The tunes are thumping and the flickering disco dancefloor is packed.
The DJ shouts across the room in encouragement and enthusiastic punters roar their approval amid the strobe lights and smoke.
Hundreds have joined the glittering extravaganza in Aberdeen’s Aura nightclub, “all dolled up” in their gladrags.
It might sound like a typical scene in a city venue, but this time something is different.
The tunes in question aren’t the latest chart hits, and a glance at my watch as Limahl tries to woo a “too shy” love interest confirms that it’s not even 3pm yet.
This is the latest Day Disco event for over-30s, a phenomenon that has breathed new life into the industry – and the social calendars of many who had considered themselves retired when it came to clubbing…
But as one 60-year-old lady would tell me: “We still have juice, we still have blood rushing through our veins – we just needed a place for us.”
Get the party started! It’s Day Disco on Saturday afternoon
The queue to Aura is already stretching several hundred feet when I arrive at the venue, with the afternoon sun beaming bright above our heads.
It’s 2.30pm and spirits are high.
I catch Doreen Hasson and her friend Jenny Riddell just as they cross the front door, both shining wide grins.
The last time they went on a proper night out was at a karaoke in Banchory before the pandemic.
And it was “great” – but nothing like what they are about to encounter now…
This is Aura’s third daytime party for over-30s, a concept growing into a craze all across the country.
It’s the first time the pair has decided to join, and they appear to be loving it from the get go.
“It’s amazing,” 65-year-old Doreen tells me.
“I can’t wait to go dancing away like the good old days. I won’t be leaving that dancefloor anytime soon, I tell you!”
‘I’m reliving my youth’
The event gets under way with songs like Shalamar’s A Night to Remember and Madonna’s Holiday blasting out on the ground floor, which is dedicated to the 1970s and 80s.
Upstairs, it’s all 90s, with anthems like Insomnia by Faithless transporting visitors back to the era’s thriving clubland scene.
Carol Thomson, Brenda McCabe and Cherry Hulse were last here several decades ago when the venue was known far and wide as The Palace.
The building was first a cinema until 1959, and then converted into Aberdeen’s largest dance hall before becoming a nightclub in 1976.
Whether Fusion, Ritzy’s, The Palace or Liquid, countless Aberdonians would have many memories of nights out with friends there.
And this is exactly the times the music of yesteryear transcends Cherry to.
“I’m reliving my youth,” the 65-year-old smiles.
“My daughter convinced me to come after she and her friends raved on all afternoon the last time.
“And, oh my, was she right – it’s a fantastic thing that sends me back years ago.”
Girls just want to have fun!
As soon as she walks in, her friend Brenda begins reminiscing about the past when waiters would carry around tottering towers of plastic cups.
The 65-year-old tells me they were curious to see how the place looks right now – but every two sentences, she stops with a remark: “Oh, I love this song”.
A feeling shared by the third lady in this “glorious trio”, Carol.
“The moment I stepped in, it all just started flooding in,” the 62-year-old says, tuning in to the next song.
“It throws me back to when I was younger – days filled with so much joy and wild memories.
“There is no other place like this to go to any more, and it’s nice to have one where people our age can still go out to meet likeminded people and enjoy themselves.
“We are still very much young at heart and we want to have fun.”
Hen parties, 70th birthdays and more…
By 4pm, the downstairs dancefloor is already packed.
A hen party enters the fray, the bride-to-be carrying a semi-deflated blow-up doll under her arm, as the DJ blasts Whitney Houston – I Wanna Know over the speakers.
Nearby, there’s a party of another kind – as one reveller puts on a sash celebrating her 70th birthday.
And everybody is dancing to their own ways – shopping trolley moves, the robot, even the Moonwalk makes an appearance at some point.
‘We needed a place for people our age’
I’m joining all of the fun with a not so sly shoulder shimmy as The Pointer Sisters express their excitement (and we admittedly don’t hide it).
I pause my unconventional dance moves to greet Joan Duckett and Christine Adkins.
Joan says it’s refreshing to see an Aberdeen place devoted to giving older people a fun time.
The 73-year-old spends a lot of time in Portugal, where the older generation is “more accepted”.
“It should happen more often if you ask me,” she says.
“Everybody is stuck in their homes now and this gives them a reason to go out.
“We still want to have fun, you know.
“But all of the places are now created to relate to young people and we are just not part of that.”
Meanwhile, 72-year-old Christine is immediately thrown back to when she was 16, dancing the night away without a care in the world.
And while her age might have changed, her zest for life hasn’t.
“This brings all of these good days back,” she adds.
“We used to have such good social life when we were younger – and obviously I don’t mean these social media gadgets, I mean meeting real people.”
Were you at the Day Disco as well? Let us know your thoughts in our comments section below.
Perfect day out for best friends living apart
Trying my best not to swing back into action to ABBA’s Dancing Queen, I get chatting to Michelle Ferguson who has travelled all the way from Perth for the event.
“Nothing beats a good time out with your best friend,” she says with a nod to 59-year-old Sam MacGregor, whom she is visiting in Aberdeen.
The duo are die-hard fans of the 80s and this place is just right for them.
And after a nice day “shopping and wining”, their plan for the afternoon is simple: “Dancing away and having a good time”.
Michelle, 57, adds: “It’s a fantastic atmosphere and the music is spot on – it really is the bees knees.”
Dust off the dance moves – the classics are coming to town
Michelle and Sam race inside as dancers are dusting off old moves to the sound of the Bee Gees.
The floor becomes a sea of limbs as Tina Turner comes on, and the throng belts out “Simply The Best”.
There’s a trip back in time to the Neighbours boom of the late 1980s as Jason Donovan serenades the crowd with Too Many Broken Hearts.
Every song brings back memories of rifling through singles in Woolworths, of recording hits off the radio and compiling home-made mixtapes.
Upstairs, we are creeping towards the turn of the millennium with Kylie Minogue, the Vengaboys and even a little bit of Gina G blaring out.
‘It’s a place for everybody’
I catch Susan Tallis, 60, and Natalie Watt, 30, just as they walk in.
They met in 2017 while working in an Aberdeen health centre, and have been friends ever since.
But the Day Disco is their first opportunity to have fun together in a setting suitable for both – and it was all decided on a whim.
“I just thought to myself ‘why not, let’s go and have a nice afternoon’,” Susan says.
“I haven’t been out to a club in years, and it’s a shame there aren’t many places like this.
“We still want to have fun, we still want to go dance, we still have blood rushing through our veins – it’s just a bit uncomfortable to mingle with the youngsters.”
She adds: “It’s just good to know we can still go out and have fun among people our age.
“I’ve got all dressed up, we have high expectations, so it better be bloody good.”
So what did Susan and Natalie think?
And when I meet them 20 minutes later, the Day Disco has not let them down.
Twirling between the floors, Natalie exclaims: “It’s brilliant!
“You come in, have some fun, dance away and then go home in time for your tea.
“What more could you ask for?”
And by the abundance of grinning faces, enthusiastic shouts and vigorous dance moves still overtaking the club, I’d say others would agree.
I take my notepad and my pen, and I join them on the dancefloor.
Have a scroll through our photos from the event and read more about how Day Discos are changing the hospitality landscape:
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