2016: A gay bar at Glastonbury festival became the UK’s best club

On our way in for the first time on Friday night, we use our special wristbands to beat the near hour and a half long queue but on entrance we’re told by a tall, pink-dressed man with glitter all over and big, voluptuous lips that we can either “show what we’re working with and get our cocks out or get to the back of the queue”. We oblige and with the the door guard’s seal of approval we giddily enter the most unique and captivating nightclubs on the planet.

The soundsystems are pumping, the music is life-affirming and most of all, the NYC Downlow is just really fucking fun. It’s one of the most inclusive and safe environments on site and everything that goes on there encounters as genuine and heartfelt a clubbing experience as can be.

“It’s inclusive because we let straight people in, ha ha!” says Gideon, the area’s co-founder. “For me, the NYC Downlow is a homo venue that celebrates the specific idiosyncrasies of our same sex culture. It revisits, reveres and re-interprets traditions of our people and those who came before us. We, here and now, have inherited a sound, a way of being, a way of expressing ourselves, a set of values, a political and moral compass based on liberal leftwing values from our brothers and sisters who struggled before us.”

Over the weekend we’re treated to some of the most amazing performances of the festival. There’s Roger Sanchez rolling out a 90s house set with every notable classic you could ever wish for. There’s the incredible Honey Dijon who slams out jacking house jams while a catwalk of glistening gods and goddesses strut their stuff with flair and fervour and there’s The Black Madonna, an outspoken equal rights voice, who plays house, disco and funk to a packed-out room.