Beyond Club Review - May 2008

BEYOND – SUNDAY 4TH MAY 2008
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN


Barely a week since visiting the new look Area following it’s refit and take over by The Orange Group, we found ourselves south of the river yet again, this time to the re-launch of the mega afterhours club Beyond.

Having been regular visitors since Beyond’s beginnings back in 2001, we like many were sad to see it’s demise, amidst a number of changes to the clubbing scene in more recent times and with a succession of new ventures launched and quickly failed at Beyond’s ancestral home, Club Colosseum, for us it seemed that the afterhours icon was set to fade into history.

An attempt to relaunch the club at The Fridge never really got off the ground, with just one party being held, although, with it at the uncharacteristic time of 7 p.m. on a Sunday evening, it just wasn’t Beyond! So, it was clear that people had moved on and early Sunday morning clubbing looked set to be dominated by 12 hour outfits like Juicy and Horizon.

As though like a phoenix rising from the ashes, we were surprised to hear of a second attempt to re-launch the legend, with the first party to take place on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, a cunning plan as there would likely to be a hugely captive audience. In addition, much shuffling of clubs in Vauxhall meant that Beyond, as it had been in its heyday, was the only club offering between 4 a.m. and midday.

So balancing work duties and having been encouraged to visit by Wayne Shires days before, we made tracks to Area, arriving about 7 a.m. It was clear that the club was in full swing, with the outside terrace already full of muscle queens, disco bunnies and an altogether polysexual mix of people. Entering Area, we were immediately drawn by the pulsating sounds emanating from the main room and thrusting our way in, past the coatcheck, we were greeted by a room bursting at the seams with hedonistic clubbers revelling in the atmosphere.

The advertised DJ line up wasn’t classic Beyond, although the brilliance of Steve Pitron, a guiding light throughout the clubs history, was there for all to see, as we advanced down the main floor to spot him holding court behind the DJ booth. The now infamous Area lighting system was in full swing and the podiums were packed with arms in the air party goers eagerly trying to attention grab.

Steve gave us a momentary wave as we positioned ourselves right by the booth and his usual amazing mix of commercial pop cleverly remixed and twisted into house heaven had us dancing within seconds. Behind him were screens flashing up reminders of Beyond's past not to mention the classic logo which kept swinging into our focus. The team had gone to town with production, the club adorned with huge Beyond lettering hanging from the ceiling above the booth and the constant pluming of chilling ice cannons and ticker tape explosions, meant the atmosphere was electric.

Wrenching ourselves away from the main room in search of refreshments, saw us wandering through into the “old” room two space, now divided, Like the main room the bar area was awash with clubbers scantly dressed down to the waist, although moving through into the darkened dancefloor, it was clear Steve had the lions share of the crowd as there was a mere handful soaking up the sounds of Elliot J Brown. Moving on into the main “embankment” bar area, it was obvious this was the chillout zone, with many faces showing the signs of all night clubbing, even more sprawling out onto the outside terrace.

However, having fresh legs we raced back into the main room and re-positioning ourselves by the DJ booth soaked up the atmosphere, but strangely resisted the empty podium in front of us. Steve continued to pump out huge record after record and old faces from Beyond’s original days kept floating past, in a small way re-creating the feel of all those years ago. When our resistance waned and we climbed the podium, Steve stepped up the music to yet another level, which had us enthralled displaying our dancing talents for all to see.

It was always going to be a short stay, with the call of work at 11 a.m., so we said our goodbye’s and melted into the Vauxhall day, reflecting on another club experience we were glad we made the effort to keep.

As for Beyond at Area, well we stated our views on Area as a revamped club before and this has not changed, it has the feel of Fire and there is no escaping that. However, Beyond did give it an edge over our last visit and two factors ensured that, the familiar faces from the Beyond of old and Steve Pitron. His presence and music choice was simply brilliant and could only ever be rivalled by another old Beyond resident, Brent Nicholls.

Will Beyond survive as a weekly outing, simply on the crowd it managed to pull on this occasion, it should do. Despite the expected pines for it to return to its spiritual home, Area is the next best thing to Colosseum and we wish the team well with their re-launch. Will we visit again, probably, if only to soak up the Pitron atmosphere. (DISCO MATT)