I've been promoting raves for more niche genres of music (dnb, jungle) since I was in my early 20s. I decided to pack it in last summer. At my last event we barely broke even and the venue owner asked us to stop an hour early because they weren't making enough off the bar. Thing is, summer is usually our busiest period and the summer before the pandemic, our 'flagship' event sold out presale tickets within a week and we had to turn people away it was so busy. The pandemic absolutely killed us, we lost a generation of young ravers to lockdown! I am glad that we were able to go for so long though. I've got memories that will last me a lifetime!
Ah that is such a shame!! Great you were able to make so many memories though, sorry that you aren’t able to continue :(. So many stories like this. Thank you for watching!
We lost a lot during the lockdown and to me it's strange. It makes absolutely no sense when you get down and really think about it. Even people that were 21 when it started, some reason just completely changed. I'm 28 and everyone around me is just strange now and different. I still enjoy my fast paced lifestyle just doing what I enjoy. Now they do nothing but sit around at home. The world is going down a strange path.
The reason the nightclubs are closing are greedy landlord putting up the lease on the venue. Nightclubs closure have a knock on effects like on the night time economy like accommodations like Air BnB, hotels etc, cabs and takeaway outlets. Chain pub like Wetherspoons, Whelan's, Walkabouts etc are opening late night competing with nightclubs. One example are chain nightclubs are Popworld, Labyrinth etc. There are pop up events like Discos For Grown Up that hire venues like concert hall, town halls, social clubs, museums etc. They have a daytime event taking place.
I think it’s that no one has disposable income anymore and there’s a huge trend towards abstaining from alcohol. And, I think hookup culture is going out of fashion, fast. A lot of people are sick of it and want to meet serious, good people, who aren’t drunken clubbers. I do miss 90’s rave scene, however! 😝
Clubs/bars are mostly places to go out to meet people, phones killed that. Select men don't have to bother with clubs anymore and can just door-dash women over to their place with 0 effort. Women actually prefer this because they can control the interactions that they have with men, as opposed to night clubs/bars where any guy can come up to them. Price of drinks and entry fees are starting to get out of control. People have little to no disposable income. I'm not buying the whole "young people are drinking less." Anytime I open a dating app or use Instagram, that's all they're doing
@@dutchmaster1999 Here in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area, the sober movement is HUGE. Instead of clubs, local production companies (millennials/gen z) rent out warehouse space and put on their own large events with national acts. Less pretentious/less aggression due to alcohol.
@@dutchmaster1999 door-dashing women over 😬 sounds absolutely terrible. Anyway, you agreed with my main point, that people have zero disposable income, but here in the states, there’s a massive movement towards sober EDM raves (donations only, so anyone can attend and multiple deejays performing) and NA drinks. It’s actually all the rage! 😝
A large number of people NEED drugs to open up and relax into that scene. Being sober or just drunk doesn't cut it for them, the crackdown on drugs other than alcohol ruined it for many people and made it not worth even going out anymore.
Your video totally hit the nail on the head. I'm a photographer/videographer and in the city I live/work in we've seen closure after closure be that due to large corp own clubs *cough* Rekom *cough* going bust or cutting their losses and closing venues. Our local Rekom owned venue closed and as you say, it was very much stuck in the past. We had a club that had a unique selling point in that it had a massive open 2 storey space which was VERY poorly utilised in a city that is meant to be wealthy. Half the lighting fixtures were broken or/and hadn't been updated since 10 years ago. We had massive potential for large scale productions had the venue moved with the times, put trussing in etc, a sound and lighting system with a hired tech to look after it, throw some LED backdrops in etc - really USE the space it had at hand. Alas, as are other chain-owned venues in Edinburgh, along as the doors open, music plays and the fixtures work for the most part then thats all the regional managers and above cared about. There was NO INVESTMENT and as a result, these clubs just aren't pulling in consistent numbers anymore and its literally being left to the promoters to do the hard work when the venue should also be able to survive on its own but this is not the case. It's a sad state of affairs but I hope this ushers in people who want to bring back clubbing and we start to see individual investors coming in and wanting to start from the beginning and make make a clubbing experience worth actually going out to.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic and your experience. It’s such a sad state of affairs at the moment isn’t it! Fingers crossed it will turn around at some point.
