Hong Kong’s gay and lesbian nightlife scene can be summed up with one word – predictable. Now with Volume closed (although only temporarily), the options are becoming fewer and farther between. But one newcomer to the party scene is hoping to shake things up with a new, memorably-named party series – Chicken Feet Disco.
The idea is simple, but has become a formula for success for four previous events. Pick a theme (the former ones were Musical Masquerade, Back to the 1970s, Eurovision Preview and Europop), encourage people to dress up in costume and play pure pop tracks in the chosen theme to sing and dance along to. And the best part – it’s free! August 20 will mark the first themed party held under the new Chicken Feet Disco name.
Richard Frost, the founder of CFD, sees the night as an alternative offering for the LGBT scene. “We’ve got the casual drinking scene, and we’ve got the Propaganda dancing scene, but there’s this big void in the middle,” Frost says. “There’s just nowhere to dance. I feel there’s no middle ground – a place to have a good night out, to have a dance and a drink, and I think this kind of event fills that gap in the middle.”
Frost says the night was born out of his love for Eurovision, after holding a hugely successful event at Drop where guests viewed and judged all 43 songs of the year’s Eurovision entrants. That event was followed by a Sunday night party at Volume, again with Eurovision and other pop songs on the playlist, delivered by Frost as the DJ.
The night has since found a home at Club Veto, and with the past two events reaching the venue’s capacity of about 150 people, Frost hopes the event will eventually go monthly and move around various venues across town. The funky name, inspired by London’s infamous party series Horse Meat Disco, gives the party a local twist.
Again falling in line with Frost’s love for Eurovision, the upcoming Chicken Feet Disco is themed as Viva La Diva, after the winning song of 1998’s Eurovision champion Dana International – the competition’s only transsexual winner. Frost says we can expect plenty of Madonna, Britney and Rihanna tunes, along with the divas of yesteryear (like Donna Summer and Diana Ross), Eurovision divas and plenty of Asian divas too.
“I already know there’s a group of people planning their Spice Girls outfits for the Viva La Diva night,” Frost says.
Time Out does have one warning for all those planning to attend the next Chicken Feet Disco – Frost takes his DJing role seriously and won’t be tempted by your requests to stray out of the evening’s designated theme.
“We did a Europop night and someone came up and said ‘can you play some Gaga’? And I said ‘no’. ‘If she’s not European, then I’m not playing Gaga. Tonight is a Gaga-free zone’!”

Andrea Yu