On Monday night, two blessed souls by the name of MC Harry Shotta and DJ Discoboy carted a sound system, LED light kit, a mic and what looks like several pals onto a traincar on the London Underground’s Bakerloo line, set it up, and proceeded to host a drum ‘n’ bass rave for several stops. There was no cover charge.
The stunt, reported by The Guardian as lasting between Embankment and Paddington—six full stops!—was planned by a YouTube channel called TrollStation that specializes in this kind of prank. While that makes the incident probably less cool, the spirit was in the right place. Passengers are seen filming and laughing, with some joining in, which is a lot more than I can say for the cranky New Yorkers who scowl every time a group of Showtime dancers roll up on a car. (People, this is why we live here! Celebrate life!) Also more generous than New Yorkers: the fuzz, who apparently allowed the rave to go down until they were shut down at Paddington, and made a joke:
A spokesman told the Associated Press: “Officers attended and spoke with a man who agreed to turn off the speakers and the light systems. They then left the station.
“Whilst officers relish any opportunity to experience underground drum and bass (sic), we’d kindly ask DJs to refrain from using the tube as a pop-up club.
I would challenge New York to step up its subway game, only you know the NYPD would meet such tomfoolery with naked aggression; still, we can always dream, and forever admire the dance party aspirations of enterprising Londoners from afar.