Having commenced the year with a colossal classics celebration, our first dervish dominated by a performance of prolific Pitron proportions, who would have thought that our concluding dancing day would find us soaking up a set so spectacularly similar & stunning, Steve once again at the epicentre of our excitable cavorting, the club on both occasions being Beyond, this final fling of our year proving the most emotionally enthralling epilogue to 2012 we could have wished for, but what made this the most momentous Beyond meet of the month, possibly of the year?
When it comes to traditions we have many, our lives driven by orderly actions & organised schedules, while, on particular days of the year, we follow rituals with religious zeal, Christmas Day an example where without our beloved Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang, we would never feel or be the same, our nearest & dearest sometimes painfully aware of that organisation & order we demand, alarms reminding us of activities that should be instinctive and we very much a fish out of water when attempting manage either meets or trips on a wing & a prayer. And when it comes to clubbing, we are the same, impromptu appearances very rare indeed, while those certain days & times of the year demand exacting event attendances, New Year’s Day probably our most fastidious, when a collection of constants have reigned supreme over our clubbing cavorting, one brand standing head & shoulders above the rest in this regard, having been part & parcel of our New year’s Day morning’s for the best part of the last decade. But more recently it has also been the club where we have delighted in our last December dance of the passing year, meaning we end the old & start the new as we have left of and then mean to go on.
We are, naturally, talking about Beyond, the spectacularly scintillating Sunday morning meet that has, virtually single handily, re-written the afterhours rule book, in what had, previous to its launch in 2001, had been pretty much uncharted territory, only Trade breaking the night-time clubbing norm, as colossal a club Laurence Malice’s meet was, it never amassed anywhere near the broad appeal that its Sunday successor did and has. Indeed, while Trade’s music policy never really shifted from tough tech, well apart from a little lite lounge injection here & there, Beyond has always catered from a diverse dynasty of dancing devotees, the three spaces of its former home, the Colosseum, and its brilliant base now, the amazing & atmospheric Area, serving up a superb spectrum of sounds to suit a wide range of house music tastes. And this has been the core of Beyond’s staggering success, a brand that has trodden far more international steps than its predecessor, has scooped annual press & publication awards that stretch deep into double figures, while with its “all roads leads to” reputation, the broad appeal & unrelenting popularity of this phenomenal party never ceases to amaze us.
So, while we had, just a couple of days before, announced that we would be cancelling all remaining clubbing commitments for 2012, this following an awful incident on Christmas night, a mound of messages of support, phone calls & texts, all combined to sway our steadfast stance, the phrase “…don’t let THEM ruin your plans…” ringing in our ears while the telling blows that combined to confound our cancellation choice, firstly a marvellous message that included “…they might shove you to the ground & rob you, but nothing keeps us beyond regulars from the dancefloor..” and secondly, the statement that Steve Pitron has always stood us to, that being “…only pressing family issues or if you are on your death bed are valid excuses for missing Beyond…”, meaning it was a “…what time?!…” text that invoking an excited reaction and a 5.30 pickup that delivered us to Area’s doors and into the hands of our favourite club of all time, for an emotionally enthralling epilogue come last dance of 2012. And with a warm greeting from Minty on the door, it was clear Steve was anxious to get the main room party going, he losing us in the queue, although with a somewhat unfriendly security search over, we were soon in and, like Mr Pitron, eager to get going, dispelling the dismal memories of the Christmas night incident, although painfully aware of the wave of questions & comments that would come. But with the likes of Ben Kaye, Smalls, Bel, along with an arriving & excitable Peter, we were in captivating company and what lay ahead would prove to be three hours of monumental music & masses of fun-filled frolicking to elevate this to one of the best Beyond’s of the year/
With the signal to get the main room going given, Steve speedily set about heavenly house music hat-tricks, one after the other, as a cavorting pre New Year crowd that was expected to be thin on the ground, packed out the main room as though it was a special event, bare torso muscle men up on the podiums and faces a-plenty passing us by and even joining us a bevy of Brazilians including the marvellous Mhardeen, the delectable Dudu & the fabulous Fabio. But plenty others made our morning magical included Dan Kelly, Mark Williams, James Brewer, Summer Doll Nguyen, & Dorin Andrei, all gloriously greeting us, while in greeting terms, no-one can quite top Jamie Head, we catching him while out on the terrace trying to post an Instagram shot of Steve & Smalls, this after the first of many tickling chases, although from an unexpected source, mark Williams the pranking perpetrator. However, inside was where all the emotionally enthralling & exciting eruptions were going to take place, Peter in playful mood, pinning us into our spot corner & riding our leg, much to Mr Pitron’s delight, while the man himself was masterminding some mesmeric music, a mixture of classics, classics re-hashed, 2012 big hitters & new tracks, sending us stratospheric, highlights including “Stay”, “Some Kind Of Rush”, “Got To Be Strong”, “Can’t Stop Me”, while sheer yet scintillating surprises were floor filler favourites from yesteryear, “Souk” & “Acapella” that went down an absolute storm.
