John Talabot Plays One of the Last Nights at Saigon's Observatory

Dates: Friday, October 2, 2026, 9PM to 6AM Venue: The Observatory, 85 Cách Mạng Tháng 8, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tickets: 452,000 VND online, 500,000 VND at the door, via Resident Advisor

Ồn Ào means noisy in Vietnamese, and on October 2nd it's also the name of the party bringing John Talabot to Ho Chi Minh City, four weeks before the room hosting him shuts down for good.

A Rare Booking for a Room Running Out of Time

The Observatory announced in August that it would close at the end of October after almost thirteen years and three addresses in the city, the latest a rooftop ten floors up at 85 CMT8. Management named two reasons: rising rent, and what they called domestic factors that placed "a strong limitation on the guests we could invite," forcing a pivot to Vietnamese-only programming that, in their words, "invalidated our initial project" financially.

Which makes Ồn Ào Vol.2 something of a statement. John Talabot, born Oriol Riverola in Barcelona, isn't a casual name to land in Saigon. He founded the label Hivern Discs (Catalan for "winter") in 2008, and his 2012 debut album ƒIN, released on Permanent Vacation, is still cited as one of house music's defining records of that decade. He mixed a DJ-Kicks compilation in 2017. Promoters in this region spend years chasing a catalogue like that. The Observatory got him with a month left on the lease.

Thirteen Years, Two Cities, One Last Month

Before its final Saigon weekend, the Observatory had already said one goodbye elsewhere. Founder Dan Lo brought the club's sound to Hanoi on September 25th for a takeover at Unmute, b2b with residents Kin, Park:ing and TaoFu. The club started as a small bar and gallery before growing into the rooftop that became, for a long stretch, the most reliable stage in the city for touring house and techno names.

Doors for Ồn Ào Vol.2 open at 9PM on October 2nd and run to 6AM. Tickets are 452,000 VND online through Resident Advisor, 500,000 VND at the door.

Cover photo: The Observatory, via Facebook.