Dancing the conga with strangers at 450ft was something I had never imagined would happen. However, I did it for the first (and probably the last) time in my life when I attended The Silent DJs silent disco at the i360 in Brighton on Sunday.
If you’d told me at the start of the night that was going to happen, I may have run a mile. But more than two hours after getting into the groove with four friends and more than 60 others on the dancefloor, I was ready for anything.
Silent DJs Christmas Themed Silent Disco event at The I360
This Christmas party was Worthing-based trio The Silent DJs first event at the i360. Their next gig at this high will be a New Year’s Eve party at the same venue, which has a capacity of 140 people, on 31st December.
Scott, aka DJ Blue, Jon, aka DJ Red and Mark, aka DJ Green, have decades of DJing experience between them. The three friends created the idea for The Silent DJs in 2022 and started silent disco events in Brighton and across Sussex in May 2023.
During their events, all three spin tunes at the same time and attendees of the silent disco can flick between channels: blue, red or green, to choose what they want to dance to. “It’s a brutal way of audience feedback without them having to tell you,” DJ Blue told me.
Some friends opt to stick to the same channel in their group so they can sing along and dance together. Our group of five sometimes were all on the same channel and sometimes were on different channels.
Silent DJs Silent Disco events are about more than just dancing
This was more than a dance event – there was A LOT of singing involved. What’s hilarious about a silent disco is if you take your headphones off, you can hear people belting out into the silence and there are usually three singalongs happening at once.
“Everyone has headphones so they think we can’t hear them,” DJ Red said. “We hear some funny sounds.” DJ Blue added: “We play stuff you would sing in your car but you’re here on the dance floor.”
The party didn’t stop on the ground floor…
At the start of the night, I felt a little shy before the dance floor filled up. I don’t drink any more so don’t have alcohol to warm me up, but soon enough the music did. We had more than two hours of drinks and dancing before going through security for our extended 45-minute i360 flight; the first time myself and my friends had been up the tower. What I hadn’t clocked was that the DJs would be wheeling their equipment onto the i360 so the party could continue. What a treat.
What I love about this format is you can go from listening to Down Under by Men At Work on one channel to Becky Hill and Chase & Status’s Disconnect on another, or from Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman to Song 2 by Blur. If you don’t like a song, you can flick to something else. I loved it. What was difficult was which channel to choose as they were often all amazing. This dilemma created a playful rivalry between the three friends, which added to the fun and joy of the evening.
The event also drew a really friendly crowd of people. It was a great activity to do with a group of friends and great to see people enjoying themselves. The only thing with a silent disco is if you want to talk, you have to take your headphones off. By the end, I’d become a pro and sometimes had one headphone with music and one-off when I needed to talk. Maybe not being able to talk to who you’re with and immerse yourself in the music is preferable for some people!
With the Silent DJs in the room, The choice of music is yours …
Some of my singalong highlights included blink-182’s All The Small Things, Madonna’s Like A Virgin and The Weather Girls’s It’s Raining Men but there were too many to list. It was such a nostalgic evening. I even did the YMCA, my friends were sitting down on an i360 sofa at this point and yes I was still sober. My face hurt at the end of the night from smiling and laughing so much.
My first experience at the i360 was also super fun. It was windy and rainy and with disco lights, it was hard to make much out but it was still atmospheric to see the sparkling lights of Brighton below. The staff at the i360 in Brighton were also absolutely lovely and popped on silent disco headphones too. I’d love to return in the daylight.
As for the Silent DJs, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their events to anyone. Three lovely guys who clearly have a great friendship and love mixing tunes and making people happy. If you’re looking for an uplifting evening, then they’re your people. This event finished by 9.30 pm too so I was in bed early after nearly three hours of dancing.
Tickets for the New Year’s Eve party with a disco in the pod as the clocks strike midnight hosted by The Silent DJs are selling fast. Check out our listing of the best parties on NYE for more details.
