At the tender of *coughs* 32 *coughs*, I’ve planned my fair share of birthdays and to be honest, every year it gets harder and harder. While anytime spent with friends is time well spent, I always want something that feels like a memory builder over another dinner or drinks; I want us to look back and say “Remember when we did that for your birthday?” over “What did we do last year?”. So each year I try to find some sort of activity based experience, and lucky in London, this is becoming more and more of a thing. This year, I was lucky enough to have the hard work done for me, as newly opened BeatOrbit got in touch and invited me and my birthday team down to try it out.
BeatOrbit is an immersive drumming experience in the heart of Camden Town that sees you battle against the rest of the party in a bid to be the number one drummer.
“Designed to draw on our ancient human instincts, BeatOrbit will help you to release stress and endorphins in a playful environment. Drumming has both physical and mental health benefits with people connecting to the rhythm of their body to release positive energy – whilst potentially offering a workout, depending on how energetic you are!” - BeatOrbit
I couldn’t really imagine what the set up would be, and the website didn’t give too much away (it’s got new videos and explanations up now), but the easiest way to describe it is like Guitar Hero for drums, but a lot more intense! You’re taken into a room (6 people to a group) and sat in a circle of bespoke drum kits, which are made up of two simple drums, and the screens are projected 360 around the space. As the track starts, you’ll see dots scroll down the screen indicating if it’s the left or right drum you need to hit on the beat.
The set lasts around an hour — and yes, I thought the same thing… “drumming for an hour?!” but it flies by and it really does get intense, we were drumming so hard I started to wear away the skin on my thumbs! All of the music is bespoke and hits on different genres. I was winning for almost two-thirds of the experience until my mate’s boyfriend decided to reveal he’s a drumming prodigy and wiped the floor with us all for the rest of the hour. Asshole.
The whole experience at BeatOrbit is great. The team are fun and friendly and it was a laugh the whole way. My only gripe with the experience is that there’s no social side to it in terms of a bar! You turn up, drum, then leave. And if you aren’t necessarily a fan of Camden itself, it means going there for the experience and then heading back to the tube to kick on. It would be great to have been able to have a couple drinks there. But the hype is worth the trip, you leave with a massive smile on your face and the rush of endorphins after an hour of non-stop drumming leaves you on a high, and slightly knackered.
Check out more, and book your experience at BeatOrbit here.
Welcome!