, it sure as hell is a great way to start the year.

Sea of Dreams — GalaxSea was an awesome event to bring in New Year 2011! We splurged for VIP tickets and didn’t find any appetizers, but thought the separate entry line, lounge areas, coat check and restrooms were worth the time saved. Fantastic music was played on three stages, as well as in the Hookahdome. We arrived in time to see Gaudi on the Fantasea Stage and counted down to Beats Antique and a balloon drop. There was plenty of eye candy, artwork and beautiful displays to look at.
If you like dance/​electronica, you’ll enjoy this huge venue filled with dancing revelers! Plan ahead and arrange for hotel rooms nearby. Especially on a rainy evening like we had, taxi cabs are hard to flag down after midnight. We also had dinner at Bossa Nova prior to the party, which made for a perfect entire NYE-​ning.
Minus one star for the lovely aerial hoop performer who was badly injured after missing her grip and falling several feet to the hard floor right in front of us; that was a shock and downer for sure and we hope she is able to recover completely.

Lame.
Not well-​organized, for one. And like another user said, it’s a 99% Burning Man crowd.

After having spent NYE last year with the geriatrics at the Ritz in HMB we were thrilled to be hanging with fellow burners at what we expected to be an over the top event at the Design Center. VIP tickets in hand, donning amazing attire of we went! First of all I think they must have taken care of some of the line issues since we arrived at 11 pm to find no wait whatsoever. Id’s checked and blue wristbands on we were in the door in less than 5 min.
The event itself seemed well organized with an abundance of interesting things to see and do. Food vendors, art, and tables of handicrafts and a plethora of costumes in case you didn’t like the outfit you came in. VIP tickets got you inside bathrooms (making it worth the price of admission in my mind), two drink tickets, and some complimentary Thai food. The special viewing «area» was blocked by support columns and made it nearly impossible to see anything. Overall not really worth the extra money unless you have a tiny bladder.
The crowd was fairly hip with ages ranging from lollipop sucking ravers to some of our veteran friends from the Burning Man ORG. My only real complaint (a huge disappointment actually) was the music. With all of the amazingly talented dj’s and music groups in our 7×7 city you would think that a party of this magnitude would be off the hook. well you thought wrong. Between the Cancun style mariachi band and the dj’s spinning industrial techno we mostly stood or wandered around desperately trying to find something reasonable to dance to. Come on guys… WTF? Everyone else seemed to agree witnessed by the half empty dance floors and the same folks doing the loop with us.
After midnight the crowd thinned and we were left with the hardcore partiers. Bassnectar came on the main stage and while the visual production was impressive, the insane drum and bass beats were merely an assault on my ear drums. Ahhh well…
A huge improvement over hanging with grandpa but a disappointment none the less. If you want a place to see and be seen this is it, but skip it if you are looking for a place to dance.

Sea of Dreams blew my mind. It was quite possibly the best event — that took place in a single night — that I have ever been to.
For me — it was the best of 2009 and the best of 2010.
It was a beautiful night full of mind-​blowingly amazing people, captivating innovative art, and music that shook you to your very core.
Glitch Mob rocked the place — and the Hookahdome churned out good beats all night.
I would not have improved a thing (even the interesting bathroom waits were fruitful — full of slivers of wisdom)
I couldn’t have asked for a better way to bring in the New Year.
I am truly blessed.
Trust.

Anon Salon should be embarrassed of how poorly this was organized.
The line was outright dangerous. No order, no one organizing, just thousands of people in a mob pushing toward the entrance. It made me think of the Walmart trampling.
It’s a shame they have a corner on the NYE party market because I would support anything else that had names like they get.

It’s New Year’s Eve people! You can’t just expect to show up at 11 and get right inside. This is a HUGE venue and a MASSIVE event… Granted it was terribly disorganized, but all you stragglers are partially to blame for not getting your shit together and showing up with some time to spare. I got there at 10 and had no problem getting inside, saw tons of great people in fabulous costumes and enjoyed 3 stages of killer music… Bassnectar never fails to leave me begging for more and the lights and visuals were astonishing.
Sidenote: I hope all you complainers don’t come to Burning Man cause you’ll piss your pants when you have to wait in your car for 5 hours while a dust storm rages outside. A small price to pay to get your socks rocked off.

Although the music was stellar and I was in great company, I would not attend an SOD NYE event again.
Like many will-​call patrons, we waited in line for over 1.5 hours and luckily made it in 10 minutes before the midnight countdown. The SOD promoters did a horrible job with managing the will-​call and the entry area altogether. The event entry/​admission area could have been labeled a «Sea of Confusion» as lines were intertwined, looped and fenced with very limited signage or direction. To add to this, many people were cutting, jumping lines and pushing their way into the front of the will-​call area as there was little to no security mandating this near the entrance. Once you got into the will-​call ticketing table area, it was still a mass of confusion. We finally made it to the table, only to be told we were in the wrong area and actually seeing the wrong person as the 4 or 5 individuals behind the table had specific ticket holder lists pertaining to last names. Amazing???
After all this, we luckily made it in for the countdown and caught the rest of Thievery Corp. Looking forward to a fantastic 2009 but to the SOD NYE management team and in the words of the Donald — you’re fired!

