Balls and Beats at Boxpark!

This Summer, Boxpark, the iconic shopping/entertainment wonderland, springing forth from old shipping containers (only in Shoreditch!) has some fantastic upcoming events this summer.

All games in the Women’s Euro 2022 will be broadcast live from this vibrant venue. Its website muses, “Hopefully, the Lionesses can go one better [than the Lions] and lift the trophy at Wembley Stadium this July!”

General admission including one drink is only £10. The games are scheduled to show on various date throughout July, but don’t miss the illustrious occasion of England v Austria on Wednesday 6^th July, 6-10pm.

For those whose knowledge is a little sketchy, here’s some essential stats. Boss Sarina Wiegman will unveil her final squad on 26^th June. The captain, Leah Williamson, was only appointed to the role in early April. The team has suffered a blow with the loss of 67-time international Jordan Nobbs due to her knee injury. Nonetheless, there is a feeling that the squad is destined to do amazing things this season with the addition of some exciting players. Ella Toone is definitely one to watch out for – having scored a whopping 10 goals in a mere 13 appearances to date. This force of nature only made her senior international debut in 2021.

If you’re more arty than sporty, you may be tempted by the excellent On the Rise Academy’s DJ Workshop. It’s a brilliant opportunity for anyone starting a career in DJing or just searching for a new hobby. It caters for beginners, as well as those budding DJ’s who are looking to take their skills a level up. Practising on club standard Pioneer DJ kit, you will learn key techniques such as phrase mixing and mix points, employing EQ, laying down beats, bars, phrases and loops…”Er, hold on!” I hear you shriek! “That all sounds way too over my head!” Fear not, here are a few pointers so that you have a bit of the lingo under your belt ready for your first session:

• Phrase mixing: Ensuring that when two different tracks overlap, the transition is seamless, leaving the musical structure of both tracks intact.
• Corrective vs Creative EQ: Improving the quality of a track by removing undesirable elements such as hiss or floor vibrations (corrective EQ) or adjusting the decibels of low, mid and high frequencies to bring about an artistic effect (creative EQ)
• Beat: the equivalent of a letter
• Bar: a word. Not to be confused by ‘bars’ – to be found in the vernacular of many a UK rapper – meaning ‘very good lyrics’!
• Phrase: a sentence, musically speaking. Are you keeping up?!
• Loop: a section of a song made up of 4, 8 16 or 32 beats, that is repeated throughout a track.

Tickets to ‘On the Rise’ start at £22.15 and courses start on different dates: 6^th July, 3^rd August and 7^th September.

So Boxpark is the place to bring in the summer vibes, whether you are cheering on the Lionesses or letting your creative juices flow on the decks!

BOXPARK Shoreditch, 2-10 Bethnal Green Rd, Hackney, London E1 6GY