Liverpool was the first city to get back out on the tiles as clubbers returned for trial event
Prepare to well up at the pure scenes below, whether it's through heart-warming joy or crippling jealousy that you weren't there, as the first post-Covid club night was held in Liverpool.
The club night dubbed 'The First Dance' was a trial event, approved by the Liverpool City Council and UK government, to test venues and their capacity to hold similar events with large crowds. All lockdown restrictions are set to end on June 21 and we imagine most of the country will be looking like this:
https://twitter.com/Chloethetwit/status/1388219685393547270?s=20
The event, hosted by
Circus Club and held in the Bramley Moore Dock warehouse, hosted a total of 3,000 clubbers, all of whom had negative Covid test results and lateral flow tests before they could even secure their ticket. Acts included Jayda G, Blessed Madonna and Lauren Lo Sung.
As you can see, the best bit about the whole thing is that there were no masks and no social distancing required - the first real, legal and - more importantly - *normal* night out since the pandemic began. Simply beautiful.
https://twitter.com/CIRCUSmusic/status/1388263951734120453?s=20
Never have we felt so jealous yet so overcome with happiness to see people simply getting back to their lives, dancing away, drinking, singing themselves hoarse and not paying any mind to how close they are to the person next to them.
We can only imagine how incredible it must have been to be a part of that experience and have your first true night out, no strings attached and back to your absolute care-free best.
While people were rocking up from 2pm, the rave itself didn't fully kick into gear for some time and boy did it. We can't stop watching every clip we see - this one got us crying too:
https://twitter.com/sianbennett/status/1388158501655023616?s=20
Better still, Circus and Liverpool are set to do it all over again tonight (Saturday the 1st of May)! They host another 3,000 who missed out on Friday's tickets and will be headlined by the one and only, Fatboy Slim. Get me there now.
You can see Circus' owner, DJ Yousef Zaher, speaking ahead of the night below, clearly aware of how significant a moment The First Dance would be, also telling
The i, “I think people will be emotional – it’s a lot to take in after 14 months of nothing.”
https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1388197688697516033?s=20
This was just one of several trials in the UK's
Events Research Programme (ERP), which is tasked with seeing how things can return to normal regarding big venues and big crowds.
For instance, it kicked off with the
World Snooker Championships on April 17th and we recently saw fans also return to football grounds again for the
Carabao Cup Final at Wembley, which Man City went on to win for the fourth time in a row.
We couldn't be more over the moon for the lucky 6,000 of you that were able to attend or will be arriving for part two tonight - we can't wait to join you when it's all officially over.
Young people, especially, have had to put their life on hold for too long and watching that absolutely rapturous rhapsody unfolding is the antidote we all need.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_8O34msX5Q
So, with all that being said: start practising your shapes, cop some new threads, get lining your stomach early and we'll see you at the finish line - by which we mean the dancefloor, of course.
