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Absolute keenos will be pleased to hear that they don’t have to wait until Monday evening to experience the return of full-capacity gig venues and raving without social distancing.
Kicking off at one minute past midnight on the night of Sunday July 18 – which is of course is actually the very first minute of Monday July 19 – 00.01 is a mini festival taking place across Hackney’s Oval Space and Pickle Factory for the dedicated party people amongst us, bringing together London’s indie and rock communities for a special one-off event.
With six bands across two stages, Flamingods – pictured above – Crows and Talk Show are all set to perform, alongside emerging artists Grove, Duress and Fake Turins, who’ll be bringing up the ones-to-watch side of the bargain. DJ sets come from the always fabulous Lynks as well as two musicians on a side hustle: DJ Betamax (The Comet Is Coming) and DJ L.E.D. (Goat Girl).
The idea for the event came after a discussion with music video director Tom Dream – who’s worked with Celeste and Arlo Parks – who is currently making a film about the first moshpit after Covid, which looks at the impact the pandemic has had on the independent music community.
Promoters Rob Broadbent and Max Wheeler explain: ‘This is the first time in the history of, well, everything, that live music in a venue has been taken away from us – and as live-music fans first and foremost we wanted to see the occasion back in properly with a BIG night and a load of killer bands that are going to smash it up.’
Tickets cost £16.50 and doors are at 11.45pm on Sunday July 18. But no trying to actively enjoy yourself before midnight, you hear? They’ll chuck everyone out at 5am, which leaves you enough time to go home, have a nap and do the whole thing all over again on Monday night, depending on just how hardcore you really are.
Oval Space, 29-32 The Oval, E2 9DT.
Free beers for ‘Freedom Day’ from a London Irish pub.
Kaleidoscope is London’s first big festival following lockdown.