Line of Duty's Vicky McClure returns to Edinburgh with Day Fever - the popular daytime disco for adults

Founded by Line of Duty star Vicky McClure and her actor husband Jonny Owen, Day Fever is a ‘daytime nightclub’ that ‘asks patrons to kindly refrain from being under 30 years of age’.

The five-hour event, which has previously sold-out venues in 14 cities including London, Newcastle and Manchester, arrived in the capital for the first time in May. The unique disco saw legendary author Irvine Welsh take to decks as he entertained the 2,200 strong crowd with Born Slippy - the dance anthem that featured in Trainspotting. 

Day Fever returns to Edinburgh at the O2 Academy on August 3 and September 14. The events run from 3pm to 8pm with tickets costing £10 plus a handling fee. 

Actors Jonny Owen and Vicky McClure will return to Edinburgh with their popular nightclub event in August and September. Picture: Kayleigh Jay Photography.

Recalling how the idea for the club came about, Jonny Owen, 52, said: “It was an idea I got last year, because people of a certain age would rather go out in the daytime and finish up at a more reasonable hour.

“I wanted to make something that I wanted to go to and that I would enjoy - and I noticed that my friends would enjoy themselves a bit more in the afternoon. There was one day when I was in a pub in Manchester around 3pm, they were playing good music and everyone was dancing and I thought if this was done in a big venue and arranged properly, it would be great to have a vibrant nightclub atmosphere in the afternoon.”

The Shameless actor added: “We’ve ended up hosting the events across 14 cities and they all sell out pretty quickly and people have the best time. So it seemed like there was a real market for it. To this day Edinburgh holds the record for our largest crowd - we had around 2,200 people there last month.”

The five-hour daytime disco takes crowds through some of the best tracks of decades past, from 1950s tracks, Motown era, through to classic 1980s and 1990s songs and anthems - there’s also a mini rave segment and ‘slow smooch section’.

Vicky McClure, 41, said the Day Fever team take turns to DJ, playing crowd pleasers to keep the party going. She said: “It’s easy to sense what the vibe is all about because I’m with everyone dancing about on stage - my bit is dancing around the stage a bit like Bez in the Happy Mondays. The atmosphere, seeing people release their week’s stresses and come in here to forget it for a bit and we’ve found that’s become quite an important part of Day Fever really. 

“It’s predominantly women, they feel safe when they leave, it’s light outside and it’s a tenner a ticket so there’s all these great reasons. It gives people a sense of escapism. During the 90s dance section everyone seems to go into this release mode.

“No one is filming each other, it’s not that kind of thing, they’re just in it. When we look at the crowd we see people in their 30s all the way to the 80-year-olds - so they’re all having different experiences in terms of what that music meant to them at a certain part of their life. It’s beautiful.”

Jonny added: “One of the greatest things about Day Fever is no one cares about being cool anymore. Once you get past a certain age you start to think, it really doesn’t matter. People come along and they dance, jump around, wear what they want, because they realise the coolest thing is to be yourself.” 

To book tickets for Day Fever or for more information you can visit the O2 Academy website.