Skip to main content
A Magazine for Sheffield
Live / stage review

Club Rush, 1 March, Hatch

379 1553788177

According to Google, Club Rush is a tall plant with creeping underground stems, commonly found in most areas of England.

Nestled in the dark, sweaty embrace of Club Rush, this feels like a perfect metaphor for the queer underground. As awareness of events like Pride grows, there's a network of unseen yet far-reaching communities giving life to the forest above.

In hosting Club Rush, Hatch plant the seeds of hope and change. It's nights like this which bring like-minded people together to restore our tired bones and regain strength in freedom. With its dim, red-lit rooms and bare stone floors, it would be reminiscent of a crack den if it weren't for the outpouring of love filling the room like the smell of hot bread. And boy was it hot.

Queer hedonism is alive and kicking in the North

In a room so small you can barely lift your arms in the air the music adopts its own identity, taking root in the base of your spine. It doesn't really matter that you can't move around because everyone around you is swaying. All you have to do is close your eyes and allow yourself to be carried along by a collective gyration of appreciation. As exhilarating ripples of music wash over the crowd, it feels like an epiphany about what society could become, soundtracked by Madonna's 'Ray of Light'.

As I look around the room, met with only smiles and euphoria, I am reminded of the essential nature of nights like Club Rush. These places where creatures from all walks of life can crawl from the cracks in the woodwork, the marginalised and the boxed-in, and come together as a single life force, owning the space and not being afraid to do so. Queer hedonism is alive and kicking in the North and damn does it feel good.

Noah Martin

Next article in issue 133

More Music

More Music