Halloween in London has a lot of options. False Idols is not really one of them – it is in a category of its own. Taking over Drumsheds in North London on Saturday 24th October, London’s biggest queer Halloween event returns with a lineup that somehow manages to be both completely unhinged and exactly right.
The headline addition this year is Meg Stalter, the Emmy-nominated comedian, actress and singer best known for her gloriously chaotic turn as Kayla in Hacks and her starring role in Lena Dunham’s Netflix series Too Much. She makes her UK and European music performance debut at False Idols, bringing her new album CRAVE to a room that will absolutely understand the assignment. If you have seen even thirty seconds of Meg Stalter’s internet presence, you already know this is going to be something.
Kim Petras performs live alongside her, with COBRAH, Rose Gray leading the False Idols Ceremony, DJ Joshua James and Little Gay Brother rounding out the main names. For the techno contingent, VTSS and Patrick Mason return to Drumsheds for what will not be a quiet evening. The wider lineup reads like a cross-section of exactly where queer club culture is right now: Cashu, Cakes Da Killa, Lady Shaka, UNIIQU3, Goth Jafar, Julie Desire, Tedesco and more, spanning ballroom, house, bass and everything in between. New Jersey club royalty alongside São Paulo underground energy alongside London’s own new generation of dancefloor provocateurs. The range is the whole point.
False Idols spans three distinct spaces across Drumsheds’ X, Y and Z rooms, running as a full day-to-night session. The venue itself does not do things small – it is a former North London warehouse built for exactly this kind of event, the kind of space that makes you feel the bass before you’ve properly walked in. Previous editions have hosted Sugababes, Jessie Ware, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Honey Dijon and The Blessed Madonna. The bar has always been high.
The event is presented by Broadwick Live and Little Gay Brother, the LGBTQ+ collective behind some of the UK’s most important queer parties over the years, built around the belief that these spaces matter and that the dancefloor has always been where community gets made. False Idols carries that same spirit into something bigger in scale without losing what makes it feel like yours.
Tickets are available now. Costumes are encouraged. Commitment is required
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Words: Lola Carron
Photographer: Jake Davis, Sophie Harbinson, Aimee McGhee