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DJ Mag Top100 Clubs
45
Duel Club
10

Location: Napels, Italy

Capacity: 1,200

duelbeat.com

In the 14 years it’s been around, Naples club Duel Beat has become a standard bearer for Italian clubbing. Thursdays last year were dedicated to live music and DJs playing indie rock from the likes of Kruder & Dorfmeister, while Fridays took a slightly different direction, looking to the world of TV for parties that twisted the virtual and the real with commercial music for something altogether surreal.

However, Saturdays is where the club really shines, with parties like Dogma, Mutate, Woo! and Deependence. Spinning at those events in 2018 were names like Moodymann, Moscoman, Pangaea, Palms Trax, Levon Vincent, and Larry Heard playing live as Mr. Fingers. The club even hosted a festival: the 12-hour Mutate, featuring I Hate Models, a live set from Detroit duo Octave One, and The Hacker.

Last year also saw plenty of improvements to the club, with the installation of a new video-lighting design, a Loud Professional audio system — the same as DC-10 Ibiza — and a new Italian-made soundsystem in Room 1, designed specifically for its characteristics. It’s that kind of attention to detail, along with its immaculate programming and verve for the avant-garde, that makes Duel Beat such a Neapolitan powerhouse.