That Was The Spring Bank Holiday That Was
Well here it is, our first weekly roundup report, “That Was The Week That Was”, and what a week to choose, the fourth bank holiday of the year proving a real corker for us and surely for you too, especially if you took advantage of the myriad of magical meets that we covered in our special Recommends post, not to mention the host of others on offer.
SMX success
So, where did it all start?, well with a bit of a clash of the titans on Thursday (26th May) as new Soho society social soiree Gigolo was back for more after a lavish launch a week ago, although what a difference a week made, as numbers were nowhere near as buoyant as the launch, perhaps to be expected. Across the other side of Soho, Room Service entertained SuperMartXe for the first of three pre-parties, Jodie Harsh’s established Thursday night foray still packing in the party goers, this week being no different & just the start to the weekend SMX’s Logan Schmitz was praying for.
Both will be back for more this week, Gigolo “getting harder”, while Room Service entertain French porn star import Francois Sagat, both well worth a look in to be honest. Check out http://gigolodisco.com & http://clubroomservice.com for more info.
Society stars
Friday dawned for us with a trip across to Rome for the magnificent Muccassassina which was the first major highlight of our spring bank holiday weekend, while here in the capital Lo-Profile’s “Society” rocked to the Spanish influenced SuperMartXe sounds, Nathan Six & Tony English bringing home the bacon (or should that be chorizo) for Logan & his Schmitzels, while round the corner in Rupert Street, the sweetest of sounds were served by Brent Nicholls on behalf of WE “Candy” who held their own pre-party, with gorge go-go’s & plenty of sugar coated splendour masterminded by promotions duo Tom Fuller & Paul Vlad. Down in Vauxhall, it was win win for the Orange group, with healthy numbers reported through both Onyx & A:M, while slightly further afield, The Brixton Clubhouse kicked off their launch weekend with a tepid response, but with much brighter things to come on both Saturday & Sunday. Aternative’s out east, the Dalston Superstore & East Bloc’s “Disco Fag Bar” reported good turnouts, while back in Rome, Mucca proved magnificent & packed to the rafters from superb start to fantastic finish, both Danny Verde & Micky Galliano nailing spectacular sets.
“Society” is back this week to show Soho how it’s done, more info available at http://loprofile.com, while Onyx starts a weekend trend in Orange Group circles of free parties/plenty of discounted offers, more info out at http://fireclub.co.uk/gayparties.
Sweet Scorcher
To Saturday and it was clear that two players were likely to dominate proceedings & leave others in their wake, although as it turned out, the sweet smell of success went to WE “Candy”, host venue The Coronet in E&C absolutely rammo, in fact never as busy. With the stunning stage shows back to where the brilliantly belonged, superb sets by all the D.J.’s sparkling, especially Paul Heron’s as even WE resident Carlos Gallardo was caught bowing at his feet in adoration, while PA Peyton put up another prolific performance and not one person we spoke to walked away disappointed, quite the opposite. Faced with all this, SuperMartXe was always going to come off second best, but they certainly did their “Moulin Rouge” best, making the most of what they had, although with the world & his wife at WE, numbers did suffer. And that was the case for others too, Lo-Profile reporting a quiet night as did both Barcode’s, but the niche & alternative nights did well, both Gutterslut at East Bloc & Queer Nation at Area heralding highly successful happenings, the usual bearish bravado taking place at The Arches in Southwark as XXL reigned supreme.
Now, it seems the WE party machine is not resting on its laurels, their next incarnation “Barbie & Ken” already sweeping across Europe, while London’s Gay Pride on 2nd July will see WE “Force” take centre stage again, more details already out at http://weparty.clubtickets.com/gb/2011-07/02/we-party-london-we-force.
Huge Holiday Hit
So Sunday dawned & it seemed at all roads led to Beyond, those people that hadn’t yet started their spring bank holiday certainly doing so here. Having recharged our Rome batteries, we arrived to find the unison with Barcode brimming with bodies, the Beyond crew reporting probably THE busiest ever. And the extra outside space as well as additional dancefloors worked really well, although, inevitably, it was the three Area rooms that saw most of the action & chalked up huge holiday highlights for us (more on that in a bit). Later followed & was equally as successful, dampening the start of Downtown at The Brixton Clubhouse, although this Meat & Room Service combo was well & truly rocking by 8 p.m. Salvation swung open its doors & dazzled with some of the most stunning stage displays we have seen, lighting, lasers & the 22nd century theme hitting the mark, even if the numbers through Koko didn’t quite match the spectacular Salvation shows & effects which were a resounding success. Other hot spots included Fusion at the prolific Pulse & a whole host of Soho hip & happening hangouts, Rupert Street reporting on of their best Sunday’s in a long time. But the big surpirse was Booster, who teamed up with Barcode, pre As One, reports coming in that it was “one in, one out” and the most amazing atmosphere, this second unity in as many hours working like a dream.
