Lose yourself to dance: With the city’s clubbing scene back up and running, our hunger to party has never been greater
(Picture: ES composite)It was during either my third or fourth live-streamed DJ set, not long into the pandemic, when I broke down in tears. I wasn’t alone and in the months that followed, too many of my fellow DJs began to hang up their headphones. Many people in the scene retrained; it felt like the game was up. But fast forward to today and as people emerge from the cocoon of Covid restrictions, the rest of the year is somehow shaping up to be one of the most exciting, vibrant and even revolutionary times in London’s club scene for a generation.
The hunger to go out has never been greater and the desire for different experiences than what we had before is palpable. After years of stasis, a new generation of talent has finally broken through — plus everyone is looking kinda amazing out there at the moment, which I put down to the inordinate amount of naughty club wear bought during dull lockdown days. So take this VIP wristband and saunter through what’s new in ’22.
Sex sells
Probably the most interesting party in London right now is Crossbreed, a rave that celebrates kink and sex positivity. Its staggering popularity reflects the story of our shifting sexual attitudes — a story which, frankly, everyone’s too busy having fun to tell right now.
Motivated as much by activism as hedonism, Crossbreed parties (crossbreedworld.com) offer both top DJs and purposeful spaces for sex. No surprise, they’re absolutely not for everyone. Uncomfortable with queerness? Not for you. Scared of wearing something provocative? Don’t bother. Unwilling to take onboard issues like consent, white male privilege, neuro-diversity or the basics around pronouns? Stay home. Trust me.
As a signifier of the huge community it has created, and the general desire for nights that are both progressive and pervy — in a consensual way — Crossbreed’s parties have tended to sell out in minutes. So this year, they will be held weekly at Hackney Wick’s Colour Factory (8 Queen’s Yd, E9, colourfactory.com). There’s a simultaneous spike in popularity for like-minded events such as Meat, Thorn, HTBX and HOWL (which are nomadic nights, but will also appear at Colour Factory), or established parties like LGBTQ+ fetish night Klub Verboten (which likewise moves around, with venues released on the day) — proof that Londoners crave human adventure more than ever. Another not to miss is Queer House Party (@queerhouseparty), who play regularly across town.
Four to the floor
If you haven’t been out in too long, here’s a warning that the tunes are likely far harder and faster than you might remember. London has gone techno mad in the last few years and a fresh wave of female DJs are leading the hardcore charge. Pay attention when you see Saoirse, Loraine James, Elkka, Peach and Or:la on a bill, to name just a few, while venues such as Phonox (418 Brixton Rd, SW9, phonox.co.uk), E1 (110 Pennington St, E1W, e1ldn.co), Pickle Factory (13 The Oval, E2, ovalspace.co.uk), Fold (Stephenson St, E16, fold.london) and Venue MOT Unit 18 (Surrey Canal Rd, SE14, @venuemot) are typically able to scratch any techno itch.
Play safe
It’s ironic that as trends gently hark back to the Nineties heyday of renegade illegal raving – think fast breakbeats, bucket hats, trance-evoking artwork and a Cyberdog-ish contrast between noir and neon clothes – the reality is that the warehouse party era is, sadly, well and truly over. One positive byproduct of things being more legit is that security is slowly getting much better in clubs – many London promoters are doing the work to educate security staff to: not assume gender, treat people who’ve overindulged with care (and not like criminals), and smile and listen, rather than to shout and intimidate. As a general rule of thumb, check to see if a club has a respect policy posted online. I’m proud of Little Gay Brother (littlegaybrother.com), a queer night I’m a resident at, for doing great work in this area. I’m also proud that at their NYE bash, the dancers did a routine that reimagined a Downing Street party fortified by poppers rather than M&S finger foods. If you’re into Little Gay Brother, try the weekly nights they host with Jodie Harsh, Feel It. These run every Friday at Omeara (6 O’Meara St, SE1, omearalondon.com) from 10.30pm. With nights stretching until 5am and last entry at 3am, it’s one for those looking to go the distance.