Now, the awful Christmas night end that had been plaguing us was all but dissolved, rather the magical music, the prolific people and the amazing atmosphere were taking centre stage in our thoughts, stints on our spot swapped with privileged position next to our premier player (haven’t called him that for a while) Mr Pitron’s performance proving not just pitch perfect but actually nothing short of phenomenal, it clear from the expressions on his face and his body language, that is was right in the zone and enjoying every minute. And the party people down on the dancefloor were lapping up every second of his stunning set, their arm waving, whooping & whistling reactions speaking their own volumes, while we were in heaven in the D.J. booth with our mixing master & with lighting & technical genius Smalls, the times we have spent with them in this privileged position across the year, magical 2012 memories highlights, this morning being no different, while it was also clear Mr Pitron was in playful mood, the inevitable tickling frenzies leaving us squealing & squirming as both he & Smalls pinned us in the sound cupboard. But Peter was to add to all this bawdy bravado too, more leg riding lunges leaving us on the exciting edge, while others joined in on the joviality, Mhardeen, among many more chasing & attempting to tickle us (we are a sensitive soul), while it would be the terrific Tom Fuller that would temporarily rescue us, a respite in the chapel space giving us time to take stock for the final stint of Steve’s set.
And what a stint it proved to be, yet more classics intermixed with 2012 anthems amassing an awesome Area atmosphere, the lighting at fabulously full tilt and with Eleckta Paris & her dance troupe on NYD preparation duty rest, the music was the majority of the talking, news having reached us that both Hifi Sean & Jamie Head had nailed prolific & pulsating performances in the chapel & the terrace respectively. But it was the main room performance we were concentrating on and while an early showing of the towering “Timebomb” had been the only Steve selection to tumble our tears, the main protagonist pick in his armoury would leave us wonderfully weeping, the brilliant “Beautiful Lie” catching us off guard gloriously although it would be the spectacular “Symphony”, neatly followed by the simply stunning “Strange Fruit”, interestingly on its first play in a Pitron Beyond performance, that would leave us breathless in emotional eruptions, recapturing the superb spine tingling sensations we had succumbed to on hearing both of them within Steve’s WE Formula 2” podcast. “Symphony” & “Strange Fruit” stunned, the rest of our stay at this prolific party was a bonus, The Sharp Boys arrival & welcomes another filler on top of the friendly support we had received all morning, although with Steve’s set over and a final tickling frenzy done, it was time to wend our weary way home to reflect on, what was without doubt, one of the most monumental meets, not just of December, but of the year.
Well what can we say to add to all that? Well, in brief, a stunning Steve set, an awesome Area atmosphere, a flock of fantastic friends, mesmeric music and exceptional lighting effects, all combined to make this a morning that only delectable dreams are made of. Yet this is the epitome of Beyond, it never failing to deliver delightfully in all departments, it standing head & shoulders above the capital circuit clubbing competition in every wonderful way. And to attract the kind of numbers just a two days before the New Year and on the cusp of one of the biggest Beyond bashes on the calendar, is proof of the pudding in our humble pie opinion, that it is every bit as popular now, as it was this time last year, and the year before that and the years before that. What the founder of this phenomenal weekly afterhours outing, Craig Elder, has created is a club that we can safely say ranks as one of the best on the globe, our experiences of scores of others both here in London & abroad, suitably qualifying us to make this considerable claim. But while La Demence, Muccassassina & Alegria come close, Beyond in our books is the best and so to spend our last dance of 2012 in its hands, adding to the myriad of meets this year alone, very much proved the most emotionally enthralling epilogue that this review reflection title suggests, the final few words having to go to a Pitron performance of epic proportions that, like this colossal club, could, no will possibly, probably, definitely turn out to be top of our Y.E. tree. (DISCO MATT)
