When it comes to brilliant clubbing brands, it doesn’t get better in our books than Beyond, but when it only has itself to better, the feeling that it has become a little complacent has been evident of late, although all that was to change with its “Early Disco Doors” event & an extended set by its star turn. But what made this Beyond a contender as its brilliant best yet?, how come our emotions erupted so?, and what next for this colossus of a club?

Shell-Shocking Steve Stunner

There is little doubt that we can count ourselves extremely fortunate to be within one of the most diverse clubbing scenes in the world, a wealth of brands, events, parties & themes catering for the equally diverse & cosmopolitan crowds that London seemingly continues to attract. So, with so much activity on offer, week in week out, it is sometimes difficult to cut the wheat from the chaff & to choose those tall poppies that stand out from the crowd, although when it comes to the afterhours segment of the scene & Sunday in particular, that choice becomes quite easy. And having pretty much dominated this prominent playing field for the last decade, very much taking up the mantle (or perhaps stealing it more like) from the previous top of the tree turn Trade, this club has seen a meteoric rise in the early noughties, replaced by an equally impressive phoenix rise from the ashes of its Colosseum collapse, forging a new prolific path within the amazing & awesome outfit that is Area. Plus, with a never-ending succession of scintillating showings pushing the boundaries of brilliance and increasing the benchmark with relentless rapture, it is difficult to imagine that this brand has left any space for further improvement, but it has & it proved just how in the hands of one of its star turns last Sunday.

Brilliant Beyond In Blue

Beyond is, without question, the biggest brand on the capitals clubbing circuit, the claim to fame, whatever the competition or whatever the occasion, that all roads lead to its doors, playing out pretty much every week, while, despite not having hit the high notes in a recent club pool, is still very much at the top of its game, a summer touring season stretching towards the end of 2011, the club having touched on international destinations that have included Paris, Ibiza, Amsterdam & Athens, while it has also welcomed others into the hallowed Area turf, La Demence & Cafe Ole just two that have played alongside this brilliant brand, while in the guise of Ultimate, beyond has teamed up twice with Trade to create an afterhours sensation, the last instalment taking place in Beyond’s backyard & proving one of the busiest of 2012 so far, even if the music was a tad on the tough side for us. However, it is when Beyond is simply Beyond that we seem to enjoy it the most, these “midnight” affairs not really doing it for us, even the “belief” parties seemingly attracting a different crowd to the norm, the genuine afterhours article, even with the odd theme thrown in for good measure (think “Tokyo” & “Erotica”), is a wonderful winner in our books.

Red Hot Rapture

So with our favourite club of all time only tweaking its winning formula slightly with an earlier than usual 4 rather than 6 a.m. start, what promoter Steve Sharp aptly called “Early Disco Doors” (our doors?!?!) we were very much up for succumbing to another afterhours Sunday morning session, not least that the clubs longest serving resident, superstar Steve Pitron was down to play an extended set that would no doubt spell trouble for us from the word go. But, having missed out on a handful of happenings in 2012 alone, we were keen to get back in the groove, while our premier premier player Mr Pitron was pretty insistent that we were there, although it didn’t take much persuading as we arrived with our pal at not long turned 6.3 0 a.m. With little or no queue to negotiate & door hostess Minty seemingly a little distracted, we were soon inside Area & heading straight into Beyond’s main room, the place already pumping with party goers lapping up the supercharged sounds being served up by George Sharp, while we paused at the bar to seek refreshments for the extended escapade ahead, we also being joined by our premier protégé player, Zach Burns, who was fresh from his superb set stint at Casa Latina and clearly in party mood for this, his first trip to Beyond. With energy boosting refreshments in hand & with Zach off to find the adorable Andrea, we weaved our way through the cavorting crowd with Steve, first storing our bits & bobs behind the D.J. booth & then sinking into our spot in preparation for the pulsating Pitron performance to come, while with Andrea appearing from nowhere & then the marvellous Mhardenn pitching up too, we were certainly in captivating company as we metaphorically strapped ourselves in for what was to become the most the most tearful emotional rollercoaster ride we had succumbed to ever.

