Is this the end for night clubs

The sound of the bass, the roar of the crowd, the DJ lifts his finger to the air. The beat drops, the crowd goes wild... but could this be a thing of the past?

Many of the best nights of my life went along to this similar narrative. As a very young man in the 90's this was to be a huge part of who I was to become. Some massive warehouses in the west country of the UK had to close their doors due to government regulations and restrictions of licences but there were still places to go and party in Bristol. The sound systems were epic and the clientele were like characters of fiction or mythical legend.

Over the last two decades I have witnessed a huge decline in the massive super rave culture and a gravitation towards more classical models of clubbing, where the bar closes at 2am, and the club can carry on for no more than a couple of hours after that.

That was until I came to Birmingham, UK. There I found venues that would be open well into the next morning, with people buying booze and dancing to the most banging music. Friday would slip into Sunday and before you knew it, you'd missed Sunday dinner with your Nan.

Of course the outdoor summer festival has taken up a lot of that desire to party all night with events like Boom Town and Shambala leading the way, and as I mentioned, a few clubs were entertaining the "dance till you drop" style thanks to the UK's 24hr licencing laws.

But what future do these venues have now? With covid 19 "everywhere" (for those who were too wasted to notice) how will we ever join together to stomp to the latest bass line banger?

Over the last (how long has it been?) 14 weeks, I have been lucky enough to have been invited to watch some of my favourite DJs play live on facebook right into my front room, for free. It has been a very welcome distraction from the reality of rising death rates and further lock-downs and has allowed me the opportunity to dance like no ones looking (well, yeah), but they have not felt like the whole experience of getting down and funky with the whistle crew, whilst bass and treble go to work on my senses.

There is something about the synchronicity of a gig that is compelling and spiritually uplifting. When the crowd is a wave, and the DJ knows their stuff, memories are forged and the world feels like a better place than before.

So here are a few solutions, and perhaps you can think of some of your own.

1) Sanitise and mask up - Practical and easy to implement? Not really. How would you drink through your mask and who would be standing in the loos, making sure that every one has topped up with sanitiser?

2) One way systems and maximum dance floor limits - This may actually be what we see as we come out of lock-down. It will only work for larger venues though, and who is going to be the dance floor manager? Not a popular role I would expect.

3) Take it outdoors - Sounds like a plan. This might not help the venues but it might help the people with the need to party. Many farmers are seeing the price of their stock drop due to stiff supermarket competition, and are looking for ways to subsidise their revenues. Mini festivals may be just the way to do that. A field, a big tent or two and you instantly have a much bigger space than most inner city night clubs. Great for the summer but not so great in the icy season of the northern hemisphere.

So what next?

It's really up to us to figure out how we are going to meet to the beat in the future. There is a real need for us to dance together as one, no matter what our circumstances, and no matter what viruses may come along to try and stop us. We will get around this and I strongly expect that pop up clubs will be happening all over the world, in rural spots, around the edges of cities, over the next 12 months

Whatever happens, rave on and stay beautiful.