Theoretically older people in clubs today makes a lot more sense. Electronic dance music is pretty much in its 50’s today, so it’s understandable that there are people who grew up listening to it still wanting to do so. Just like it’s not strange to see old people at a stones concert.
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My dad is absolutely incredulous at the fact that I’m 45 and still going to nightclubs semi regularly. Its just completely unthinkable to him. My mum and him gave up anything like that pretty much in their mid twenties.
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Mine are a bit shocked too (and I’m 55) (it’s weird when your dad tells you you’re going out dad dancing).
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I can’t really add any view on the general state of clubland, as it feels like I haven’t properly set foot in it for about 20 years. More recently, I’ve been to a few early‑start/early‑finish nights at Patterns, Ministry, Fabric and Outernet, all clearly pitched at the older punter like me. The first two were almost entirely old timers while the latter had a fair element of younger faces as well which really surprised me.
There’s definitely mileage in these kinds of events (albeit them being quite commercial), for those who want to ease back in without pretending they can still handle a 4 am finish and next day write-off. What happens when the clubs reopen for their core younger crowd is anyone’s guess. - most of the newer Boiler Room DJs are completely unknown to me these days.
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When I started going out out at 17/18 someone aged 21 was old and weird!
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Clubs are dying - this is a fact. Of course there is night time activity going on that is not intended for us middle aged melts who should know better. The facts are still facts though. Nightlife venues have been, and are, disappearing at an alarming rate. This should worry us all, even us tragically middle aged.
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Can only speak for where I live (Nottingham) but theres a decent number of venues opened last few years and are doing well, punching above its weight maybe.
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So I think in Europe two big factors for many closed clubs are the gentrification and rising cost of living. Maybe also it is the loosened interest of the young generation for small underground clubs, because of massive promo campaigns of the big parties and festivals, but I am not sure about the this one.
Locally, I have been living in Skopje, Macedonia for almost my whole life and it is a place that used to have many clubs and parties in the '00s and '10s. We didn’t have many underground clubs, but we had many underground parties. While the clubs also booked some underground DJs as well.
For example, in the early 00s tech house was big and DJs like Terry Francis and Eddie Richards were regulars. Thursday was a big party day with great options too.
Things started to get worse after 2010, especially with a pro-nationalist government closing one of the main clubs in 2016. This club reopened in 2018 and I was a resident until it’s final closing in 2020.
Pre corona we had 3 small underground clubs that struggled to survive, because we had empty weekend nights and two more commercial clubs that were doing OK. Post corona things were the same and one of the underground clubs was closed. Last year we had a big fire in a small town in an unlicensed club, where minors died. This was a big national tragedy. After the tragedy the 2 underground clubs left have not been able to get license, along with other clubs being denied, even those that satisfy the requirements.
Personally, except for maybe the period between 2017-2020, I haven’t really had regular gigs, it has been here and there and DJing is not my job. I’ve always wanted to see a reset in our local scene, if some old players die, maybe some space will open for new ones. Currently I am pessimistic that we are going to get big positive changes soon. Globally, I also embrace the process of creative destruction, even though we’ve seen many, many great clubs in Europe and the UK closing in the last few years.
I miss the old days when I knew many people from the scene and we were all 100% into the current thing. I want to see a line again dividing what’s underground music and what’s mainstream. You are not an underground DJ if 80% of your tracks are radio dance hits from the 90s. The whole point is to show new music and new experiences to the people. Long live the Underground.
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