Amazing Area Action

With the first Pitron pick, “Lady Luck” immediately sending us into a dancing delirium dive very much akin to that rollercoaster taking its first fearful plunge, we were being emotionally tossed from side to side and up & down, Steve’s second selection am emotional tear jerking surprise, the Crazibiza remix Joey Negro’s classic track “Must be The Music” watering our eyes a little unexpectedly, although with “track 3” being played third, our eruption was pretty inevitable. But this was only the beginning of our jubilant if but tearfully emotional journey at this “Early Disco Doors” dancing devotion, the Beyond faithful certainly responding to Steve’s sound selections with fervent following, the podiums packed & the whole room alight with action, that infamous Area lighting at full swing, the superb Smalls in charge of course, while we couldn’t resist touting a tweet which simply said, “…fifth in the SeenQueen awards?!?! This is tops & you know it…”. In between these nibble sized shouts however, it was the music that was doing the talking for us, we knowing in an instant that the Pitron destructive forces were hard at work on us, “Bitch Lady” soaring us skyward with enthralling ecstasy, while we came swooping back down with his next selection, “Rain Down Love” virtually on cue as the marvellous Mhardenn scooped us up in a huge hug, very much making what was already a magnificent morning even better.

Hot & Heavenly House

Now we were a trifle hot under the collar, yet having been away from Beyond for so long, we were a bit reticent to stripping down to our waists like many already had, rather simply going sleeveless & hoping that the upcoming PT sessions at BritoClerke Training would soon put all those fears to bed. And with Zach back by our side we soon fell back into the zone, our premier protégé player by our side & our premier player in charge of the tunes, while it would be a peeping Mr Pitron who would once again score a giant emotional goal, giving us fair warning on an impending track that would surpass even the delightfully destructive qualities of “track 3”, we aptly calling it “3 times 33”, it delivering to desired emotional effect. Mind you, this was just the tip of the iceberg of shell shocking Steve stunners, as “Story Of My Life” mixed into “Gravy” left us virtually breathless spinning on our spot, the master at work surpassing even his mesmeric mixing best, these two tracks pushing us to the edge, the pressures of the last few weeks beginning to release, the company of Zach, Mhardenn &, of course Steve a major factor in fragile feelings. But it was the track “Let You Go” that delivered the destructive killer blow to our emotions, we erupting into floods like never before, we soon amidst our own tidal wave of tears that only “So Much Love” was going to pull us out of, it performing to perfection, just like the dynamic D.J. that had selected it.

Emotional Eruption

With sizable chunk of Steve’s set now done, we were beginning to check our emotions a little, not least helped by a beckon up into the Beyond main room D.J., we standing resplendent next to Steve once more, this privileged position always the icing on our cavorting cake, although our stay was somewhat brief, “World” the protagonist in our pledge to sink back to our spot. And this terrific tune saw us explode into a fury of “Doing The Disco Matt” moves, while there could only be one track to follow that, “Levels” hitting its heavenly mark as always, while further classics “Souk” & “Long Time Coming” finding favour, while the final ace in the Pitron pack of premier playing cards would be an all-time favourite of ours & another classic to boot, “Release Me” polishing off the most majestic morning of emotional eruptions we had succumbed to ever. So, with Alan K soon assuming the decks, while we would have normally prolonged our beyond stay for his performance, given just how emotionally engrossed we had become in Steve’s shell shocker of a stunning set, every inch of our energy & resolve had been drained away by the two & a half hours of demonstrative yet delightful destruction, Steven Sharp gratefully allowing us to grace our exit with our pal Mr Pitron, mere mumblings being the best we could muster in the journey home, our head in our hands such had been the extent of this mesmeric master’s wonderful work.

Top Of The Bops

Having played witness to some truly brilliant & breathtaking Beyond’s in our time, “Tokyo” &” Erotica”  two standouts among a seas of scintillating others, what we experienced this morning was a shell shocking & stunning something else, Steve Pitron exceeding our expectations even more than we could have imagined or hoped for. And having completely absorbed ourselves in the rapturous rollercoaster ride we found ourselves on, those emotional eruptions bigger than ever before, it will be a morning that will remain in our memories for a long time to come. As for the full extent of this “Early Disco Doors” event, it seems that feedback impressively indicated that all three rooms were alight with action, the likes of D’Johnny, Paul Christian, Fat Tony & Jamie Head all delivering delightfully, while in the very capable promotional hands of Steven Sharp, there is no doubt that Beyond continues to ride that wave crest it has found itself on for so long. Plus, while it may have only reached a lowly fifth in a certain scene website’s annual club poll, in the hands of its all-star resident D.J.’s & other invincible ingredients, this brilliant brand showed us why is remains the best club in town, one deserved of a top slot in ANY scene award ceremony and certainly one that gets our vote every single time. And we highly expect it to top an upcoming magazine’s poll, while the club will surely continue to stand proud on that wonderful wave crest that still shows no signs of coming into the shore, meaning we will be taking that rollercoater & surfboard ride of resplendence for a long time to come. (DISCO MATT)