Day Fever events are aimed at 'grown-ups who never grew up'. — AFP
IN THE collective imagination, nightclubs are the domain of hardy night owls. But in the United Kingdom, a new event is aiming to shake up preconceived ideas about the world of clubbing. Its events are aimed at a surprising crowd of daytime disco-goers.
This daytime disco is called Day Fever, in reference to the famous Bee Gees song, Night Fever. It held its first "all-dayer" on Dec 23, in one of the reception rooms of Sheffield City Hall. Daytime clubbers who attended were able to hit the dance floor between 2pm and 8pm, before continuing the evening elsewhere or heading home.
While Day Fever events are aimed at "grown-ups who never grew up," their organisers still want them to be able to get their full quota of sleep after partying hard. "Instead of dancing the night away, this is dancing the afternoon away," one of the organisers, Vicky McClure, told BBC News.
Together with her husband, Welsh producer Jonny Owen, this British actress decided to launch a new kind of disco for those who, like them, don't want to get to bed too late. "I love meeting mates, having a few drinks, having a dance but also like getting a cheeky curry afterwards, not queuing hours for a taxi and being home early enough for 'Match of the Day' – and then it also doesn't ruin your Sunday either," Jonny Owen told BBC News.
Drawing a new crowd
Their events seem to be a great success. All tickets for their latest discos sold out within hours, as Day Fever announced on Instagram – proof that young night owls aren't the only ones with a taste for partying! The "U Going Out" report, published in 2022 on the UK's Keep Hush platform, even suggests that the usual disco crowd is turning away from clubbing culture. In fact, only a quarter of Gen Z surveyed enjoy going clubbing, compared to 13% of Millennials.
Nightlife professionals are concerned that the younger generation is losing interest in the party scene, prompting them to be creative in attracting a wider audience to the dance floor. There are now club nights aimed at those who don't want to be out late, as well as middle-aged revelers (40/50), senior citizens and even children.
And there's an urgent need for innovation. The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the financial difficulties that nightlife venues around the world have been facing for years. As a result, many of them have been forced to close down.
This has been particularly evident in the UK, where more than a third of the country's nightclubs have closed since the end of 2020, according to the trade organisation Night Time Industries Association.
All of which reinforces the idea that the nightlife scene needs to innovate if it hopes to see a brighter future. – AFP Relaxnews
