The New Economics of Going Out Have Transformed Clubbing

In 2021, when the world was deep in the throes of Covid-19, English electronic producer Fred Again and his fellow DJ, the Blessed Madonna, met over Zoom to talk about the emotional weight of lockdown.

“We’ve lost dancing,” she said. “We’ve lost hugs with friends, and people that we loved, all these things that we took for granted.”

Her words were an earnest articulation of the loss of community, nightlife and physical togetherness that resulted from the pandemic. But she ended optimistically: “If I can live through this, what comes next will be marvelous.”

Doing what he does best, Fred ...