Grime Riot Disco comes to Delhi
Harsimran Gill is a blogger, lifestyle writer and Grime Riot Disco regular.
The very first Grime Riot Disco (GRD) took place in a small basement club in Khar, a Mumbai suburb. ‘This is the party we've been waiting for. grimey, raw, egoless, fun.’ stated the flyers, promising Bombay peeps a down and dirty, no-nonsense dance party. The guys at the gate didn’t care what I was wearing or if I was with a girl as long as my name was on the list and the modest cover charge in my pocket. Walking in, I sensed a mixture of excitement and raw shadiness; the crowd was hopping to tunes that clubs in this city had never played. A new party was born.
And on June 2, it will arrive in the Capital.
Over the course of several sweaty, riotous events, Grime Riot Disco has moved to many venues around Bombay and its loyal followers have moved with it. A community of regulars has developed, an added pleasure to the cheap booze and signature music - familiar bobbing faces I count on seeing each time around.
The appeal of GRD is that it’s everybody’s party, stripped of the gentrified pretension common to most nightclubs in Bombay. At the most recent one in Mumbai, I spotted a girl in sequined shorts and feathered headgear dancing right next to a couple of guys dressed as if they had come straight from the office. In the back of the room, the hosts were passing through a beer-chugging group, handing out packets of Gems.
‘[GRD] began as an experiment to plug the very obvious gap in the city’s nightlife.’ says Kunal a.k.a Engineer Bhai, part of the Wetheppl collective and co-organiser of Grime Riot Disco along with musician/actress Monica Dogra. And taking the party to Delhi is the next logical step, he believes. The lineup for the first event includes M.Mat from Bhavishyavani Future Soundz and Wild City DJ spinning back-to-back sets. Entry, as always, is through an RSVP to the official event on Facebook.
But will GRD be able to recreate its particular brand of gritty fun in Delhi? For starters, the first event will be held at The Living Room, a far cry from the alternative, forgotten venues the original event sought to promote in Mumbai. Organisers insist that TLR has the vibe and audience they are looking for, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Check it out Delhi, and take along your dancing shoes!
Getting there: The Living Room, 31 Hauz Khas Village on Saturday, June 2 at 8 pm, RSVP on the Facebook page.
