Thu 5 Nov 2026

A collection of rumors from the dancefloor

.IT — gossip, bass & bad decisions

Section 04 of 05 — 24 curiosities

Clubs and DJs

Legendary doors, superstar DJs and the parties that became myths.

A

  • after-party

    The party after the party, where the guest list gets shorter and the stories get longer.

B

  • Berghain

    Berlin's techno temple in a former power plant, where a sticker hides the phone camera and a German court once declared it culture.

  • Boiler Room

    The DJ sets streamed online with the crowd right behind the decks, born from a webcam taped to a wall in east London.

  • bottle service

    Champagne delivered like a birthday cake, sparklers included: the club ritual where the show is the bottle, not the drink.

  • Burning Man

    A temporary city in the Nevada desert where money is frowned upon, gifts are the currency and a giant wooden figure goes up in flames.

C

  • celebrity DJ

    Famous for something else, now behind the decks: the actor, model or athlete whose DJ set draws more phones than dancers.

  • closing party

    The last night of a club's summer, part graduation ball and part farewell tour, with longer hugs than any other night of the year.

  • Coachella

    The desert festival in California that doubles as a fashion week, born in 1999 and now spread over two identical weekends.

D

  • dancefloor hit

    A song that fills the floor from the first bars, often made a hit by clubs long before radio caught up.

  • disco ball

    A sphere of tiny mirrors that has scattered light over dancefloors since long before disco, and once had its own capital city.

  • DJ Mag Top 100

    The annual fan vote that names the world's number one DJ, loved by mainstage stars and loudly ignored by everyone else.

  • DJ residency

    A recurring booking at one club for a whole season or more: the DJ's version of a permanent address.

G

  • Glastonbury

    The festival on a Somerset dairy farm that began with one-pound tickets and free milk, and still takes a year off for the cows.

  • guest list

    The magic list at the door: free entry for the useful, the famous and the friends, envied by everyone else in the queue.

I

  • Ibiza

    A Balearic island famous for sunsets and all-night clubs, which also happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage site.

N

  • no-photo policy

    A club rule that puts a sticker on the phone camera so the night is lived on the dancefloor rather than on a screen.

P

  • Pacha cherries

    Two red cherries that turned a Balearic farmhouse club into a worldwide logo, printed on everything from T-shirts to beach towels.

R

  • Riviera Romagnola

    Italy's Adriatic playground around Rimini and Riccione: beach by day, aperitivo at dusk, clubs in the hills until sunrise.

S

  • Saturday Night Fever

    The 1977 disco film that put John Travolta in a white suit, inspired by a magazine article whose author later admitted he had made it up.

  • Studio 54

    The Manhattan disco where the doorman was the real headliner and getting in was the whole evening's achievement.

  • superstar DJ

    The DJ as headliner: the person who used to hide in the corner and now gets the poster, the pin-up shoot and the private terminal.

T

  • The Haçienda

    The Manchester club with a record-label catalogue number, a name borrowed from a 1950s manifesto and Madonna on its stage.

  • Tomorrowland

    The Belgian dance festival dressed as a fairy tale, where a castle is the stage and the ticket sale is a sport in itself.

V

  • VIP table

    A roped-off sofa with a view of the DJ and a minimum spend: the one spot in a club where people pay to be watched.

Other sections

01

Flashbulbs, aliases and big returns.

02

Catwalks, collabs and cult handbags.

03

Backstage demands and final bows.

04

Legendary doors and booth royalty.

05

Chefs, cocktails and 4am cravings.