BARCODE VAUXHALL – 2ND BIRTHDAY PARTY – SATURDAY 19TH JULY
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
Having been regular attendees to this sophisticated and up-market bar & club since it launch, we were certainly not going to miss out on this “must” party event, which had been on everybody’s lips for weeks.
So with their doors swung open we made our entrance to our favourite & popular Vauxhall venue, early at 9 p.m., knowing that if we were going to make it right through to the extended opening time of 8 a.m. the following morning, some serious pacing would be required.
Already a crowd of hopefully party goers were gathering, all eager for proceedings to kick off and it wasn’t long before the lighting was adjusted in the front room, hailing the arrival of Saki behind the decks. This talented and charming guy, who is part of the Barcode management team, has successfully branched out into D.J.’ing and we were soon entertained to a fun filled mix of uplifting house & dance to get the growing and captive audience in the mood.
Peering down beyond the front room, we saw a hive of activity as the club bar opened and advancing down and into this fabulous space, caught D.J. D’Johnny taking up his familiar position in the elevated booth. D’Johnny has been a regular behind the decks at both Barcode Vauxhall & Soho, where we had first come across this Swedish sensation, so it was great to see him back where he belonged.
Just as we were getting into our stride, work interruptions forced us to make an unplanned departure from Vauxhall and by the time we had managed to sort them out, on our way back south, found ourselves being tempted to drop in on Barcode Vauxhall’s sister venue in Soho. What should have been a short excursion from the main event, lasted a little longer than we had planned, but with fabulous music on offer, played by one of our favourite scene D.J.’s, combined with the lovely bar staff in the club, as well as a great atmosphere, we simply couldn’t resist.
However, it the party in Vauxhall where we should have been, so were back over the river and having been whisked through the doors by friendly door staff, we found ourselves back in Barcode Vauxhall’s front room, which was now bursting at the seams. While we had been absent, Saki had handed over proceedings to turned D.J. Faye Lanson, also a Barcode regular, who was taking the room by storm, injecting her amazing energy into a marvellous collection of house favourites, which had the huge crowd dancing & jiving in what little space they could find. We have been fans of Faye for some time and couldn’t be better pleased that she is landing more and more gigs having bloomed into her D.J. mantle.
Tearing ourselves away and down into the club bar, which looked just as busy as the front, we peeked into the D.J. booth and saw the gorgeous Mattias behind the decks, pumping out a harder edged sound to a superb mix of hunky boys, party girls, scene faces and off duty bar & club workers, savouring the magical atmosphere that had clearly built while we had been absent. Familiar face after face wandered by as we secured a precious dancing spot by the D.J. booth only momentarily departing to the bar for refreshments, served by the sexy shirts off staff.
It was so good the see the venue as packed as it was on launch night and so the scene was set for an altogether spectacular party night, with us trading trips between the front room and the club at the rear, continuing to bump into friends and faces, some of which we hadn’t seen for ages. Troy was ever present, being as engaging as always, even hostess extraordinaire, Heidi Liscious was mixing with the crowd, adding a truly colourful edge to the evening.
As the night wore on, Faye, who had proved so popular in the front room, handed over the decks to Paul Coles, who’s music took us on a different direction, while in the club, the scrumptious Mattias eventually gave way to D.J. Mikey D, who we know well from our many trips to the legendary and sorely missed Crash. His arrival meant that we settled on the club bar to see out the remainder of our evening, which by now was more like early morning. Mikey D’s choice of tracks, like Mattias before him, had us dancing furiously on our spot, as did those around us, also ensuring the dancefloor remained rammed with a beautiful mix of people, who, like us, just didn’t know when to stop.
However, stop we had to, as our plans to pace ourselves fell apart. So, being exhausted we threw in the towel in on what was one hell of a party, slinking into the Vauxhall dawn and home to rest our weary legs, shunning the temptations of Beyond which was firing up in Area next door and a still packed Barcode which had two more hours to run.
Well, a resounding happy 2nd birthday to Barcode Vauxhall, once again proving that it still remains a popular venue in the gay village south of the river and certainly showing that despite a recent drop in numbers, it can still pack a punch and draw a crowd. With the unique and stylish soiree weekly on Thursday’s, Industri, with top notch scene D.J.’s on Friday’s & Saturday’s not to mention superb drinks offers on Sunday’s & Monday’s, there is always a great reason to visit. Hats off to Troy & his fabulous team, you definitely have our support. (DISCO MATT)
No comments:
Post a Comment