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You Had to Be There

An Odyssey Through Noughties London, One Night at a Time

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You Had to Be There

By: Jodie Harsh
Narrated by: Jodie Harsh, Russell Tovey
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About this listen

'Gallops through the pre-mobile phone era with wit and chaotic energy.' Sunday Times
'
A joyous rags-to-riches tale.' Financial Times
'Nostalgic, salacious and bitingly witty.' Joe Lycett
'A delicious, neon-soaked fever dream.' Munroe Bergdorf
'I couldn't put it down.' Annie Macmanus

The defining book on the iconic noughties-era of pop culture in London as told by DJ Jodie Harsh, who saw, did and survived it all.


Jodie Harsh arrived in London aged fifteen in 2001, heading straight off the train from Canterbury to her first club night at the Astoria. Intoxicated by this initial taste of city nightlife, she didn't leave the party for years, falling in with the right wrong people and exploring the sides of London best experienced under cover of darkness.

Throughout the noughties, from Camden and Soho to Mayfair, from Notting Hill and Primrose Hill to Hackney Road, the city was a messy, beating, slick and sordid melting pot. New music, new fashion, new art, all came together in a mad, dizzying rush before - and during - the financial crash of 2008. Different scenes collided, exploded, were reborn and shaped across the city, at rapid speed.

Harsh grabs us by the hand and leads us back to those decadent times: from the Astoria to The Cross, the Soho Revue Bar to Mahiki, Boombox to The End and her famous friends' houses; to a time before social media and cameraphones were ubiquitous and a life without their perpetual scrutiny allowed for a more liberated, hedonistic and creative existence. You had to be there, and Jodie Harsh was. Every single night.

©2025 Jodie Harsh (P)2025 Faber & Faber
Anthropology Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment & Celebrities England Witty
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A fast paced romp through noughties London, celebrities abound contrasts with emotional heartbreaking honesty. I also would love to tell Jodie that she is now my favourite DJ, having now discovered her YouTube sets! please post more ❤️

Brutal honesty, great writing

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I stumbled upon this one and instantly knew it was for me. I was SO right! It’s a top tier memoir. Such a good read, incredible on so many levels. I ripped through it and I honestly think it will be studied in the future as a club-history artiefact

Iconic & important!

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A great story going deep to a world in which I’d dipped my toes… fascinating to learn what it was like to have been fully immersed. As an aspiring tommielovedj myself, also reminded me that getting out and about and knowing the venues, promoters and crowd is just as and probably more important than most of what you can do to build your DJ profile in the online/social world. Look forward to seeing Jodie back on the dancefloor soon (ideally with Daniel Lismore in tow ;)

Took me right back to those nights at Turnmills, The End and The Cross

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