Parties & People

SUMMER RITES REMIXED

July 13, 2011

10/07/11: It was a first for so many reasons. A first for us when they announced the whole shebang… we can’t even recall ever seeing a tree in the Old Street vicinity let alone an entire slab of green space. “Just where is Shoreditch Park, anyway?” we asked Google, rather perplexed. It was also a first for many queens altogether to venture away from their home turf; some of which had never left Vauxhall or Soho before – their only foray ‘East’ being a take away in China Town.

Bringing together some of the biggest club brands in London for a gay park event was certainly long overdue, and reviving the Summer Rites brand, a deserving nod to the popular club festival of the same name from the late 90s (no, we don’t remember them… bitch). For the first time since Big Gay Out in 2005 and Hyde Park’s Mardi Gras event two years before that, London had its very own gay outdoor party festival.

Slow to kick off, by 4pm the park was flooded with guys and gals alike, proving wrong the theory that bringing together so many party-loving gay men and lesbians in the same space will not necessarily cause the universe to collapse in on itself.

It was a perfect representation of a diverse scene: from Bootylicous/Sunday Happy Days flying the urban flag, via the hunky chunks at XXL through to the trendy wendies of East Bloc’s GutterSlut and Meat nights, or the muscled marys of Salvation. In betwixt them all, TrannyShack flew the wigged flag, while Popstarz/Wig Out/Kimono Krush played the alternative kids’ beats. Of course, not forgetting illustrious East London bars George & Dragon and The Joiners Arms that kept us lushes suitably lush-like.

We like? We LOVED it. More please!