MATINEE VIVA – SATURDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
Despite enduring yet another dreadful U.K. summer, there is always one event that is sure to inject a bucket load of warmth & Mediterranean magic into our lives, Matinee London being the perfect antidote to wet weather blues, which barely two weeks after the huge bank holiday weekend party, swung open its doors once again to an adoring public.
Having successfully moved from it’s recent ancestral home at Fabric in Farringdon, to the ever popular super club Colleseum in Vauxhall, Oliver M & The Evolved Events team also took the bold decision to return this most popular of club nights back to Saturday’s, thus ensuring that the lions share of the gay glitterati had no excuse to miss out on what has become THE must visit party on the monthly London clubbing calendar.
Add to this, two recent additions to the Matinee London team. The first in the form of hostess extraordinaire, Minty, who not only brings order & precision to the sometimes chaotic and historically badly run door at Colleseum, but injects her special magic on making our arrival at the club a special event in itself. Secondly & brilliantly conceived, we were thrilled with the arrival of the truly international D.J. talent, Paul Heron, who, not before time, has parted company from The Orange group & the arresting clutches of Fire, thus freeing up this superbly popular & favourite star to roam freely across the scene, joining a band of well known as well as up-coming D.J.’s that grace the decks at Matinee and its sister event, Revolver.
So arriving fashionably late at just turned 12.30, having been warmed up & raring to go by the man himself at Barcode Vauxhall, we landed at Club Colleseum to find a massive queue of hopefuls who, unprepared, had followed the advice of others and shunned the comparatively unglamorous alternative, Horizon at Fire, rather to savour pure latino heaven in the form of Matinee’s latest instalment, Viva. Armed with a pre-pay ticket, we effectively jumped the queue & having been greeted by the effervescent Minty, fantastically dressed in an amazing leather number, a la “cat woman”, we safely negotiated the by now hectic door and ascended the stairs and up into the club itself.
There, we immediately came across organiser & promoter Oliver M, who having just returned from a stint at the Matinee mothership in Ibiza, looked amazingly tanned & healthy, sporting a sexy white Matinee t-shirt, showing off his newly bronzed body. In customary fashion, he threw his arms around us and indulged us in refreshments at the bar before being enticed away by an increasing band of Matinee regulars craving for his attention. We then fell upon our smaller than expected posse of work colleagues who lead us into the main room, which was already packed with a glorious mix of shirts off muscled hunks, party girls & boys and a bevy of eye candy beauties, intent on lapping up the Matinee magic before them. The music was already pumping, supplied by the rather cute & handsome Spanish resident star, Jordi Lights, who was in complete control of the decks, delivering classic Matinee styled tunes to add to the already superb atmosphere. With the D.J. booth backdrop of a brilliant wall of multi coloured L.E.D. lights, combined with impromptu podiums in amongst the revellers on the dancefloor, topped by gorgeous go-go’s, provided & choreographed by the lovely Logan, we soon realised that this was going to be one hell of a Matinee mash-up. And we not to be disappointed, as we soon found ourselves elevated on the stage, stripping down to our waists & gyrating to the sounds of Jordi. Looking around, the Evolved Events team had gone to real effort in adorning the club with a brilliant array of Matinee signage, a collection of Spanish flags and the sort of production we have come to love & enjoy from this lot, setting the club off tremendously.
We then decided to meander through the crowd and bumped into the delightful Pier Morocco who had saved the day at Rome, the previous week. It was great to see him this side of the decks, in the company of his scrumptious boyfriend, both clearly enjoying the Viva party. Then, as if by magic, the Italian Stallion, D.J. Pagano appeared, taking over the reigns behind the decks from Jordi Lights, leading the crowd on an altogether tougher style & journey of sound, leaving us spellbound on our spot before once again ascending the stage to compete with the flamenco garbed go-go’s entertaining the throng of Matinee hedonists, truly rocking the main room.
After falling over a collection familiar faces and scene friends, we then decided to investigate the other parts of the club and soon found ourselves in the intimacy of the VIP room, which we gained via a new entrance right off the main room. It is fair to say that this is one of our most favoured spots, not only in Club Colleseum but of any dancefloor across London and it was clear that others thought the same. The room was brimming with scantly dressed males & their admirers, savouring the delights of DJ Alessandro who was serving up a delicious mix of hard edged sounds intertwined with the odd commercial floor filler, which had the VIP room well and truly alive. This up-coming talent ensured our stay in this space, virtually uninterrupted, and by the time he handed over the D.J. decks to scene favourite Brent Nicholls, we were going no-where else, save the occasional quick dash to the bar to relive our bodies of the incredible heat that had built up in the room.
As if this space wasn’t busy enough, with Brent turning up the musical notches, delivering his unique blend of latino influenced vibes, hands in the air house tunes and dancefloor delirium, even more people crammed in, as we went into seventh heaven, burning up our spot, trading moves with an ever increasing crowd who simply couldn’t resist what was an amazing atmosphere. Many, like us, even decided against savouring the special talents of Matinee newcomer, Paul Heron, who was firing up his after-hours set in the main room, although as we dashed momentarily to welcome him to the Matinee crew, it was clear he had a huge crowd of his own. As we fully succumbed to the superb feel of the VIP room in the hands of Brent, it was, in some ways, as though we had stepped back in time to the fantastic days of Beyond, where we had enjoyed this space so often. Robbing ourselves of the unfolding party in the main room, we saw the rest of our night away until nearly 9 a.m. in the seclusion of this special spot, rounding off an amazing Matinee event, unrivalled by any we have been to thus far.
Having danced so much, with our legs cramping & giving way from underneath us we congratulated Brent on his superb set, said our goodbyes to both him & Oliver M and took our leave of Club Colleseum, ignoring the temptations of the sexy Eduardo De La Torre, who was finishing off Matinee Viva in the main room, rather finding our way out and limping into the Vauxhall mid morning sunshine to meander home to collapse in a heap.
So, was Matinee Viva a success, undoubtedly so!! The move back to a Saturday combined with re-housing the event to Vauxhall has proven both popular and inspired. It is fair to say that the feel of Matinee in the hands of Club Colleseum is different to that of Fabric, the crowd not quite as glamorous and as “a-list” as before, not that is was the gutter trashed filled lot that frequent Fire, but very much more of a Vauxhall crowd, although there is nothing wrong in that. We do feel that the “big” club atmosphere is not as evident & obvious as before, but in some ways we prefer the new Matinee over the old.
Feedback from others, following the Viva event was such that we weren’t the only ones having a fantastic time and with a plethora of photo images and video clips to remember the night by, it will be a long time before we forget this wonderful party. Roll on the next Matinee, we cannot wait! (DISCO MATT)
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