Published
Wed, Nov 3, 2021, 12:30
- Andrew Moore reports from a Halloween party at Ulster Sports Club in Belfast.
Clubbing returned to Northern Ireland last weekend for the first time in more than 18 months.
The queue outside Ulster Sports Club in Belfast last Sunday was a sight to behold. There was a man dressed as a hedge, his partner as Edward Scissorhands; a dark elf fairy straight out of Skyrim; zombie cheerleaders and last-minute face paint jobs, all dotted along the pavement. With 50 people in line by 9 PM, the city, usually still and sleepy on a school night, felt electric.
It's been a long 18 months for Northern Ireland's clubbing community. Live music was banned in September 2020, with The Musicians' Union calling for transparency on the evidence and rationale behind the Northern Ireland Executive's decision. Restrictions on outdoor events were lifted on July 5th, 2021, allowing events like AVA Belfast to go ahead in open-air locations without masks or social distancing. From July 26th, promoters could once again hold indoor events, but capacity was restricted and masks were required when ordering drinks and moving around the venue. Also, all attendees had to remain seated.
On Halloween, all restrictions were finally lifted, allowing indoor clubs to operate at full capacity without masks or social distancing for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. To celebrate the occasion, Ulster Social Club brought in Overmono and Parris alongside local favourites Bobby Analog and Carlton Doom.
"It's just so good to be back!" one raver said, her skeleton make-up running from all the sweat. "It's been hard seeing people in places like London and Manchester going out and getting back to some sort of version of normality. I feel like this is the release we were all really craving."
So why did it take Northern Ireland so long to lift restrictions on full-capacity events and indoor live music?
While the Republic of Ireland took measures to try and open safely and responsibly, Northern Ireland was left in the dark. This alongside concerns surrounding longer opening hours, safer and better public transport, reducing the creative drain brain and a review of how the night time economy is viewed in Northern Ireland prompted the creation of campaigning group Free The Night in April 2021 headed by local DJ Holly Lester, Boyd Sleater and Give Us The Night founder Sunil Sharpe.
According to Lester, the Northern Ireland Executive didn't collect data specific to Northern Ireland that could have aided the opening of nightclubs and other entertainment events during the pandemic.
"While we cautiously welcome the lifting of restrictions on October 31st, we also recognise that the coming months will be challenging for our health and social care services," said Lester. "We hope to work collaboratively with the Northern Ireland Executive, health office and stakeholders of the nightlife industries to find the safest and most practical way to remain open."
At Ulster Social Club, there was barely a shred of anxiety around the first full-capacity event. Overmono, who released their debut BBC Essential Mix the previous night, fired up the typically rowdy Belfast crowd with large basslines and otherworldly techno. Their remix of For Those I Love's I Have A Love got the biggest reaction of the night.
"It's not surprising that it's taken this long to get where we are when you look at who is in charge of running the country," Jonny Douglas, manager at Ulster Sports Club, told RA. "It felt like our industry was the last to be considered and we were scapegoated. There is a major disconnect between those in power and those who their decisions impact."
It's easy to see Douglas's frustration given that public worship was allowed at churches throughout the pandemic long before people were allowed to gather inside for any sort of social activity. It shows the priorities of the Northern Ireland Executive in a country still dominated by religion.
While there's still a lot of work to do, it was hard to feel anything but joy as Bobby Analog and Carlton Doom closed out Room Two. Their five-hour back-to-back explored everything from R&B and dub techno to dubstep and sludgy electro. Behind his Chris Fehn Slipknot mask, Doom was unrecognisable.
"We haven't gone back-to-back for a few years, but it's always fun," he told RA. "It's almost like a throwback, and now that I'm sober I'm looking forward to it in a different way than I did before. It's so good to be back playing tunes."