Rise N’ Rave: Aussie’s Are Taking Morning Culture To A Whole New Level
The 7am club
By Victoria Lewis | 3rd June 2025The music is hypnotic. The crowd is electric. The dancefloor is pumping. You’ve never felt so alive. No, you’re not at the club, you’re at a café, and no, it’s not midnight, it’s mid-morning.
Fancy a dance with your morning coffee? Brisbane locals certainly do. Early morning rave events are popping up all over the city, begging the question – are cafes the new clubs?
Who’s behind it?
Taking inspiration from the world’s coolest cultural hotspots like LA, London, and New York, who are no strangers to dancing the morning away, AM Social is hopping on the morning rave bandwagon and getting the party going in Brisbane. Taking over iconic local coffeehouses like Fonzie Abbott, AM Social hosts a monthly morning rave that brings the community together in a colourful combination of music and movement. At the forefront of this rave revolution is AM Social’s co-founder, Daniella Boughen, who hopes to make sober socialising cool again.
Brisbane is experiencing a serious cultural reset, and it’s gearing towards wellness. Ms Boughen says, “People are re-evaluating what fun looks like – and realising it doesn’t have to involve drinking until 2am.” You’ve heard of run clubs, now welcome to the after-party, where wellness and party culture intersect. “It’s like if Berghain and your favourite coffee shop had a baby – minus the hangover,” she says. And to her, this is only the beginning.
“Morning culture is global. We’re just giving it an Aussie accent.”
Joining the movement is Newstead’s famous Rise Bakery, having just launched their own morning rave event. Another monthly collaboration with local DJs, early risers can rock up, let their hair down, and make caffeine-fuelled connections on the dancefloor. Hélène De Bufe of Rise Bakery coins the event as “very Brisbane,” describing Queensland, with its community of hardcore early risers, as the perfect place to soak up the morning rays with a rave. She says, “You get the energy of a night out, but with coffee instead of cocktails… a feel-good kind of party.”
Not much of a drinker herself, Giorgina Venzin, founder of Bulimba’s Darvella Patisserie, was keen to create an inclusive alternative where partygoers can “have a boogie without writing off [their] whole weekend”. Excited to bring this global movement onto home soil with daytime rave events at Darvella, she says, “It had always been my dream to move to New York, but now I feel like I’m bringing a slice of New York to Darvella.”
Gone are the days of partying all night long. These days, parties don’t end in the early hours of the AM… that’s when the fun is just getting started.
Imagery: @darvellapatisserie / Nelson Zambrano
