It’s Saturday night and London is buzzing with events all across the city and I make my way to the not-so-little House Party run between Elrow, Desperados beer and Skream in North Greenwich. For those who didn’t hear the news: Printworks had a baby and the shiny new venue ‘Magazine London’ was hosting the debut of this mish-mash house-party-for-all. Friendly staff greeted you at the station and directed you to the venue in the same organised fashion as do Printworks, except you are headed the complete opposite direction – and the further you head down the darker roads, the louder the music gets and there you see the projection of a big fat red house with colorful windows- a little like Berghain that got a lick of candy floss and kissed by a parrot. We have arrived!
The concept is simple: Desperados and Skream throw all-welcoming music affair where anybody and their ideas are welcome. At the entrance, there is a welcome sign made of ‘unwelcoming’ newspaper clippings – literally taking out the “un” out of the unwelcome and leaving all the nonsense behind. Revelers had an opportunity to share their ideas of what would make a good house party in months building up to the series of events and the team put it all together to host a massive event that included: a bartender octopus – because why not serve 8 people at once? Tacos – no party is a good one without a delicious gooey pita mess! A walk through a metal detector that sprinkles you in glitter and bubbles. A human disco ball. A harness bungee on tap. Not to mention a whole ton of confetti and cannonballs and the best of Elrow’s house of novelties and dancers and rolling beats with Skream’s 5-hour set! What more can a person ask for? Or is there more?
My mind was blown away when I got introduced to Francesca, co-founder of Cute Circuit Sound Shirt – a garment that allows deaf or auditorally-impaired people to experience music. Electrical impulses are wirelessly transmitted from real-time music captured via a computer program, sending signals to 16 different impact points on the shirt and the person can experience different aspects of the pitch and different instruments, pulses running up and down the bodysuit – in perfect synchronization with the sound around. Trying on this suit was an exhilarating experience, but my mine couldn’t possibly compare to the joy and smiles of the revelers who attended with their auditory impairments. If you don’t call this an all-inclusive every-body REALLY is welcome party – I don’t know what is!
With a relatively early start time (7 pm) and end time (2 am) – all in all, a wonderful event leaving attendees wanting more. With the fierce competition of London dance and music events, all I can say is hats off for the producers, Desperados, Skream, Elrow and all the brilliant minds out there who have collectively put together an event that delivered on all the promises on inclusiveness, welcome and community. For many this will be a night to remember where opportunities and dreams became reality – all bundled into 7 hours of endless fun, joy and love. EPIC!
