Virtual Lockdown Rock & Metal Clubnight Becomes A Reality

In March 2020, the clubs and bars around the UK had to shut their doors as the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic began to sink in. People around the world started to discover a new normal of Zoom calls, virtual quiz nights & gigs live streamed from an artist's garage. Rock & Metal fans in Manchester and beyond, may have also come across Club Isolation.

Like-minded people would get together every Saturday and tune in to a live set from Manchester based DJ, James Leaver. But it did not stop there. Throughout these nights, there would be various challenges that the virtual clubbers would take part in. They would have to listen out for certain songs and then take a picture of themselves completing a silly challenge, often with hilarious outcomes. Along with a thriving chat on Discord, an app usually used for online gamers to chat to each other during their gameplay, this made it all seem a lot less like you were drinking alone in your quarantine bubble and more like you were having a blast with friends in a nightclub.

Fast forward to October 2020, and things really start to take off with the virtual clubnights. The Halloween special is given a shout out in the Manchester Evening News and more and more people start to tune in, not just from the UK, but from as far afield as Australia and other parts of the globe.

"There is so much happening in this scene... it is absolutely thriving" - James Leaver

"By this point, a lot of established UK alternative clubnights had started their own live streams" James told us when we spoke about the evolution of Club Isolation. "What set us apart and the reason I believe our clubnights were still attracting huge numbers, was how varied our music was on these nights. I would say to people, if it is good and heavy, it can go in. People used to always moan when you used to go out to the generic alternative clubnights in town as they would play the same songs every night you went. I wanted to give people the chance to rock out to something they had not heard before. Of course, there were plenty of hits played all the time, then I would just stick on something a bit less well known that I thought fans of that hit song would like. There is the old saying, that rock is dead. But is it really? There is so much happening in this scene right now it is absolutely thriving!"

It soon became clear that there was a real demand for this kind of clubnight to take place in reality, outside of it's virtual home. When visibility on when nightlife could return in the UK became clearer, it was time to announce that Club Isolation would be hosting their first real-world clubnight at the well loved basement venue at Retro in Manchester. Along with a promise from James not to shy away from the variety of music played, or having silly challenges throughout the night for guests to throw themselves into. With the following the virtual nights had, it will surely be a sell out event.

Club Isolation presents, FREEDOM TO ROCK! @ Retro in Manchester on the 9th October 2021. Tickets available now on Skiddle.

Tickets are no longer available for this event