Clubs going corporate was the beginning of the end. Venue managers / owners need to be people who live and breathe the lifestyle. Rekom management are corporate checkboxers, not competent enough to get proper corporate jobs and without enough guile or hustle to become estate agents. Deltic / Rekom were ideally placed to win, unfortunately, instead of having headline acts with big followings every week, they tried to be cheap by having a local dj (more than capable of being a warm up) every weekend. They reap what they sow
I think another one of the main reasons smaller clubs and promoters have been forced to shut down is because of the rise of massive venues like Printworks, Drumsheds, The Warehouse Project etc. These venues due to their size and person capacity can invite some of the biggest names in the industry. Smaller venues just can’t compete with this. Most people that are in the rave scene don’t got to smaller clubs and events any more. They go to these huge clubs and festivals instead.
Yeah that is true…to share on their socials! Save up money and go big rather than support the smaller local venues. Thank you for sharing it’s a great point!
My favourite club night in London (1990s) was called 'Starsky & Hutch', people dressed up 70s style, wall projections with 70s TV and film scenes, lava lamp type projections, music was from the 70s disco/funk era and at about 2am they gave out little paper bags of 'retro sweets' to the party crowd. That is the sort of innovation that is needed to get people excited again.
I own six party bars/clubs in Latin America. I’m from UK. Some very good points made but with Latinos they have the phones but dancing without them. Dance is the priority over here.
Agreed with all your points man. It’s a massive shame 😔 I was honestly going out every weekend, sometimes twice or three times a week, between the age of 18-25. It’s so sad what’s happened and changed over the last few years. I wish I was DJing around then, but I’m glad I enjoyed going out and having a good time back then, so no regrets. Also recently had the bad news of Stonegate leaving loads of venues/pubs in the South East, including my Saturday residency 😔 So I won’t be there from the summer (unless if the new tenants decide to keep the nightlife hours). I feel so bad for my manager there, as well as all the staff. It’s incredibly sad for them. They will all lose their jobs and they all work so hard. The manager has spent a long time building up a safe environment and a good reputation at the pub. He’s happy with his team and hitting their targets and now it’s going to be wiped away from them. It’s just awful 😑😔
Thanks for watching and for sharing mate. It really is a tough game out there at the moment but I really hope there will be a turning point in the future. A nation just glued to their phones for fun if there is nothing left…not my idea of fun that’s for sure! Really hope the residency stays mate if not I am sure you’ll find something else quickly!
It's a lot of reasons. main reason for clubs closing is councils not giving out late licences to venues when special events are on, but giving them out to pubs, which is killing their business. that's the club owners view. my personal view is clubs can't compete with late night pubs anymore, they have had to drop or reduce admission prices, to get people through the doors. now that all the clubs are closing, and the pubs are open to 3 am, people a drinking more in the house and going out after 11 pm. which is now killing pub businesses. which has a knock on effect to DJ's pubs will employ 2nd rate and cheap Karaoke DJ's to fill the void. this to me was the death knell, this coupled with the smoking ban. killed the old weekend drinking British way. Then you have Brexit, no more Euro beers. Covid killed off the old art of conversation, nobody mingles anymore. and add to that the extortionate taxes levied on the pub industry. if that wasn't bad enough, add the Cost of living crisis. the owners of pubs these days don't even want a DJ who is willing to work for free at Xmas and new years eve round my way. that has his own gear. because they know it's not going to be busy. and there you have the final nail in the coffin. pub and club owners have just given up, and are no longer willing to spend any money to entice people to come out, so punters stay in and drink supermarket beer, and watch the Telly. it's nice to hear your view about all the problems clubs are facing, and i think you are correct. there is a new way of doing things now, and pubs and clubs need to adapt. the old days are gone, young people today don't remember the old ways, there used to be 4 clubs in my town, they are all gone now.
Elaborating on what you said about pubs no longer having the 11 pm closing time. You forgot to mention that many pubs, especially in the west end of London , also have their own DJ's and no doubt attract more clients who previously would've gone to nighclubs and also the fact that pubs have no entrance fee and drinks are much more affordable.
