The Art of a good theme (AND HOW IT LED TO OUR SUCCESS)

Published: 04/09/2026

This article was written by Zaba, Head of Operations for Croakheads and Croakheads North. In this article, she discusses the bizarre creative choices she and her team make when considering audience experience of theme.

Picture this. You walk into a small, grassroots venue for a quick beer on the way to another commercial event your friends are going to that night. You’re squished in like sardines at the only table left available, the high table with the bar stools, and one of them has a wobbly leg that just won’t sit right. You pick up a leaflet that was left on the table and start folding it to steady this mischievous bar stool, but something catches your eye…

Y2K RAVE! ALL RAVERS WELCOME!

What is this?

You turn over the leaflet and see a mysterious logo. Croakheads. Who are they? That’s not a commercial event organiser you’re familiar with. It’s not a music label. They appear to just have an Instagram. Looks like they’ve only got 1,000 followers. And you don’t know any of the artists. Hmmm. Not convinced.

But then you look up. And a man in a blonde wig passes you by. Followed by a loud woman shouting about playing “Wobbly Dolphin” for an open set, and how that is probably “not allowed” but she “did it anyway”. She’s half-dressed as Britney Spears; it looks like this man stole her wig. Then a giant inflatable dolphin starts swimming through the air in the smoking area, adorned with the slogan: “SAVE OUR VENUES!” in a sassy, Sharpie font.

Suddenly, the commercial event doesn’t feel as enticing anymore. Curiosity gets you, and you realise it’s only £5 a ticket. And there’s even a stall to raise money for small venues like this one. That’s great news. You lost your local music venue a year ago due to Covid and operational costs.

And more importantly… these people seem kind of fun?

Pictured: We didn’t just have one dolphin… We had many, many Y2K wobbly dolphins!

This might be slightly embellished for dramatic effect, but this is based on the true story of how we met one of our friends at an event who became a regular attendee. And it demonstrates the important topic of our conversation today: the art of a good theme.

A good theme is more than just a poster. It’s the cultivation of a new world for your event dwellers to escape to. It should totally enthral them. They should walk into the event ready to participate, ready to engage and ready to escape into the madness. No decorations are even needed. You just need to sell it enough for your audience to buy in. It’s about curating a feeling, a sense of belonging to the group, based on the bizarre experience of mutually agreeing on our love for a Sharpie’d dolphin.

Whenever we have done themes, we have left them purposefully vague and, to a casual observer, sometimes they don’t “make sense”. But there is a very intentional decision behind that. If you leave thematic interpretation up to your audience, they are more likely to run wild with it. 

Look at Tribe of Frog as an example. Every event provides a costume theme, and their audience runs wild with their imagination, breathing life into characters and even coming up with backstories for them to share around campfires in the smoking areas. Borrowing from that influence, we encouraged people at our Brat theme to come as they felt Brat. We had a wide range of styles, from tops inspired by the Charli XCX album, to corporate big-label suits, to even a cowboy fluffy hat (a Mozey fan?). Handing out the P45s to the DJs wearing a corporate suit mid-set helped them to escape into the theme and rebel a little bit against the commercial system. As soon as they saw me arrive with their firing paperwork, I’m convinced they turned up the dial on the DnB they had on offer.

Creating an opportunity for a story before you have arrived at the event is a great way to curate a vibe and experience for your audience before they have even arrived. I recall creating a reel for Y2K of me looking at my phone, only to be told by a Furby that I needed to apply for open decks and attend with 2000s energy. I still get people approaching me about the reels we have made. We had “Bratblades” instead of Beyblades and we had “Sold Out Brats” challenging Scarcity Marketing reliant promoters. Notably, the Backrooms-inspired “Bratrooms” and “Beadrooms” reel we filmed at a petrol station, driving home from the Interstellar Audio event at 4am. That level of dedication to the bit is not cringe. It’s what makes your audience fall in love with the audacity you have to film that in the first place.

And people love a risk-taker who challenges a commercial, normal system.

Pictured: Custom BRATblades made by the amazing Purple Beyblades League - returning 3rd of October!

For our next event, we are hosting Space XCX. After we did Brat Summer, which just means we hosted a loosely themed “Brat” event throughout the summer in multiple cities, we realised that our audience were starting to ask for Bratrooms and more Brat. Keen to expand to further themes, we’ve asked for space right now from Brat.

But Brat is integral to our success, so our Spacemen have decided they’d rather take off with Space XCX than a Tesla for this next intergalactic journey.

Does that mean we will play any Charli XCX at the event? Who knows. All I told the DJs was: “Make sure you play sprinkles of space and aliens.” That’s the whole brief. Now it’s really up to the DJs. 

So let’s sit back and enjoy their creative interpretations!

You can find Zaba on Instagram and Soundcloud.

If you’d like to attend Space XCX, you can buy a ticket here.