The River Mersey was rocking on Friday night as a vast warehouse on its Bramley Moore Dock shuddered to the sound of booming speakers and thousands of elated partygoers.
After more than a year of restrictions, 3,000 lucky ticket-holders, all from Liverpool, were given permission to party once again in the biggest test of life returning to normal since the virus shut down social activity.
Heavy security, police officers and dogs guarded the area, with only the screened guests, who had proved they were Covid-free, allowed inside.
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DJ Yousef Zaher, the owner of Circus Liverpool, which hosted the landmark event, could hardly believe it was happening.
“I’m enormously excited, I can feel the pressure release as I’m about to play some music,” he said as the rave began at 2pm. “I think people will be emotional – it’s a lot to take in after 14 months of nothing.”
At the gates to the warehouse it was an offence to hug strangers. But inside there were no such rules, like stepping into a time machine to 2019, with people free to party like there’s no pandemic.
Some of the young crowd ran the full length of the venue in glee to meet up with friends as they entered.
Lydia, 21, held her best friends tight as she soaked up the atmosphere. “We used to go out three or four nights a week. It’s so amazing to be back. I wanted to start drinking in preparation this morning, I was so excited – but my make-up took too long.”
Eden and Meghan, both 19, started getting ready for the club by fake tanning 24 hours in advance. They joked that losing their nights out during the pandemic had been “like a living hell”.
“It doesn’t feel real, I thought I’d get here and there’d be nobody, like it was fake,” Eden said. “I was really, really nervous, the whole way here we had butterflies,” added Meghan. “It’s so good to be back.”
As night time fell, confetti cannons exploded over the thousands partying on the dancefloor. The lyrics to the event’s headline act, The Blessed Madonna, rang out.
“We’ve lost dancing,” the chorus echoed across the warehouse. “If I can live through this, what comes next will be marvelous.”
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