I had sooooo much fun last night. I’m sorry people got screwed over by the poorly organized understaffed lines. When we got there, nobody knew which line was which, where to go, or anything. We lucked out and got there early enough to avoid most of the insanity. Our friends that showed up at 10:30 didn’t get in till 11:55. Totally lame.
As far as the sound system, I was pretty nervous about it. Folks have written so many 1 star reviews here, as well as on the Concourse in general.
As long as you were close to the stage, the sound was perfectly good. That is to say, it was really f’ing loud and you could feel the bass pounding through your heart. Standing around the outskirts the sound was terrible, but as long as you got close, it sounded great.
The bathrooms had long lines and were pretty gross. The bars were relatively quick and drinks weren’t ridiculously overpriced. The air system was working pretty well too. It wasn’t too warm, there were lots of places where you could find a nice cool breeze. Honestly, I disagree with all the stinky hippy comments. After 6 years at HSU, I hate patchouli and dirty dread stink hippies, but I found this group to be appropriately well showered and perfumed.
The costumes and people watching were AMAZING all night long. Lots of beautiful people strutting their stuff and showing off.
And I do have to say, the talent this year ROCKED. I’d never seen The Mutaytor before, what a show! I’m definitely a fan now. Thievery Corporation of course rocked, as did all the DJs. Pushing 2am DJ Rekha had us all still dancing to his tribal beats and middle eastern rhythms.
When we got tired, we could always retire to the Hookah Lounge and relax on the pillows for a while and enjoy a quick smoke.
Highlight of the evening, my girl Sarah C captivated the crowd with her belly dance burlesque stylings with her troupe Sister Kate. Shake it Sarah!
So yeah, we had a great time. Thanks so much. Hopefully next year they’ll have their doors properly staffed so people are able to get in and enjoy!

Hey… did they change anon salon into sea of dreams?
Cause Sea of Dreams is a burning man carnival style party with endless acts in a huge, cavernous, aggressively impersonal convention room with bad sound.
That sucked.

So let me start this review by saying that the Anon Salon rocks! I love these guys and they throw some really awesome parties. Their dj and performance line ups are absolutely stellar and the crowd they attract is a good old crew of burners, ravers, freaks and hippies. .. right up my alley :-)
That being said I still have to give this party only 3 stars. Last year was my first Sea of Dreams so I don’t know what prior years were like but I don’t think I will be going back this year for two main reasons:
1. The space. While I have to give it points for being within walking distance to my apartment, this space really isn’t all that great for a party. It’s just too big and wide open and sort of defuses the energy. That or there just weren’t enough people to fill it properly.
2. «VIP seating» was misrepresented and a complete ripoff! We paid $ 50 extra for these tickets and the «vip area» literally consisted of a rope with some folding chairs and tables behind it.
Anyway, it’s kind of a tough call for me, Thievery Corp and Bassnectar would normally be enough to motivate me to attend, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be going elsewhere this year.

This was the most overrated event I have ever attended. I never purchased VIP tickets in my life… until this. And now I probably won’t ever again.
When we got there, we entered through the back at the area marked Will Call. We waited in line for about 15 minutes, only to be told that we were in the wrong line. We went to where the girl pointed us to and waited in a poorly marked VZP line for 30 minutes.
We got our wristbands and went into … a tradeshow? Really? They named a section «Vendorville.» Ew. First of all, that is so extremely cheesy! Who throws a f***ing party and then asks guests to buy goods (beyond concert merch) above the already inflated ticket price?
Speaking of which, I thought we would have some additional benefits, like free drinks, a special lounge or favors… maybe some hors d’oeuvres with the $ 120 VZP tickets. We instead spent about $ 100 for drinks and ate hors d’on’ts — bags of Famous Amos cookies and Werther’s original candies. The VIP section, advertised as a special lounge area in which we could sip special cocktails and watch the show from primo vantage points, were 8′ folding tables with folding chairs, cocktail service that we were charged an additional $ 1 for (each time drinks were served, mind you) and partially obstructed views. There was a rumor of drink tickets for VZPs, but no one who worked there seemed to know anything abuot them.
«Security» was lame in that people with general admission were just jumping the fence and ropes… no cares for the people who paid twice as much. «VIP view» was blocked by huge columns, speakers, jackasses with umbrellas and some ridiculous set prop that was 12′ tall and looked like an old bar… just sitting there… blocking the view we paid $ 250 for.
And I love The Brazilian Girls. I’ve been a fan of their music for years. The acoustics are just bad in the Concourse, so that was even a flop for me. I had a far better experience when I saw them in Santa Cruz in 2005 for $ 10.
The promoters/​planners describe their business as «pARTyScience.» I’ve gone to AnonSalon several times for the monthly parties and enjoyed them, but am now boycotting. Based on what they did to New Year’s Eve and how they ripped off VZPs… I rename their biz as «pARTyTheory» because it couldn’t deliver what it promised.