@@djkarlthomas golly, you folks over there have a three year advantage over those of us in the US. Here you have to be 21, and it is enforced very strictly. You folks are tightly packed so you probably don’t have the drunk driving problem that we do. My view is that nightlife began to decline in the mid 1980s when the AIDS scare pretty much killed off the sexual revolution.
@@djkarlthomasI met all the girls I had sex with from the internet? Spotify and apple music is the new nightclub. Uber is the new taxi and portable club
ding ding ding - this is a world wide problem for international cities. basically everything has become so expensive due to land cost. even berlin is slowly being gentrified. i cant believe how lucky i was to be in london in the early 2000s. going out during the week legitimately cost 20-30 quid and we lived well in nice neighborhoods while not having investment banking jobs. social media has made people more health conscious, young people are almost universally drinking less and sleeping more. there is also an expectation that clubbing should always be like a festival experience so instead of clubbing a few times a month kids are saving up to visit 3 or 4 festivals a year to experience what they see on youtube. i gotta say some local clubs are kinda grimey with 20% of people being total shit heads (yobs looking for fights), at a festival you dont really have to deal with any of that.
another huge reason y0ou may have forgot was because stray pets , people are adopting more pets lately so they dont have time to party they rather spend it saving a puppies life. and then they take selfies with them all day and dont bother going out
@@djkarlthomas How about the entire middle dancefloor of a club being converted to a VIP section where no one is dancing? Poorly designed! DAER nightclub, Florida. Saw Above and Beyond there couple weeks back and was stunned someone actually thought that was a good idea😂
Agreed. Clubs/bars are mostly places to go out to meet people, phones killed that. Select men don't have to bother with clubs anymore and can just door-dash women over to their place with 0 effort. Women actually prefer this because they can control the interactions that they have with men, as opposed to night clubs/bars where any guy can come up to them. Price of drinks and entry fees are starting to get out of control. People have little to no disposable income. I'm not buying the whole "young people are drinking less." Anytime I open a dating app or use Instagram, that's all they're doing
Well they should start playing good music and once and for all stop playing the same overplayed tired sh1t songs such as happy, black eyed peas stuff, pitbull etc etc. That's the main reason why I stopped going. It's utter rubbish. Expose the crowd to good stuff, take the risk. Whenever I go to berlin or hungary the clubs i go don't play any pop radio songs, yet they're full, everyone dancing high energy. I personally need intense beats to get myself moving, generic pop stuff just makes my eyes roll and i walk out since I can my style at home and have a blast.
I do disagree on this one myself, there’s music for everyone in the UK you just have to find it. Everyone is entitled to a view point though and we don’t always have to agree. Thank you for watching!
I've been promoting raves for more niche genres of music (dnb, jungle) since I was in my early 20s. I decided to pack it in last summer. At my last event we barely broke even and the venue owner asked us to stop an hour early because they weren't making enough off the bar. Thing is, summer is usually our busiest period and the summer before the pandemic, our 'flagship' event sold out presale tickets within a week and we had to turn people away it was so busy. The pandemic absolutely killed us, we lost a generation of young ravers to lockdown!
I am glad that we were able to go for so long though. I've got memories that will last me a lifetime!
Ah that is such a shame!! Great you were able to make so many memories though, sorry that you aren’t able to continue :(. So many stories like this. Thank you for watching!
We lost a lot during the lockdown and to me it's strange.
It makes absolutely no sense when you get down and really think about it. Even people that were 21 when it started, some reason just completely changed. I'm 28 and everyone around me is just strange now and different. I still enjoy my fast paced lifestyle just doing what I enjoy. Now they do nothing but sit around at home.
The world is going down a strange path.
@SeanOptimoa I agree with a lot of this!
Tavern in the Square (Allston, MA) just closed down. It was a huge venue just down the street from Boston University.
☹️
Noooooo not tits. I use to go there all the time
Dutch- was it on and poppin in thr venue
The reason the nightclubs are closing are greedy landlord putting up the lease on the venue. Nightclubs closure have a knock on effects like on the night time economy like accommodations like Air BnB, hotels etc, cabs and takeaway outlets. Chain pub like Wetherspoons, Whelan's, Walkabouts etc are opening late night competing with nightclubs. One example are chain nightclubs are Popworld, Labyrinth etc. There are pop up events like Discos For Grown Up that hire venues like concert hall, town halls, social clubs, museums etc. They have a daytime event taking place.
