“NYC Downlow’s slutty little sister!”: Why The Meat Rack was bigger and better than ever in 2024

Like it or not, the NYC Downlow has gone mainstream at Glastonbury. Not in the sense that its offering has changed or declined in any way — the ’80s meatpacking warehouse-styled venue is still a queer utopia brimming with mesmerising performers, flawless music and ecstatic vibes. But what was once a low-key secret at the festival has become one of its main night-time attractions. As a result, careful planning and hours-long queues are now a standard part of the experience for punters. Gone are the days when unsuspecting festivalgoers could wander in and have their entire worldview changed.

The Downlow is a bit of a victim of its own success in that respect. Since launching in 2007, it’s become the jewel of the festival’s South-East “naughty corner”. Conceived as a haven for the LGBTQI+ community, Block9’s electrifying curation has had people returning year-on-year, while news of its delights has spread to an ever-enlarging audience. Its cultural impact on the festival has been substantial, fulfilling its original aim while also providing a transformative experience for some of the more wide-eyed Glastonbury crowd who are less acquainted with club culture. But balancing the Downlow's primary purpose with its wider popularity has been a point of frustration for the organisers. “It’s difficult to figure out how to prioritise access for the community it was created for,” said Block9 co-founder Gideön Berger last year. “The queues are just so damn long!” Rumour has it that the likes of Sienna Miller and Noel Gallagher have been rejected from talking their way past the bouncers in recent years.

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In 2024, Block9 made some tweaks to address the demand. One recourse was to get bigger. The tent was brought forward into the field slightly to open up more space, with the side area known as The Lounge - part chill-out area, part bar - extended backwards, allowing for a larger inside dancefloor with more of a wraparound feel. The programming also grew, with the Downlow throwing its first-ever daytime party, allowing the keenest clubbers to get their fix while the main stages held the bulk of the festival’s capacity. Alongside sets from Sean McCabe, Dungeon Meat and a full three hours of François K, they were rewarded with a cameo performance from none other than good-time girl Cyndi Lauper, who made her way over after gracing the Pyramid stage.

Where the growth of the NYC Downlow is most noticeable, though, is The Meat Rack, which has doubled in size. The Meat Rack is essentially the Downlow’s ‘Room Two’, but has its own distinct vibe. Dark and intimate, it’s a sweltering enclave away from the dazzling extravagance of the main room. “It's really heads down,” says Block9’s other co-founder Stephen Gallagher, speaking ahead of the 2024 opening. Phones and camera are not welcome inside, so you'll have to use your imagination if you've not been, but picture a shadowy, steamy room housed inside steel walls, with only low-level red lighting to dampen the murk.

While praise for the Downlow as a whole has been sung from the rooftops for years, The Meat Rack has flown more under-the-radar. ‘Glastonbury tips’ websites call it a “secret bar”, and there are internet forum threads questioning where and what it is. The reality is it’s been a publicised part of the main venue since first opening in 2016, with its entrance found in ‘The Goods Yard’, the outdoor area for toilets, smoking or catching a breath of air. It’s not the first Downlow ‘Room Two’, which started as The Downlow Radio in 2011, before The Meat Rack came in when the venue was rebuilt in its meatpacking warehouse guise five years later. Initially the size of a “postage stamp”, as Stephen puts it, The Meat Rack is the Downlow’s headsy hideaway. “It's minimal, it's stripped-back, small lighting rig, fat soundsystem. The main Downlow has lots of spectacular stuff going on, lots of stuff to see. The Meat Rack is really all about the dancefloor,” says Stephen.

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These qualities have made for some special moments and locked-in crowds over the years, and now DJs who generally play much bigger stages jump at the opportunity to helm its decks. After a Groove Armada set at the sizeable Stonebridge Bar was cancelled on Thursday over crowd control concerns, the duo’s Andy Cato played b2b with Grace Sands in The Meat Rack the following night. Elsewhere across the weekend the likes of Peach, Moxie, Subb-an and Shay Malt stepped up, along with rising and experienced selectors such as Scarlett O’Malley, Deptford Northern Soul Club and Greg Belson. The decision to double the capacity for 2024 proved a masterstroke with the space packed out and popping off throughout the weekend.

“NYC Downlow has been my go-to late-night spot at Glastonbury for years now, but for the first time this year I spent equal time at The Meat Rack,” says Moxie, who played on Friday night to a sweat-soaked reception. “The great thing about both these spaces is that you don’t immediately know where the DJ booth is, so as someone entering the room, you’re forced to just dance and not think about anything else. It’s so dark and smokey in there, you’re instantly lost within the space.”

It feels like The Meat Rack has really come into its own now that the Downlow has become so popular. No longer a venue that you can happily roll in and out of, but somewhere you queue and commit to, it allows for that vibe shift and change of scenery that the festival experience thrives on without having to give up your place inside. Housing the outrageous excess of the main room, with drag queens, performers, hosts and go-go dancers, under the same roof as the alternative offering of The Meat Rack, which tips more towards Berlin than Vauxhall on the nightlife scale, really does make the NYC Downlow the perfect venue to spend a full night. “It gives you another lift,” says Stephen. “You're in the main room, you've been dancing for a couple of hours or whatever, and you go and get a breath of fresh air, and you go 'ooh, what's this in here?'. And you step into another space, and it's like a completely different vibe.”

For some, that vibe is the main attraction. “Meat Rack is my favourite corner of Block9, so I was super excited to be playing in there again this year,” Shay Malt, who runs London’s popular Adonis party, tells me. “Sweaty, dark and very gay… It’s like the NYC Downlow’s slutty little sister!”

But as with all aspects of Block9, it’s not just about debauchery and hedonism. Another adjustment made to deal with demand this year was to scrap the moustache re-entry system, which was being abused by people arriving early then immediately leaving to skip queues later, or even scamming their way in with self-bought moustaches and not paying the £2 charity donation entry fee, which Block9 sends to good causes such as Medical Aid for Palestinians and Crisis, along with all profits from its merch sales. This year, you pay your two quid to get in, and if you leave and come back, you queue and pay it again. “It's part of the sort of DNA of the Downlow from day one that it would try and do good stuff in lots of different ways. Try to encourage and build a sense of community, and a sense of social responsibility towards other people,” says Stephen. “The Downlow could easily be seen as 'oh it’s completely selfish and hedonistic and blah, blah, blah', all that shit. But that isn't what the Downlow is. It's not a theme party, it's not selfish, it's the opposite of that. It's loads of brilliant people who all care about each other and look after each other. There's a real sense of togetherness.”

That’s felt from the main room to the outdoors to The Meat Rack, which is small in size but big on vibes and character, and has become a fundamental part of arguably the best festival venue on the planet. “I was talking to Dave Harvey who DJed in there last year, and he said that it was one of the best gigs he's ever played. That's the thing man — playing in The Meat Rack is fucking banging!” enthuses Stephen. “Everybody who is in that club has queued for fucking ages to get in, they really want to be there. It’s a tiny, tiny little room, tiny little dancefloor, but it's part of something really fucking special.”

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Editor & Digital Director, follow him on Twitter