Super-parties: the hot, new youth craze that never was

You may have been to a regular house party, complete with the blue plastic bag of paint-stripper Bulgarian wine and the constant YouTube-ing of the same DJ Pied Piper deep cut. Workaday. But have you ever been to a super-party?

Well, wise up grandaddy-o. Super-partying is a hot, new youth craze, at least according to Newcastle city council, which this week issued a public-safety video to warn of the dangers. A joint release by the council and the fire and police services also noted that the city was seeing an uptick in the kind of parties where 200 or 300 students pack into a house at one time, adding that these were often ticketed affairs with bouncers. The authorities warned that the average Victorian terrace was designed for no more than a standard Victorian family of 12, and that swollen party attendance could risk floor collapse. Apparently, promoters have been blocking fire exits with mattresses to seal out noise in residential zones, causing major fire hazards. Such super-parties, they announced, are highly dangerous.

“We don’t want to be seen as the fun police,” announced Ch Supt Neil Hutchison, “but students need to recognise that lives are being put at risk. Alcohol, drugs, loud music and hundreds of partygoers is a recipe for disaster. It can only be a matter of time before we are talking about a tragedy.” The Times, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph have duly recycled these reports, with the latter two making sure to conflate the super-party with the advent of super-ecstasy. The average strength of a standard British MDMA tablet has markedly risen in the past 12 months, apparently making it one of the leading things to do at a super-party – Super Soakers and Abba’s Super Trouper notwithstanding.

A local promoter, who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity, put it differently. “It has been embellished by the council. It’s more about a war between students and locals to do with noise and nuisance. I’ve been to ones where there have been quite a lot of people, but never to the point where it’s dangerous. There’ll be a big party every couple of months. But they make it sound like there are eight a week.”

Not so, says assistant chief fire officer Alan Robson, who reckons that many such gatherings are also “secretly sponsored by drink companies”. On the topic of bouncers, our party mole admits he’s seen a few, but that they are “normally just there to stop unwanted people turning up. It’s not commercial”. Meanwhile, Robson says the largest one he has knowledge of involved 200 people – “as a best estimate” – crammed into a residential property. He points out that, in Manchester, several people fell through a floor at a house party. Luckily, no one was seriously injured.

“The difference is that, since the new university year began, there have been a lot more parties. They are advertised on Facebook, very rapidly, often through closed groups. You can shift the party location from one place to another in a matter of hours.”

The super-party debate will continue at regular parties everywhere (where most people are now just desperately refreshing Facebook, hoping to be invited to one). What is clear is that Newcastle’s council is serious about dealing with health and safety hazards in residential areas. Whether the classic house party has now metastasised into a super-virulent new form is a bit more fuzzy.