A dance party that ends before most Pittsburgh nightlife even gets going is finally landing on the North Shore. Earlybirds Club, the national 6 to 10 p.m. dance series built for people who love to dance but not necessarily until 2 a.m., will take over Stage AE on October 24, with DJ Jess spinning pop, hip-hop, new wave and R&B hits from the 1980s through the 2000s.
The Pittsburgh stop was originally set for June 26, but according to promowestlive.com, the show was rescheduled to October 24, and anyone who already bought a ticket for the original date will have it honored. The venue's listing confirms the party runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., with DJ Jess spinning that three-decade blend of sounds, and that the event is designed for women and gender-expansive people.
Earlybirds Club tickets run $40, according to a report by Axios, and the Pittsburgh event is geared toward people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, with a median attendee age of 46 and entry open to those 21 and older, per the same report. Aerie is providing giveaways at the party, Axios notes, and the night is billed as an earlier alternative to the traditional late-night club scene.
A Friendship That Became a Movement
Earlybirds Club was launched in Chicago in 2024 by Laura Baginski and her high school friend Susie Lee, according to NPR. What began as what NPR describes as a one-off gathering kept going at larger venues in different cities, and the concept has since expanded to more than 47 cities across the U.S. and Canada, Axios reports.
Baginski has said she created the event because, at 51, she missed dancing with friends but not the late-night clubbing that used to come with it, according to Axios. “We have three generations on the dance floor very often,” Baginski said, per the same report. She also offered reassurance to anyone nervous about showing up: “No one's judging your dance moves.”
Earlybirds Club has become a touring dance series, including an event at a Chicago venue that holds 1,000 people.
Honoring a Co-Founder Lost to Cancer
Susie Lee died of breast cancer in 2025, Axios reports. NPR's account specifies that she died of metastatic breast cancer in August at age 49, while early-birds.club states she passed away from breast cancer in August 2025. Ten percent of ticket proceeds from the Pittsburgh event will benefit the Susie Lee Legacy Fund, named for the late co-founder, according to the Stage AE event listing.
The fund supports nonprofits focused on women's health, cancer care, grief and caregiving, Axios notes. The fund's current-quarter supporters include Breastcancer.org, the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, the Young Survival Coalition, Check for a Lump, Metavivor and Recovery on Water.
Who the Parties Are For
The events are primarily intended for women, trans people and nonbinary people, while remaining open to anyone, NPR reports. Pollstar notes that women of all ages are welcome, with a majority of attendees falling in their 30s to 50s. Early-birds.club describes the series more broadly as bringing early-evening dance events to middle-age-ish folks across the U.S., and the organization's Pittsburgh events page states that future dance nights in the city are already in the works.
