Indie Tuesday vs Tuesday Indie: An in-depth analysis of York indie student nights

Indie Tuesday has a new identity and a new home much like the York freshers. York Indie Tuesday made the big announcement in January that it would be leaving their beloved home of Ziggys to seek new ventures. For the first time in my life I understood how my parents must have felt when their favourite child (me) left for university.

A mixture of confusion, sadness, numbness and most of all left with the question could I have done more? The answer is no, as no number of super early bird tickets could have stopped Indie Tuesday flying the nest (do you see what I did there?). This was a happy decision for Indie Tuesday as it wasn’t an announcement of the end, just a relocation.

But as we now know, it was simply returning to their birthplace of The Drawing Board in the upstairs club called Bluebox. This makes sense with the Drawing Board’s edgy style fitting the alternative vibe Indie Tuesday aims to achieve. Which I think may have been tarnished by basic white girls like me in Ziggys (whoops).

Another positive is that it announced the event would be running weekly. This is all great news, but I couldn’t help feeling sad for Ziggys and grieve all the memories I had made in that underground basement that I had then forgotten immediately the next day due to too many Jägerbombs.

However, Ziggys’ announcement that it would be creating its own version of Indie Tuesday every week sounded like it would replace this massive hole in all our hearts. Ziggys doesn’t only show their artistic creativity with their choice of wallpaper in the girls bathroom, but also with the name of the new indie night in York which is “Tuesday Indie”.

Now, this may be confusing to distinguish for some, but these club nights are very different in nature. Ziggys is creating a more party vibe compared to the pure indie vibes from Indie Tuesday.

Now as I am an Indie Tuesday connoisseur and a very serious journalist, I had no choice but to do some undercover work and test out the hottest new club night, Tuesday Indie, to see how it compared to Indie Tuesdays. When buying my tickets, I was gutted to find out that they were not offering the super early bird tickets for 99p like Indie Tuesday does. In the cost of living crisis that used to be a god-send, but I don’t mind spending £3 instead if it guarantees a good night of dancing embarrassingly with my friends.

Ziggys was still a great venue for listening to indie music, getting incredibly drunk and doing things you’ll deeply regret in the morning (I mean falling over – get your minds out the gutter). It was still as busy as ever with your usual Indie Tuesday characters enjoying the night. “Indie” boys with bucket hats sway along with VKs in hand as girls in tiny tops and cargo pants scream along to the Sam Fender song playing. The music still covered the classic indie tracks but mixed it up which was refreshing. All in all, I had a great night dancing the night away until I didn’t have memory of getting home.

Now as I am a student with a small budget and impending essays that I should be writing, I decided to skip out the middleman and interview my friends who had been to Indie Tuesday at its new home Bluebox in The Drawing Board to see how it would compare.

The general consensus was that they played great music that stayed true to its indie roots and was, and I quote, “good vibes”. Also, my friends gave me a big scoop in the fact that the DJ that looks like Claudia Winkelman, that became an Indie Tuesday icon, has cut her hair during the move to Bluebox and no longer resembles everyone’s favourite national treasure. Apparently, it was less busy than Ziggys, but if you want more of a chilled atmosphere this would be perfect for you.

I think we can gather that both club nights are great in their own ways and add a new dimension to the York nightlife scene. However, I worry that like Blur vs Oasis, this has become a battle of the indie themed Tuesday club nights. All I have to say on the matter is although separation can be sad to begin with, on the bright side you get the equivalent of two Christmases, which is indie themed Tuesdays.

You can do alternate weeks, pick a favourite, or even do a double bill one night if you feel up to the challenge. The world cannot be a worse place with more indie themed Tuesdays in it. Although, it may become a bit worse with a hungover me roaming around campus every Wednesday.

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