New Years Eve Art, Standup, and Music
Ringing in 2025 at The Lab
The sun has set on 2024, and with a new year, we hope for new and exciting experiences, right? Variety is the spice of life.
Perhaps it is apropos, then, that our first visit to Wichita Falls’ The Lab (713 Indiana) happened on New Years Eve, as if the universe were sending us a signal — start a new year of experiences, right here, right now.
The Lab is many things — an art gallery, an artist collective, a performance venue — and from our first steps in the door, we were very impressed. On this night, it was a New Years Eve Pre-Game Party for the festivities to come at midnight, with music and standup comedy performances, and The Lab looked great.
The location at 713 Indiana is a large space, only a few months old, and when you walk in the front door, you enter a cavernous space with murals, completed artwork (for sale), and live art from whichever artists happen to be present at the time. You can spend a good amount of time looking at the art. There is fine art, sports-themed stuff, abstract art, and the list goes on.
As you move further back into the space, you’re greeted with an industrial-feel performance space with exposed steel beams and raw brick walls, and on this occasion, transformed into something elegant with a glamorous red curtain backdrop, large rugs and cushy sofa seating in front of the stage.
Local group HermAnthony provided warmup and intermission music for the night, and they were great. When you get a chance to catch them, listen for “Nightlife,” a somewhat smoky ballad that lends a noir feel to the occasion.
The main event for the night was standup comedy from The Comedy Parallel, and a funny lineup that included Israel Goldman, Brandon Demoss, Brent Maples, Gorb Gorbinson, Jeffrey Guill (Jefe), and others.
We thought the coolest thing about The Lab was how they’ve perfected the balance between gritty and fabulous. It’s an art gallery, but you don’t need to speak in hushed tones. There’s an edge to this gallery. It’s a mixture of renovated space and exposed brick, stylish by default. Edgy, but you can still spend $1,000 on a work of art that is absolutely worth it.
Wanna impress a date? Maybe you’re stuck in a humdrum cycle of days at the office and beverages at the same old place? Follow The Lab on Facebook and/or Instagram and watch for an upcoming event. Founders Anthony Campos and Rob Comello have created something of a memory maker.
“Hey, remember that time we spent New Years Eve at that cool place?”
Here’s to stepping outside the mundane in 2025.
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