BEYOND – PRIDE SPECIAL – SUNDAY 6TH JULY
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
Having escaped the hectic pace that was London Pride in late night Soho, we ventured south of the river and after a brief interlude at Barcode Vauxhall, we took the short step next door to Beyond at Area.
Since it’s re-launch (not for the first time) on the May Day bank holiday weekend, the fortunes of this icon clubbing night have been mixed, but being Pride and on the back of Juicy closing earlier than usual, Beyond was set to be truly rocking and rammed with a gorgeous crowd up for some afterhours entertainment.
By the time we had negotiated the queue to get in and having deposited our bits and bobs into the coatcheck, we entered the main room, which was brimming full of scantly clad hunks and their admirers, gyrating to the sounds pumping out across the packed dancefloor. Squeezing our way past body after body, we got nearer and nearer to the DJ booth to see The Sharp Boys, George and Steven, in control, playing their usual & familiar mix of commercial “hands in the air” house tunes to a captive audience, lapping up record after record.
Wanting to see just how busy it was across the venue, we ventured next door into the black room, so named because it has an altogether darker feel from the pyrotechnically bright main room, this space also brimming with eager afterhours party goers. Not recognising the DJ behind the decks, we moved into the embankment bar area, also pretty full with a true mix of avid clubbers, off duty DJ’s and other folk savouring the unique vibe of this bar area, which has direct access onto the outside terrace. This was also full to capacity with guys and gals chilling from the festivities within the club, although the atmosphere was just as good outside as in, with Gonzalo holding court on the impromptu decks next to the terrace, delighting us with house classics combined with latin twisted vibes.
It wasn’t long before we found ourselves returning back to the main room, the daylight being a little too bright for us at 7 a.m. and having bumped into lots of friendly and familiar faces, including the enigmatic DJ Steven Geller, we hit the dancefloor and then the long elevated podium which gave us a magnificent view of the room and crowd before us. The Sharp Boys were still in command of proceedings and whilst we normally prefer slightly harder edged sounds, we succumbed to the delights of their more commercial tunes, dancing away on the podium for what seemed like hours.
With horny go-go’s coming and going on the other podium, the customary blasts of chilling ice cannons, together with the awesome lasers & fierce lighting of the main room, we only occasionally left our spot on the podium, sucking up the atmosphere of Beyond at Area, certainly a different feel to Beyond at Club Colosseum, but in some ways just as good to those legendary days of old. Whilst the new Beyond should be proud of it’s history, Area as a venue has given it a new life & direction and one that we like very much indeed, blocking out all thoughts of it’s association with Fire which is no longer in our favour.
With the call of work at 11 a.m. not to mention our weary feet, we waved goodbye to the dizzy heights of Area, Beyond and the whole Pride experience and slid into the normality of a mid Sunday morning (if there is one) Vauxhall.
So did Beyond deliver a great Pride night out, well yes it did actually. Despite some of its more familiar DJ’s in the guises of Steve Pitron and Paul Heron not being present, we did enjoy the music choices right across the whole club and whilst getting us on the podium doesn’t take much, the music has to be good to keep us there and it did. Yes it was packed and probably down to being Pride weekend, but Beyond continues to hit the spot for us and no doubt we will be visiting again soon. (DISCO MATT)
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