On Saturday nights around 11pm, hundreds of young Londoners gather at train stations and in car parks after the first location — or “loco” — drops into an encrypted group chat. An hour or two later, they’re dancing inside abandoned office blocks, shuttered restaurants and empty warehouses as generators hum and bass reverberates through buildings long forgotten by the city.
By 3am, there might be 2,000 people inside — more than many licensed clubs can legally hold. Sometimes police stand outside while organisers invoke squatters’ rights. Sometimes they never arrive at all. The conventional night out might be dying a slow death, but the free party movement is thriving, whether inside London or in fields, forests or barns outside the city. Forget the polished, Instagram-friendly sound dominating much of today’s club scene. The music you’ll hear at these parties will span donk, psytrance, techno and tekno, a raw, fast-paced electronic music genre born out of the free party movement.
