When the words “Beyond” & “Trade” are mentioned individually, one other word immediately springs to mind, “Afterhours”, but when they are mentioned together, one other word now forms part of that eloquent sentence, “Ultimate” a bringing together of these brilliant brands that has its second coming this Sunday, Disco Matt brushing aside his inhibitions in order to throw his weight behind these two clubbing heavyweights.
Colossal Collision
What we have said about the two most influential brands ever to grace the afterhours scene on the capitals clubbing circuit actually goes without saying, the reviews, the reports, the recommendations & the music pages of our website world filled with references to them both and while there are a handful of others that have influtrated this majestic afterhours market, there is absolutely no doubt that Beyond & Trade top the tree, both evergreen examples of branding & clubbing at its brilliant best. Yet while they have each influenced our lives for née on twenty years now, the mere fact that Beyond toppled Trade from its clubbing thrown, the new boy of the time commending its then nemesis to occasional events rather than weekly meets, always made the combining the two seem a suspicious conflict of interests, strange bedfellows if you like, although with collaborative projects such as As One bringing the marriage of minds to the fore, the promoters of these two towering turns thought why not?! Why not indeed, the joining of forces under the name Ultimate actually proving one of the best parties of 2011, packing out host venue Fire deep in Sunday afternoon, very muck akin to the halcyon Turnmills days of Trade, while the brilliance of Beyond also played a significant part in this most prolific of parties, its devoted room rammed from start to finish, proving that the desire form this diamond dancing devotion remained as strong as ever.
Ultimate In the Blue
So, with Trade returning to storm the scene with another of its specialists events, “A Tainted Love” looking to hold sway tonight (Saturday 11th Feb), it seemed inevitable that a meet of this magnitude deserved an afterparty of equal excellence, the colossal collision of Trade & beyond the resounding result and Ultimate the production of this party proliferation and one that will follow Brixton Electric at the home of Beyond, Area in Vauxhall, tomorrow morning (Sunday 12th Feb). And with both events looking to dominate the weekend, like the two brands have dominated our clubbing lives for pretty much the whole time we have been stepping out on the capitals clubbing circuit, it goes without saying that Ultimate, despite certain earlier reservations, receives our rapturous recommendation, our coverage of this exceptional event a measure of the might of these two heavyweights joining forces and pushing club partying ahead of club politics. However, we felt right to vocally view our reservations in our report earlier this week, our post “Undeniably Underwhelmed” hinting towards this Ultimate event being unevenly weighted towards Trade, even the lion’s share of the so called Beyond D.J.’s in the line up having harped from the mothership of clubbing, our analysis concluding that the music style would swing in favour of the former, Beyond without headliners like Steve Pitron, Mikey D or Alan K, pretty much left out in the cold.
Lite Lounge Legends
But with those reservations laid to rest, Beyond’s former promoter and Orange Group director of events Jonny Marsh reassuring us that, in his own words, “…the last party was amazing, we tweaked the music to match the mood & it worked like a dream, pleasing both Beyond & Trade followers…”, plus, with Alan K appearing on the D.J. line-up list following our report, it seems that every effort has been made to ensure that our favourite afterhours gets its fair share both on the music front, as well otherwise, after all, unlike the previous Ultimate event which was hosted by Fire, this second coming of the colossal collision will take place in Beyond’s backyard, Area. So, with our fears of a Trade takeover put to rest, what will this Ultimate event look like in terms of the music? Well, naturally being in Area, the organisers will be making use of all three rooms, we suspect they needing to, not least that the world & his wife look like pitching up to “A Tainted Love Affair”, so will surely then descend on Area for what will undoubtedly be an amazing afterparty. So with the main room seeing Beyond boys D’Johnny & Paul Heron go up against Trade’s Manchester boy Nik Denton, expect the music to be tough tech all the way, although with Alan K taking up the final reigns and sure to be the highlight of the main room for us, it will be Beyond, Beyond, Beyond in his heavenly hands. But with The Chapel space sporting the iconic Lady Bianca Trade’s very own first lady, she squaring up against Beyond beatmaster Paul Christian & Trade new kid Ross Homson, while we suspect the little gem in the crown of this colossal collision will be the terrace space, re-named the “lite lounge” for this Ultimate event and it will be here where Trade & Beyond will collide with captivating conclusion, Trade lite lounge originals The Sharp Boys & Fat Tony holding sway, while Jonny M will be getting an opening set look in so as to give it a bit of a Beyond feel. However, in the might of Steve, George & Tony, we have a true Trade/Beyond combo that is hard to beat and will surely rock the room to its rafters.
Ultimatum at Area
So, while being a die hard Beyond fan and still not that comfortable that Trade is muscling in on the holy ground that is Area, we cannot escape the fact that this will be one, dare we say it again, colossal collision, advance tickets on sale at the usual Soho outlets, Prowler, Clone Zone & 50, as well as online at http://orangenation.clubtickets.com/gb/2012-02/12/beyond, all priced at £15, while more will be available on the door, although expect to pay £20, those doors opening at 5 a.m. and the event running through to a planned 1 p.m. finish. That said, given the last party in Fire, which ran on into the afternoon, you may be in for an extended treat, while Later will surely beckon as an afterparty to an apfterparty, while in Ultimate the team have promised “…brand new visuals, incredible gogo’s, spectacular stage production and lots more hot surprises…” meaning you should be hot footing it down to Area and witnessing these two brilliant brands blend in perfect harmony. (DISCO MATT)