12 (+ way more) DJs spinning
11 Topless punters
10 Hour Boxing Day A:M Special
9 Stranger selfies snapping
8 Are we actually going to go through all of the days?
7 Yeah we should probably give it a go
6 Vodka red bulls pouring
5 Night tube ridings
4 Drunken fumblings
3 New Year parties pumping
2 Mega venues
1 ORANGE NATION CHRISTMAS
God, we try. We really do. Exhausting.
Yes, it’s the season of YUGE parties and no one does bigger parties than Orange Nation! Not even Kate Moss. Orange make Kate Moss look like Kate Middleton. Or Kate Thornton. Any boring Kate. Pick any of them. There’s loads.
Boxing Day, it begins. A 10 hours A:M Special at Fire. Haul yourself off the sofa and dance off that tin of Celebrations that you polished off before 11am on Christmas Day. DJs Terry Bryan, Steven Artis and Richard Jones take over the A:M House room, while Gonzalo, D’Johnny and Matt Bogard turbocharge the second room. Plus, all the elaborate stage shows and performances you’ve come to expect.
And then, the New Year’s celebrations. As well as New Year’s Day, you’ve got an extra bank holiday to kick off the year and they’re packing it full of venue-hopping, day-losing, two-stepping parties; lairy labyrinths where you can pop in daylight and leave under darkness, or the other way, WHATEVER. Yeah, you’ll need time to recover, but, let’s be honest, those first couple of days back at work will just be idle post-Christmas chit-chat and Helen in HR complaining about the remote-controlled drone her boyfriend bought for himself at the Curry’s Boxing Day Sale. Book a meeting room out and have a nap.
So, they get started at 5am on New Year’s Day at Fire, when you know all the city’s straighties will have fallen asleep on the sofa with a kebab in one hand and a repeat of Sexcetera on the telly. It’s safe to venture out now! AS One Afterhours will be a hedonistic whirl of pumping house and impossibly hot men. That finishes in the afternoon, giving you a break for a wee disco nap. Then, in the evening, it’s two stops down the Victoria Line to the birthplace of Bowie for a party dedicated to the master-queer shape-shifter himself. After that, if you’ve still got the juice, it’s back to Fire to finish off at Orange. It’s going to be mad blur of DJs, dancers and stage shows, the only way to kick off a New Year!
• As One Afterhours is on Sunday 1st January at Fire, 39 Parry Street, SW8 1RT, 5am-2pm
• Beyond Stardust is on Sunday 1st January at Electric Brixton, Town Hall Parade, SW2 1RJ, 10pm-6am
• Orange is on Monday 2nd January at Fire, 39 Parry Street, SW8 1RT, from 5am
• Tickets for all events starting at £25. For more info and tickets, head to orangenation.co.uk