Drag never drags
Having flown the flag for a certain lineage of tongue-in-cheek, east London drag for more than a decade, last week Sink the Pink (sinkthepink.com) has played its last party. But while that side of town is still the heartland — check out Mimi’s at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (42-46 Pollard Row, E2, workersplaytime.net) — these days you don’t even need to be east to experience east London drag culture. In the former cells of Bow Street Magistrates Court, in the heart of Covent Garden, sits Common Decency – a spanking new late-night lounge bar under the Nomad Hotel (28 Bow St, WC2E, thenomadhotel.com). Adding to the bar’s mischievous air and cocktail-fuelled giddiness, inveterate DJ huns including Bestley and Jonjo Jury, plus drag icons such as Maxi More create a mood as stellar as the names who passed through the cells in its previous incarnation: Wilde, Westwood, Kray, Pankhurst and even Doherty.
Tear up the usual
If the tyranny of unchanging tempos and the hegemony of that 4/4 ‘hntz-hntz’ sound leaves you cold, refresh yourself with the polar opposite by seeing Beiruti record collector Ernesto Chahoud and London hero Charlie Bones throw down at their wild parties at Peckham’s Well Seasoned (95a Rye Lane, SE15, peckhamlevels.org). Both Chahoud and Bones come with boxes of truly divine and obscure records from a sweltering mix of styles – breakneck blues, psych rock, gritty disco and Arabic jazz – and then purposefully throw them down with a gleeful disregard for the dull convention of beat matching. It makes every song an explosive event, and combined with their genuine, non-dickish boisterousness, makes for a great party. You can follow his Instagram @doyoubabyyy for show updates.
Other destinations for escaping conventional dance music include DJ nights at Cafe OTO (18 Ashwin St, E8, cafeoto.co.uk), late-nighters at arts space Ormside Projects in Bermondsey (32 Ormside St, SE15, ormside.co.uk), and General Echo Sound’s punk special in Walthamstow (@generalechosound). Incidentally, if you ever feel adrift from the sounds of London DJ culture, dial in London’s galaxy of amazing radio stations: Rinse, Balaami, NTS, Worldwide, Amateurism, Soho Radio and Charlie Bones’ own Do!! You!!! Channel would all be a wonderful way to start.
Go big or go home?
London still has big spaces made for big nights out, but they are getting fewer and fewer. Vast post-industrial playground Printworks (Surrey Quays Rd, SE16, printworkslondon.co.uk) remains an incredible destination, while stalwarts such as Egg (5-13 Vale Royal, N7, egglondon.co.uk) and Fabric (77a Charterhouse St, EC1, fabriclondon.com) gave themselves a cheeky mid-pandemic refurb – the latter boasting a whole new look to Room 2. Meanwhile, after three decades dancing, the Ministry of Sound (103 Gaunt St, SE1, ministryofsound.com) is still a thing; each week, there’s something on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
London loves little
Still, what the city currently excels at is intimacy: small events in small venues that create a big, big mood. At late-night parties at Spiritland Royal Festival Hall (Belvedere Road, SE1, spiritland.com), people tend to arrive at the same time, stay to the end, and then leave as one – like a church congregation. There’s not a constant churn of punters coming in and out. Instead you always build a rapport with people around you, a bit like a party on a desert island. It’s a genuinely lovely vibe, even before you factor in the honey-dipped soundsystem, delicious cocktails and their expert DJ programming.
Similar spots that boast world-class DJs in unnaturally small spaces include The Gun in Hackney (235 Well St, E9, thegunwellstreet.com), TOLA in Peckham (56 Peckham High St, SE15, tolapeckham.com), NT’s Loft in Dalston (1 Westgate St, E8, ntloft.co.uk) plus Lion and Lamb near Old Street (46 Fanshaw St, N1, thelionandlamb.co.uk) – where Fabric’s Craig Richards and friends often perform beguiling techno hypnosis in a space smaller than most superclubs’ cloakrooms. Another spot to look out for is an ornate former chapel called Stone Nest on Shaftesbury Avenue (136 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D, stonenest.org). Wildly influential DJ and producer Joy Orbison has just launched a monthly Thursday session there called Just For You. It’s free entry but get there early – there’s only space for 250 dancers.
Hopefully see you at the next one — and never on a DJ livestream, ever, ever again.