Real good points! Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts
I think it’s that no one has disposable income anymore and there’s a huge trend towards abstaining from alcohol. And, I think hookup culture is going out of fashion, fast. A lot of people are sick of it and want to meet serious, good people, who aren’t drunken clubbers. I do miss 90’s rave scene, however! 😝
Agree with a lot of this!!!
Clubs/bars are mostly places to go out to meet people, phones killed that. Select men don't have to bother with clubs anymore and can just door-dash women over to their place with 0 effort. Women actually prefer this because they can control the interactions that they have with men, as opposed to night clubs/bars where any guy can come up to them.
Price of drinks and entry fees are starting to get out of control. People have little to no disposable income. I'm not buying the whole "young people are drinking less." Anytime I open a dating app or use Instagram, that's all they're doing
@@dutchmaster1999 Here in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area, the sober movement is HUGE. Instead of clubs, local production companies (millennials/gen z) rent out warehouse space and put on their own large events with national acts. Less pretentious/less aggression due to alcohol.
@@dutchmaster1999 door-dashing women over 😬 sounds absolutely terrible. Anyway, you agreed with my main point, that people have zero disposable income, but here in the states, there’s a massive movement towards sober EDM raves (donations only, so anyone can attend and multiple deejays performing) and NA drinks. It’s actually all the rage! 😝
A large number of people NEED drugs to open up and relax into that scene. Being sober or just drunk doesn't cut it for them, the crackdown on drugs other than alcohol ruined it for many people and made it not worth even going out anymore.
Your video totally hit the nail on the head. I'm a photographer/videographer and in the city I live/work in we've seen closure after closure be that due to large corp own clubs *cough* Rekom *cough* going bust or cutting their losses and closing venues. Our local Rekom owned venue closed and as you say, it was very much stuck in the past. We had a club that had a unique selling point in that it had a massive open 2 storey space which was VERY poorly utilised in a city that is meant to be wealthy. Half the lighting fixtures were broken or/and hadn't been updated since 10 years ago. We had massive potential for large scale productions had the venue moved with the times, put trussing in etc, a sound and lighting system with a hired tech to look after it, throw some LED backdrops in etc - really USE the space it had at hand. Alas, as are other chain-owned venues in Edinburgh, along as the doors open, music plays and the fixtures work for the most part then thats all the regional managers and above cared about. There was NO INVESTMENT and as a result, these clubs just aren't pulling in consistent numbers anymore and its literally being left to the promoters to do the hard work when the venue should also be able to survive on its own but this is not the case.
It's a sad state of affairs but I hope this ushers in people who want to bring back clubbing and we start to see individual investors coming in and wanting to start from the beginning and make make a clubbing experience worth actually going out to.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic and your experience. It’s such a sad state of affairs at the moment isn’t it! Fingers crossed it will turn around at some point.
Clubs going corporate was the beginning of the end. Venue managers / owners need to be people who live and breathe the lifestyle. Rekom management are corporate checkboxers, not competent enough to get proper corporate jobs and without enough guile or hustle to become estate agents.
Deltic / Rekom were ideally placed to win, unfortunately, instead of having headline acts with big followings every week, they tried to be cheap by having a local dj (more than capable of being a warm up) every weekend. They reap what they sow
I think another one of the main reasons smaller clubs and promoters have been forced to shut down is because of the rise of massive venues like Printworks, Drumsheds, The Warehouse Project etc. These venues due to their size and person capacity can invite some of the biggest names in the industry. Smaller venues just can’t compete with this. Most people that are in the rave scene don’t got to smaller clubs and events any more. They go to these huge clubs and festivals instead.
Yeah that is true…to share on their socials! Save up money and go big rather than support the smaller local venues. Thank you for sharing it’s a great point!
My favourite club night in London (1990s) was called 'Starsky & Hutch', people dressed up 70s style, wall projections with 70s TV and film scenes, lava lamp type projections, music was from the 70s disco/funk era and at about 2am they gave out little paper bags of 'retro sweets' to the party crowd. That is the sort of innovation that is needed to get people excited again.
