Silent Discos in Incredible Places - St Albans Cathedral

Last weekend, Silent Discos In Incredible Places was hosted in St Albans Cathedral for an October double header of 80s, 90s and 00s tunes.

The cathedral welcome hundreds of attendees to the silent disco event. (Image: Submitted) The quirky concept has come to St Albans before and this time, they combined all three decades for different channels of music and boogie.

Our reporter Huw Richards went down on Friday's event (October 25) to check it out.

Review:

After a few visits to pubs across town, a few friends and I made our way through the graveyard toward the grandeur of the cathedral's main entrance.

One of the weirdest walks to a silent disco I've ever endured, but then again, I haven't been to many.

I was lucky enough to source VIP tickets on the cheap from a generous Facebook user who could no longer attend, securing each pass for just £17 - its benefits remained unclear for the majority of the evening.

This allowed me to skip the not so long queue and head straight in. My scepticism was quickly cleared, as on entry a hoard of green, blue and red headphones lit up the grand interior of the cities most iconic landmark. 

Glowing batons and flowery lei's lit up the cathedral's grand interior. (Image: Submitted) Hundreds were belting out lyrics to anthems from the past, which is always comedic before you put your own headphones on.

First stop was the makeshift bar on the east side of the cathedral, I was not best pleased paying £6 for a small can of Jubel lager, but there were no other options.

Accompanying our queue jump was the led lights pack and colourful lei. Unsure if this constituted the price of the VIP pass, I chose to embrace the situation, as you have to with a silent disco and began on the 80s channel. 

Maybe I embraced the attire a bit too much. (Image: Submitted) A chorus of 'Sweet Child o' Mine' could be heard for miles, and I apologise to anybody who was within earshot. As a silent disco lover, I was instantly in the zone, boogieing and singing the night away.

Something about heading past the alter to the port-a-loos did feel wrong however, my focus swiftly changed to a 'Town Called Malice'.

Read More:

• 5 St Albans fireworks displays to choose from this bonfire night
• Stonegate Group looks for tenants to takeover The Peacock

From Sean Paul to Queen, there was at least one song that everyone could recite the words to and the satisfaction of changing the channel to a tune that majority loves never gets old.

St Albans Cathedral was illuminated during the brilliant silent disco. (Image: Submitted)From 8pm to 11pm I did not stop dancing, like many others, and was sad to see its conclusion.

An extravagant final few songs including Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and 'Mr Brightside' by The Killers was the perfect way to end three hours of partying.

The closing speech from the main DJ highlighted the life of a disk scratcher, as he revealed that tomorrow he would be playing to an "eight-year-olds" birthday party - certainly a step down.

Conclusion:

The eclectic mix of people in the audience is what listening to music should be about, with everyone allowed to dance without a care in the world.

Aided by the noise-cancelling headphones and a bit of alcohol there was not a static individual in the place, as the sea of St Albans locals didn't stop the party.

£36 may be a stretch for VIP, however, the base ticket at around £25 is brilliant value for money.

As the website reads, the cathedral was a "stunning" and "spectacular" venue for the disco and I would highly recommend anybody looking to go.

The next date is rumoured to be in February.