The UK has been home to some massive parties, huge line-ups and quite frankly ridiculous raves over the years. These have taken place in all shapes and sizes. Illegal warehouse parties in Manchester and Leeds. Fatboy Slim performing to 75,000 people on Brighton Beach, and more recently Elrow’s takeover at the Olympic Park. However it hasn’t been plain sailing – we have witnessed an endless string of high-profile club closures in the form of Sankeys, The Cellar, Rainbow Venues and the closure of Mint Club is just around the corner. Stricter licensing laws combined with gentrification has started a debate about the state of the UK underground. Is the scene thriving or dying?

The answer to this question is complex and the answer varies depending on whom you ask. UK nightlife is made up of thousands of components, individual cities, micro-scenes and different genres. Where one environment might be booming, others are tailing off. Take Manchester for example. Formerly home to The Hacienda and now home to club superpower The Warehouse Project. The city has seen resurgence in the last 6 months with independent promoters bringing the city back to its roots. Brands like You&Me, Meat Free and Animal Crossing are educating the masses with forward-thinking line-ups, unique venue spaces and super secretive after-parties that rival anything you can find in a club. Venues like Hidden and newcomers The Bagel Shop are thriving and the pool of local talent in Manchester is the best it has been in years. Josh Baker, Blasha & Allatt and Mason Maynard are just a few names that are finding fame across the globe.

Some people might argue this is just the cyclical nature of the music industry. We however believe a lot of this can be credited to new nightlife commissioner Sasha Lord. A decision we were initially sceptical of because of his ties with The Warehouse Project. On speaking to various promoters and friends in the city we were happy to be proved wrong. Sasha has been a catalyst for this new chapter in Manchester nightlife. Promoters and venues need the support of local authorities. We need to break the barriers and the negative out dated stigma associated with the underground. Sasha has apparently been hard at work granting licenses to new venues and disused spaces. Opening the channels of communication between the establishment and the underground. If these bridges continue to be built and the younger generation responsible for its future growth continue their hard graft with the same dedication, Manchester is in safe hands.

London is the nation’s capital and by far the biggest dance market. Things here are not as clear-cut. Unlike Manchester, opinions on London’s Night Czar are mainly negative. Many view the position as a puppet figure installed to dampen the negative publicity around Fabric’s failed closure. Amy Lamé appears powerless to stop strict, draconian laws from being passed. In Hackney, councillors chose to ignore the will of locals and introduced strict curfews that have harmed smaller venues and made it near impossible for them to be replaced by new ones. East London’s once vibrant and edgy area can no longer operate in the way it once did. However the underground has always been exactly that ‘underground’. Clubs might be closing but promoters are inventive. Illegal parties, forest raves and warehouse events are flourishing – promoters are being forced to go back underground. Those in the know can experience some of the most exciting events the city has seen in a long time.

At the other end of the spectrum the big clubs face a tough challenge too. Competition for tickets is fierce and with the emergence of demand for international artists, DJ’s are becoming harder to book. The saturated market is causing promotion and production cost to soar. Clubs can no longer book a single headliner. Punters expect festival size line-ups and world-class production, which comes at a cost. A cost that is quite often dramatically more than the bar takes and tickets combined. Fabric, E1, XOYO and Printworks are some of the best venues in the world but they face tough times ahead, unless someone or something can burst the toxic bubble created by those with in the industry. Realigning the natural equilibrium need to be a priority. Fees have to be reduced. Collaboration needs to increase and the competitive egos reined in. Maybe then the cities nightlife can say it is truly on the level of its European colleagues. After all artists and clubbers all need a home. Without the support of every stakeholder we will slowly strangle the hand that feeds us – the club.

Birmingham, Leeds and Oxford have all seen their fair share of hurt in recent weeks. Rainbow Venues, which was made up of 7 smaller clubs, lost their licenses last year. Mint Club and The Cellar have also recently announced their imminent closures. That being said, these cities are historically resilient and their nightlife is the same. Parties like Goodness are bringing bookings to Oxford that are above and beyond what many would expect. Distrikt, System, Shake and Transmission Funk are known for throwing some of the best parties not just in Leeds but Europe. If you travel further north Newcastle and its small tightly knit group of promoters (Ape-X, Jaunt, Cosmic Ballroom) are making bookings that festivals the size of Time Warp would be jealous of. FJAAK, Âme, Dusky, Dax J and Charlotte De Witte have all played in the last few weeks. These bookings are no fluke. They have taken years of hard work to complete. Newcastle is fast making a name as a dance party destination.

Head up to Scotland and it is no different – Glasgow is bouncing. The city seems to churn out a conveyor belt of talent just as fast as it consumes bottles of Buckfast. Jasper James, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, Denis Sulta, Big Miz, Optimo, Éclair Fifi… The list goes on. However a recent announcement threatens the future of Glasgow’s DJ University, Sub Club. J.D Weatherspoons have been given permission for a ‘luxury’ hotel to be built above The Subby. Will the venue be able to operate in the same way if it starts receiving a barrage of noise complaints? Probably not. The West of the UK Bristol, Swansea and Cardiff are the silent cogs in the whirring UK dance machine. Often falling under the radar of the outside clubbing world, (deleted a bit here) these are areas that are constantly partying and riding the UK tech house wave. Will this sound last? Perhaps not, but music is about evolution and there is no doubt these cities will evolve with the sound. After all, they have been doing exactly that since electronic music first arrived in the form of tape decks and pirate radio stations.

So to answer the question – is the UK underground dying or is it thriving? Based on the people we have spoken to and the events we have attended. We think the scene is alive and kicking. However it is thriving in a whole new way. There is no doubt that legislation, soaring fees and ever-increasing competition both at home and abroad are causing problems. However, this leaves us at an interesting but exciting crossroads. The more ‘headsy’ and truly underground members of the community appear to be moving back towards the early days of electronic music. Smaller, more secretive parties shunning the higher fees and commercialisation. This in turn is creating an exciting buzz and element of purism that is contagious for anyone luckily enough to be involved. Bigger venues are battling it out at the top and putting on bigger and better line-ups that in the short term are great for customers but unsustainable. Hopefully, as they move down this new path, the bigger venues will gain some control over pricing and take it away from the rogue agents responsible for hyperinflating prices, as they realise there aren’t enough gigs to go around. Some clubs will unfortunately lose the battle along the way but things will return to a sustainable equilibrium. These are definitely testing times but they are not all doom and gloom. There is more than enough passion, talent and dedication in the UK grassroots to sustain the underground and for years to come. The most exciting part of the challenges we are facing are the new opportunities they bring.