Nice! What a fun sounding venue! I agree, people want an experience these days
Yep, nightclubs deserve because of their crazy loud music and outrageous drink prices.
Too expensive, dating apps, men don't cold approach women in public anymore.
Agree with everything except your last statement. They still very much do. It’s annoying 😂.
@jennyhong6746 thank you for watching!
If you approach a woman , they play the me too card ...woman are the problem
it only annoying when said man is not Chad.
I own six party bars/clubs in Latin America. I’m from UK. Some very good points made but with Latinos they have the phones but dancing without them. Dance is the priority over here.
People from here could take a thing or 2 from Latin America! Thank you for watching
Agreed with all your points man. It’s a massive shame 😔 I was honestly going out every weekend, sometimes twice or three times a week, between the age of 18-25. It’s so sad what’s happened and changed over the last few years. I wish I was DJing around then, but I’m glad I enjoyed going out and having a good time back then, so no regrets. Also recently had the bad news of Stonegate leaving loads of venues/pubs in the South East, including my Saturday residency 😔 So I won’t be there from the summer (unless if the new tenants decide to keep the nightlife hours). I feel so bad for my manager there, as well as all the staff. It’s incredibly sad for them. They will all lose their jobs and they all work so hard. The manager has spent a long time building up a safe environment and a good reputation at the pub. He’s happy with his team and hitting their targets and now it’s going to be wiped away from them. It’s just awful 😑😔
Thanks for watching and for sharing mate. It really is a tough game out there at the moment but I really hope there will be a turning point in the future. A nation just glued to their phones for fun if there is nothing left…not my idea of fun that’s for sure! Really hope the residency stays mate if not I am sure you’ll find something else quickly!
Really articulately put, makes a lot of sense :) Sad times
Thanks for watching! Sad times indeed ☹️
This town is turning into a ghost town . Who knew The Specials would predict the future ? Glad the club I went to was a two block stumble home !!
It's a lot of reasons. main reason for clubs closing is councils not giving out late licences to venues when special events are on, but giving them out to pubs, which is killing their business. that's the club owners view. my personal view is clubs can't compete with late night pubs anymore, they have had to drop or reduce admission prices, to get people through the doors. now that all the clubs are closing, and the pubs are open to 3 am, people a drinking more in the house and going out after 11 pm. which is now killing pub businesses. which has a knock on effect to DJ's pubs will employ 2nd rate and cheap Karaoke DJ's to fill the void. this to me was the death knell, this coupled with the smoking ban. killed the old weekend drinking British way. Then you have Brexit, no more Euro beers. Covid killed off the old art of conversation, nobody mingles anymore. and add to that the extortionate taxes levied on the pub industry. if that wasn't bad enough, add the Cost of living crisis. the owners of pubs these days don't even want a DJ who is willing to work for free at Xmas and new years eve round my way. that has his own gear. because they know it's not going to be busy. and there you have the final nail in the coffin. pub and club owners have just given up, and are no longer willing to spend any money to entice people to come out, so punters stay in and drink supermarket beer, and watch the Telly. it's nice to hear your view about all the problems clubs are facing, and i think you are correct. there is a new way of doing things now, and pubs and clubs need to adapt. the old days are gone, young people today don't remember the old ways, there used to be 4 clubs in my town, they are all gone now.
Agree with a lot of this! Thanks for watching and sharing your views
Elaborating on what you said about pubs no longer having the 11 pm closing time. You forgot to mention that many pubs, especially in the west end of London , also have their own DJ's and no doubt attract more clients who previously would've gone to nighclubs and also the fact that pubs have no entrance fee and drinks are much more affordable.
Very good point that! Thank you for watching
Cost beyond young people budgets.
Agree also for italian's scene
Such a shame to hear it’s happening abroad from here too 😞. Thank you for watching
True. Technology will finish off most things very soon. Just look at the high streets. Glad I was part of the clubbing days though. Great memories.
You make such a good point! Thank you for watching!
Innovation is key 🔑
Absolutely is! Thanks for watching
Agree mate with most of what you have said. We all need to help. Sad times for the late night industry.
