Clubs / Features
Bristol’s pop-up party boom
Ever since the magical milk snatching witch who went to war with coal miners passed the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act of 1994, ravers have been on the hunt for new ways to keep alive the feeling of giving yourself hearing damage in places where it feels just a little bit naughty.
In today’s image-obsessed social media culture, that vibe is no more prevalent than in the “pop-up” rave.
Having been around for decades but gaining massive popularity post-Covid, these raves are exactly what they say on the tin: parties that happen for one night only in locations that would otherwise be put to quite different uses – think chicken shops, adventure playgrounds, men’s toilets, that sort of thing.
is needed now More than ever
Often, but not always, sponsored by big corporations (owing to the – understandably – massive cost of setting up such an event), some argue they’re a symptom of the sugar-rush, there-and-gone PR landscape we find ourselves in.
St Nick’s Market was transformed into a nightclub in a collaboration between Pieminister and Menu Music – photo: Pieminister
Others, however, see them as the natural progression for underground culture, and a new arm to live in symbiosis with traditional venues.
I spoke to Tom Hodgkinson, one of the directors at Alfresco Disco, a true blue Bristol clubbing success story.
If you’ve been to a rave in Bristol with more than 1,000 people in a weird space, chances are these guys had a hand in it.
I also spoke to Josh Gardiner from Menu Music – new kids on the block combining house and disco with food and drink, as well as someone who works in operations for a Bristol venue who wished to remain anonymous – let’s call them Onions.
You can see why such events would be alluring.
Josh told me about the “blank canvas” that events like this give; a canvas you arguably can’t get from a traditional venue with rigid licensing and health and safety rules, and all that other sexy stuff.
Tom also cited “the chance to completely reimagine a space” as one of the pull factors towards these events, turning a disused sawmill into a multi-thousand-capacity summer party spot as part of their latest venture with Sawmills, for example.
Onions also talked about more operational changes in the nightlife economy, such as “rising costs, tighter margins and changing audience habits”, zeroing in on “younger crowds who now experience nightlife heavily through social media”, all of which lead to people wanting something more alternative and fresh from their allotted weekend dancing time.
The key question is whether or not the two things are in congruence or conflict – or perhaps whether this “temporary culture” can sustain itself without the permanent infrastructure that was there before it.
Onions shouts out the venues “taking risks” on emerging artists, promoters and scenes, explaining the long game in which venues can “create spaces where culture can actually develop over time.”
On this, however, Tom told me about the myriad times where his team alone have turned what started as a temporary venture into a more permanent/semi-permanent nighttime venue.
This “contribution to Bristol’s wider cultural landscape” has seen, at time of writing, “the creation of around five lasting venues across the city” – evidence that the two things can live in harmony; one can perhaps even birth the other.
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Like pretty much every conversation since 2016, the thread of social media runs long and deep through this discussion.
One of the most effective ways of generating a feeling of exclusivity, both Josh and Tom mention the “‘you had to be there’ specialness” and the “temporary and somewhat hidden nature of the events” showcased on social media as being key pillars in the promotion of their parties, and ultimately getting feet on the dancefloor.
And while you’d be a fool to berate a promoter for using everything in their arsenal to, well, promote, Onions feels that sometimes pop-ups can become “PR exercises first and cultural events second”, where “the marketing becomes the main product”, inevitably leading to “the event itself becoming secondary to the content generated around it.”
Pop-up parties seem to be a new way to “inject spontaneity and keep the scene dynamic” in a fast-evolving, youth-led cultural landscape, always on the hunt for what’s next.
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As for if they’ll outright replace the traditional club experience, I can’t imagine MM’s model of “building a nightclub from scratch every single time” and going through the “massive amount of planning, risk assessment, and collaboration with local authorities” will catch on with the majority of Bristol’s underground promoters anytime soon (as riveting as it all sounds).
Still, you should definitely support both wherever you can, otherwise we’ll find ourselves in the world Onions describes, where “we end up rewarding spectacle over substance – prioritising highly marketable moments over the slower, less glamorous work of actually building culture”.
Main photo: Alfresco Disco
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