How Indie Promoters MeanRed & CX’s ‘Tell No One’ Became One of NYC’s Hottest Halloween Parties

What is being touted as New York’s “largest gay Halloween party” on 10/31, “Tell No One” is actually composed of four separate events over two weekends at Manhattan’s former McKittrick Hotel, with the final two nights this Friday (Oct. 31) and Saturday (Nov. 1). More than 250 artists, performers and musicians will come together, including DJs PEE .WEE (Anderson .Paak), Westend, DJ Sneak, Benny Soto, MOMA (Everyday People) and Moresoupplease, along with Hudson Mohawke, Lisas, Mazurbate and Nas Leber for the grand finale Saturday night, The Day of the Dead. All told, the four individual shows will draw close to 4,000 a night, with the last one this Saturday a complete sell-out.

“Tell No One” is produced by Jen Lyon’s MeanRed Productions, the New York and Detroit promoter behind some of the city’s most defining nightlife experiences. As the longtime in-house booker for the iconic club Output, Lyon built a reputation for pairing emerging artists with global headliners, bridging underground energy with wide cultural reach. Through MeanRed, she has continued that mission, championing independent spaces and co-founding the New York Independent Venue Association. For “Tell No One,” MeanRed leads the music curation alongside William Etundi’s CX, creators of the cult-favorite You Are So Lucky series once hailed by Vogue as “New York’s most mysterious underground Halloween party.”

“We wanted to create art in different spaces, with unique experiences,” Lyon explained about the current project, which she curated and was done with the complete cooperation of the building’s landlords Centaur Properties. “We try to connect with our audience in a variety of ways. We’re looking to create a diversity and thoughtfulness in the curation for artists who aren’t getting presented.  We’re very community-oriented in our outlook.”

Located at 530 W. 27th Street, not far from the Chelsea Hotel, the former McKittrick was a performing arts venue made to look like its ‘30s hotel namesake.  It served as the setting for the long-running, award-winning immersive theater production, “Sleep No More,” a retelling of Macbeth, which ran from 2011 until closing last January. The 100,000 square foot space covers three adjoining warehouses, with six stories and 100 rooms, previously part of several iconic ‘90s dance clubs, including Twilo and the Sound Factory, where pioneering DJs like Doc Martin, Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills manned the turntables before it was converted into the now-defunct McKittrick for “Sleep No More.”

With top designer Manena Frazier, the ex-lead designer at ABC Carpet & Home, and a team of artists and set designers, the venue has been transformed into six levels of “hidden chambers, forbidden gardens and surreal stages… a living labyrinth where worlds collide,” with one of the evening’s themes Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights.”

Lyon founded MeanRed nearly 20 years ago as an arts and music event production company known for “combining genres, locations and production in surprising and interesting contexts,” while working with the likes of Travis Scott, Four Tet, James, Murphy, Diplo, James Blake, Flying Lotus and Santigold, among others. She started booking Joe’s Pub, 205 Club and Santos Party House in Manhattan, before moving boroughs to launch the Brooklyn Yard, with other new spaces being developed at locations in Williamsburg and Bushwick.

The music takes place on five different stages with interactive installations, live art and performance through the six floors.  Guests are encouraged to “dress to seduce,” with a heavy dose of BDSM, Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and some cosplay thrown in for good measure. Tickets run from $75 to premium seats at $175, the latter allowing access to the former “Gallow Green,” spanning both the top sixth floor and the rooftop.

Lyon, who is also President of the New York branch of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and has been involved in several cultural initiatives, including the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival.

“Independent promoters and venues lead the way in gentrifying neighborhoods,” she said. “But things are tough right now for the smaller clubs. It’s hard to get people off their couches and out of their living rooms since the lockdown. That’s why we try to do something experiential like this, bringing together a huge menagerie of nightlife aficionados. It’s all about opening new spaces, getting artists to play there and people to come to them.”