BBC Radio 1 DJ Arielle Free expressed her delight at returning to her roots with a spontaneous house party set in Glasgow, following the cancellation of her scheduled performance at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party due to severe weather conditions.
The 36-year-old host of Radio 1's Rave-Up show was set to entertain at the Party Stage on Waverley Bridge before the event was axed by organisers in response to Met Office yellow weather warnings across Scotland on Monday and Tuesday.
After receiving an overwhelming number of messages, Free arranged three gigs in Glasgow – including one at Nico’s Bar, another at The Locale, and a unique set at a house party where she spun tracks with the decks placed atop kitchen hobs.
Speaking to PA news agency, Free said: "It’s always such a great, high energy, just really like a beautiful evening of unity and everyone having a wonderful time and getting on.
"And it’s such a great way to see in the New Year and I was reposting videos from the first and last time I did it (Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party), which was 2019, and then I started getting announcements that it was being cancelled because of the weather."
Free shared her initial disappointment on social media, saying she was "quite upset" until a user on X, previously known as Twitter, enquired if she was available for a house party. "And I put it (the post) up on my Instagram and suddenly was getting inundated with messages and I thought, actually, there could be something in this."
Free revealed she had asked if there were any parties she could play at and was overwhelmed with invitations, including "offers of flights to Australia, parties in Aberdeen" and opportunities to perform in Europe and New York.
"I started replying to people, and was like, okay, and managed to come up with a path around Scotland", she explained.
She reminisced about playing at Nico’s bar, noting its personal significance as the first bar she ever visited on a night out in Scotland, where she grew up in Glasgow. Although plans to DJ at a house party near Central Station fell through due to a lack of equipment, she ended up at another house party in Glasgow.
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"So I played there, the decks were on the hobs in the kitchen, and then came home, feet knackered from all the dancing and heart full of joy. It ended up being a brilliant night."
Free expressed her delight at returning to the roots of her career: "It was really brilliant to be back just playing people’s house parties," she said. "It really felt like going back to where it all began for me."
Looking ahead, she is open to repeating the experience: "It was just so personable that I definitely would do it again. So whether it’s Scotland, whether it’s somewhere else, I don’t know, but I think it would be lovely to make it a yearly session, why not? ".
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