How London will be partying this year

In 2009, Dalston was anointed the hottest place in London — we recorded our thoughts about that in tweets on our iPhones — supper clubs were all the rage, festivals got even more family-friendly and new ones went wintry. But how will we meet, drink and get merry in 2010?

TWEET-UPS

Online social networking was supposed to turn us into a mass of atomised, lonely individuals, choosing remote communication in place of real interaction. But, says Renier Evers of trendwatching.com, the reality is that the easier it is to get our hands on the right information, at home or out and about, the more likely we are to meet up in the real world. Now that you can access the internet from your mobile you don't have to stay put to socialise online — online and offline socialising are merging.

"Tweet-ups" will boom as a result of this connectivity, says Evers. The fact that more phones are now GPS-enabled means that these tweet-ups will become increasingly location-driven.
"Where flashmobs mainly consisted of people purely interested in doing something fun, twitter mobs will be vastly more diverse and serious in focus," says Evers. But judging by last month's twitter-organised mass snowball fight in Washington, frivolity will still play its part.

CHAT MATES

The internet has already cornered the market in lonely hearts but will it drive friendships too? If you're into Indian food, manga, Pilates or simply enjoy watching bands, try searching london.citysocialising.com to make contact with like-minded companions. The site spans eating out (1,880 members) to walking and the outdoors (1,638) to niche splinters such as "Beautcamp" Pilates (12 members).

Founder Sanchita Saha was inspired to set up the site when her sister moved to San Francisco and found it difficult to meet people. She wasn't looking for romance, she simply wanted to make friends.

SOUPED-UP SUPPER CLUBS

Every other foodie has opened up their home to hordes of gourmands. So where does the supper club go next? The Pale Blue Door in Dalston mixes up the concept: proprietor Tony Hornecker describes it as "an installation of an underground speakeasy I pop up' in my studio/home now and again". Knock three times at the blue door down a back alley off Kingsland Road and you are ushered in by drag queens before tucking into a three-course meal while being entertained by tarot readings.

Elizabeth Shepard, of Green Onion Guerilla Cooking, agrees that informality is the key: "We put everyone around big tables, give them platters of food and let them dig in and get to know each other. There's lots of interaction." While Hornecker has turned the supper club into art, Elizabeth has moved it outside. Last summer she threw her first picnic club in Victoria Park.

POP ART

Even pop star Lady Gaga calls herself a performance artist now. And why not? The contemporary auction house Phillips de Pury recently explored the intersection between art and music: its Art + Music season in November saw Jarvis Cocker, Patrick Wolf, Micachu and the Shapes playing in its huge gallery space in Victoria, surrounded by art and photography inspired by music. Andy Warhol's Michael Jackson screenprint hangs alongside works by musicians such as Pete Doherty.

"London is a great city for watching music in pubs and various other watering holes but there isn't so much going on in unusual locations, such as warehouses or galleries. That's more Berlin or NYC," says Alban de Pury, who helped to organise the event. "I'd like to see that sensibility in London."

Watch out for more art + music events at the Phillips space in Howick Place in 2010.