I hope that we see a turning point and get venues back in full force!
@@djkarlthomas golly, you folks over there have a three year advantage over those of us in the US. Here you have to be 21, and it is enforced very strictly. You folks are tightly packed so you probably don’t have the drunk driving problem that we do. My view is that nightlife began to decline in the mid 1980s when the AIDS scare pretty much killed off the sexual revolution.
Dating sites, Netflix n chill, house parties, expensive cover charge n drinks, club fights n shootings have ended the Nightclub life.
I mean we don’t have shootings here in the UK however the other things you mention do absolutely stand!
I much prefer the internet to nightclubs.
That’s a shame
@@djkarlthomasI met all the girls I had sex with from the internet?
Spotify and apple music is the new nightclub. Uber is the new taxi and portable club
ding ding ding - this is a world wide problem for international cities. basically everything has become so expensive due to land cost. even berlin is slowly being gentrified. i cant believe how lucky i was to be in london in the early 2000s. going out during the week legitimately cost 20-30 quid and we lived well in nice neighborhoods while not having investment banking jobs. social media has made people more health conscious, young people are almost universally drinking less and sleeping more. there is also an expectation that clubbing should always be like a festival experience so instead of clubbing a few times a month kids are saving up to visit 3 or 4 festivals a year to experience what they see on youtube. i gotta say some local clubs are kinda grimey with 20% of people being total shit heads (yobs looking for fights), at a festival you dont really have to deal with any of that.
Thanks for sharing your views!
because why go to the club when you can listen to the music at home or throw a house party.
A million percent agree. It’s safer more economical and you’ll probably know 50% of the people. Food and booze can be delivered to your house.
Spotify ruining the music industry. Everything includihg selfies is recorded to go online. No wonder the nightclubs are closing.
another huge reason y0ou may have forgot was because stray pets , people are adopting more pets lately so they dont have time to party they rather spend it saving a puppies life. and then they take selfies with them all day and dont bother going out
Anyone else notice club scene started dying with the uglification of women?
Part from business owners and workers nothing of value is lost in my opinion
They got too posh expensive and snobby only for the high flyers not the average Joe 😊 !
Certainly a lot more VIP booths these days!!
@@djkarlthomas How about the entire middle dancefloor of a club being converted to a VIP section where no one is dancing? Poorly designed! DAER nightclub, Florida. Saw Above and Beyond there couple weeks back and was stunned someone actually thought that was a good idea😂
Because Guys & Gals Are Not Dancing With Each Other Anymore? Glad I Had My Fun in 1980s / 90s. Wish I Had a Porsche 928 Time Machine Be Young Again.
Haha things have certainly changed!!
@@djkarlthomas Touche' (smile)
Agreed.
Clubs/bars are mostly places to go out to meet people, phones killed that. Select men don't have to bother with clubs anymore and can just door-dash women over to their place with 0 effort. Women actually prefer this because they can control the interactions that they have with men, as opposed to night clubs/bars where any guy can come up to them.
Price of drinks and entry fees are starting to get out of control. People have little to no disposable income. I'm not buying the whole "young people are drinking less." Anytime I open a dating app or use Instagram, that's all they're doing
@@dutchmaster1999 Touche' (smile)
Well they should start playing good music and once and for all stop playing the same overplayed tired sh1t songs such as happy, black eyed peas stuff, pitbull etc etc. That's the main reason why I stopped going. It's utter rubbish. Expose the crowd to good stuff, take the risk. Whenever I go to berlin or hungary the clubs i go don't play any pop radio songs, yet they're full, everyone dancing high energy. I personally need intense beats to get myself moving, generic pop stuff just makes my eyes roll and i walk out since I can my style at home and have a blast.
Hi rent
I blame a shit UK music scene.
If you go to France, Japan & US dance music the musicality is way higher.
Too much minimal, dull, music.
I do disagree on this one myself, there’s music for everyone in the UK you just have to find it. Everyone is entitled to a view point though and we don’t always have to agree. Thank you for watching!
Drunk driving will destroy everything you love? That’s a good reason.
I don’t think drunk driving has been mentioned in this video?
@@djkarlthomas maybe not. Its exactly why I quit going.