This legendary Sheffield club night has made an online comeback during lockdown - and fans are ecstatic

Music fans used to travel from far and wide to Offbeat, which began in 1997 at Sheffield University’s Students’ Union.

The event was so well-known that it was named as Britain’s ‘ultimate indie disco’ by BBC Radio 6 Music in a poll of listeners.

Offbeat was last held in 2015 – but, following the Government’s decision to tackle coronavirus by enforcing a lockdown requiring people to only leave the house for essential errands, exercise and work, the night has returned in virtual form.

Organiser Chris Stride is playing DJ sets live online every Friday, including songs by archetypal Offbeat bands such as Belle & Sebastian, Pixies and Pulp. The music is streamed via a website called Mixlr, which provides a chat service so socially-distanced ‘attendees’ can keep in touch and make requests.

Chris has promised that the service will continue ‘for as long as we are trapped indoors’, and that he aims to deliver ‘classic and current leftfield indie tunes to cheer us all up’.

“When the lockdown began I just thought it would be nice to do something to bring people together, particularly people who perhaps haven’t seen each other for a while,” said Chris, speaking to the BBC.

He said the digitally rebooted Offbeat had proved ‘surprisingly popular’.

“Traditionally at Offbeat I would hand out request sheets and people would bring them to the DJ booth, and we’d always try and bring ridiculous amounts of heavy records with us. Now it’s much easier, you’ve got it on your laptop, and people can put requests up on a thread on Facebook or via Twitter.”

The next event is on Friday, April 3, from 9pm to 12.30am. “I can't quite cope with late nights any more,” Chris joked.

Visit www.mixlr.com/chrisoffbeat to listen. Users need to register for free and log in beforehand. Past playlists are available to view at http://www.offbeat.group.shef.ac.uk/ and can be heard on Spotify.

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