LEG~IT! presents:
Free Party: A Folk History
Hull's debut screening of the iconic Free Party: A Folk History documentary by Trinder Films
➳ 7:30PM // 18+
🗓️ BANK HOLIDAY SUNDAY 24TH MAY 🗓️
📽️ We thought we'd celebrate our second birthday with an extra special nod to our roots, we've secured an intimate screening (only 80 tickets!) of the major & iconic independent documentary Free Party: A Folk History by Trinder Films, here in Hull!
🎶 Followed up by an after party until 2am all in our favourite venue 🐻❄️
Picture the scene:
📍 1990, UK. The initial euphoria of acid house raves faded after a government crackdown on illegal parties, with mainstream clubbing absorbing the scene. Yet a new underground emerged.
🔊 Sound systems like Nottingham’s DiY, London’s Fund-e-Mental and Spiral Tribe, and pioneers Tonka appeared in clubs, squats, and warehouses.
🎪 In the West Country, travelling communities such as Circus Warp and the Free Party People brought their expertise to free parties under the stars. At Glastonbury 1990, travellers and the acid house generation came together, birthing something new.
🏰 Through 1990–1992, free parties grew from hundreds to tens of thousands, culminating in Castlemorton Common in May 1992, where 20–60,000 people partied for a week. The media and authorities labeled participants as folk devils, leading to arrests (including Spiral Tribe) and the 1994 Criminal Justice Act.
🇪🇺 Many travelling communities struggled under the new law, while Spiral Tribe, Bedlam, and others moved across Europe, creating massive Teknivals. DiY continued hosting free parties in the north and abroad, inspiring other sound systems like Smokescreen. Over time, the scene fractured into numerous subgenres.
⏳ Thirty years on, with new laws criminalising raves, trespass and gatherings across Europe, the story of these formative years remains strikingly relevant.
