Bawdy and appealing to at least five senses—if you don’t count the sense of one’s own impending drunkenness—last Thursday’s opening of Absinthe at Spiegelworld’s Salon Perdu provided the perfect launch for an extended summer of entertainment and excess.

Stripped of all decency and pride by the verbal onslaught delivered by the show’s host, The Gazillionaire, and made aware of their own bodily shortcomings by a slew of acrobats, contortionists and burlesque performers, the audience was well primed for a post-Absinthe, absinthe-fueled dance party at the Headphone Disco tent. Peter Dinklage, of The Station Agent fame, enjoyed the show from a table in the back.

Jaw-dropping harbor views could be taken in from a number of hammocks—until the downpour. But that only gave me more reason to refill the absinthe glass and get back on the dance floor for “I’m Comin’ Out.” It’s a strange feeling to remove one’s headphones and hear just muddled bass underneath a whole tent’s worth of revelers singing Diana Ross. But there’s something about having seen— among other things— a topless lady inside a balloon earlier in the evening that relaxes everyone’s inhibitions.