Now, we have some exciting news on the Salvation front, although have been sworn to secrecy right now, but will spill the beans just as soon as we can, while this weekend Beyond continues to ride the wave crest they are on, with two parties, Paris’ Scream hosting on Saturday night, while back in London they kick off their summer season in style, more info on Beyond available at http://jonny-m.co.uk/beyond.
Brand Combo Back With A Bang
With Monday arriving quickly on the horizon but with so many amazing parties very much weighting the weekend differently to previous bank holiday’s, there was a feel that the scene was flagging a little, although, like Beyond the previous morning, it seemed all roads led to As One, Fire’s three main spaces packed to the rafters until well gone dawn, Orange, Cafe Ole, Lovechild, Megawoof & KuBar combining to put this collaborative colossus back on the clubbing map, although as the sun peaked through, outside rather than in was the order of the day, the main room, neverthless, rocking right up till the midday finish. Other prolific parties included Later’s second spring bank holiday helping, this time at Area, The RVT also getting their own second bite at the cherry with the ever popular “S.LA.G.S/Chill-out”, despite the weather turning damp late afternoon & emptying the grassy knoll, while Popcorn at Heaven made hay too, with an extra busy bash as its student populous were on a short spring break from their studies, all very much letting their hair down.
Now, if you haven’t been to a S.L.A.G.S/Chill-out session yet, then it’s high time you did, this Sunday soiree every bit the smash it was when it launched well over 10 years ago, more details on this & other RVT happenings available at http://thervt.org.uk
Now onto some news & we have to sadly report that new social society soiree “G&T” has seemingly faltered at its first hurdle, this Tuesday night gathering having been pulled from Dui just three weeks in, its future not looking that bright, although we are told the team are looking to Green carnation to try & breathe new life into this brave new brand.
Similarily, Industri, the social soiree splendour that had a successful running at Barcode Vauxhall for close on three years, looks like bowing out gracefully when current home, Barcode Soho changes hands sometime this month. However, with the new owners of this Archer St hangout promising to keep some of the old, but bring in much more new, we suspect Minty, Paul & Brent will be back with a new “SoHO” concept.
Down in Vauxhall & it’s all change at Union, Factory taking advantage as Steven Geller’s clubs “Bodyshakers” & “Desire” switch camps, joining Suzie Kruegar’s “Hard On!” that moved there for Hidden a couple of months ago. Plus, Factory have a new night this coming Friday (3rd June), as Gaydar Radio’s Phil Marriott launches “Club I”, an inspirational independant & iconic invent, so watch this space for more news in an upcoming Weekend Focus.
So, that was the spring bank holiday weekend that was, the two towering triumphs very much being WE “Candy” & Beyond “Supersize”, but what about our moment, our track & our tweet of the week? Well to the moment first and a difficult choice as there
Oustanding "Offshore" Our Track of The Week
were so many, from Mucca in Rome to Salvation in Camden, but weeding out a collection of classic’s, courtesy of one man, our most magical moment has to be being up in the Beyond D.J. booth with superstar Steve Pitron, not once or twice, but three times & very much a “Supersize” treat for us.
As for the track of the week, well it has to be the outstanding “Offshore” by Rebeka Brown which featured large throughout our weekend & many of the previous ones to be honest and while we are still struggling to find a link to this latest version of Ms Brown’s 2010 original, you can find it on Steve Pitron’s new podcast “Summer 2011 Vol 1”, available for download at http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com.
Then to our Tweet of the week and like the moments, with so many to choose from it was tough, but one rose to the top of our tree, inspired by fabulous friend Andrea, which read like this “…is in As One hysterics as having misplaced Andrea, her trademark call has affirmed she is in close vicinity. It goes “…f**k off!…”, priceless!! Plus to join the revolution that is our nibble sized review tweeting, why not follow us at http://twitter.com/discomatt and maybe even get a mention of your own.
nibble sized tweets
Right, that’s it for our first “That Was The Week That Was” report, but don’t forget, if you want us to shout out for your favourite bar, club or event that rocked & rolled, then drop us a line at matt@discomatt.com or link into us via our Facebook page at http://facebook.com/discomattlondon. Now, as we look forward to a new week that will include Room Service, Tonker & Beyond for us, we hope this coming week is a good one for you, so make sure you have a brilliant one and that you “Go There! Be There! (DISCO MATT)