Rome Club Review - September 2008

ROME @ LO-PROFILE – SUNDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN


This eagerly awaited event, which was the brainchild of DJ Fabio White and launched with massive success over a year ago, has found a niche spot in the gay London clubbing calendar. The plans were always to make Rome special and as such the organisers didn’t want to saturate the scene with it, rather choosing to pick random Sunday dates throughout the year, ending up in 2007 holding just four events.

This in itself gave the club night an air of exclusivity and with the added bonus of being far removed from the Vauxhall scene, Fabio settling on the gorgeously decant and stylish CC Club in Piccadilly, the night was expected to and indeed did attract a true “A” list class of clubber, something little or no club night has or can achieve to such an extent, the possible exception being The Shadow Lounge.

We were privileged enough to be invited to the Christmas party on 16th December last year and were truly impressed, not just by the venue, but by all the efforts the team had gone to inject some Rome magic production, not only in the décor, not only in the sumptuous atmosphere, but moreover, the fantastic stage shows throughout the evening, truly rivalling anything we have seen at Matinee London, yes that good!! O.K, the venue was expensive, but being only an occasional event, you have to treat yourself don’t you!? And with THE most stylish crowd we had seen all year, it was well worth it.

So, seemingly having taken a breather, we were very much excited about Rome returning to the scene, albeit at a new home, Lo-Profile, which up until Saturday we had not seen. Furthermore, our anticipation was heightened with the publishing, via our favourite social networking site, of a video interview with the co-organiser, Romane, where a real taster of the expected style, exclusivity, music and clientele was set out by him & laid before our eyes, so wow, yes we were expecting big things of this previously billed “talk of the town” event, with the cream of the crop of London gay socialites rubbing shoulders with the masses & no “Fire faces in sight. Well such was the hype!

With all of this in mind and having seen Lo-Profile in it’s “raw” state just the night before, we summoned all our energies, despite having indulged in over twelve hours of hedonistic clubbing including a trip to Beyond, to make the journey back into town and to a party night we had been looking forward to for weeks. Arriving at Lo-Profile’s door at just after 7.30, we were greeted by a clipboard clutching Romane, suitably waving us through meaning it was only moments before we paid our way & found ourselves in the club. Looking around, it was immediately obvious to us that despite all that we had heard regarding the plans to transform the venue, it actually looked almost identical to the previous night, save some cheap and nasty looking stickers that had been placed on the array of multi coloured & shaped lights around the room. We saw no evidence of drapes, no evidence of flowers and no evidence of any sort of Rome style production, which we had so much praised at the CC Club.

Looking at the scant crowd, they, whilst not quite the trashy Fire lot we were promised wouldn’t be around, were not really “A” list, more a similar collection of good looking muscle boys and bright faced latino's intertwined with some regular scene faces, that we had grown accustomed to in the busy days of Sunday’s at Barcode Vauxhall. Despite the venue having been open nearly two hours, by the time we had refreshed ourselves at the bar, the club was still far from brimming, with only a handful of hopefuls on the dancefloor. This was no surprise, as glancing over to the DJ booth, we spotted Fabio White, who looked far from happy with his lot and not surprising, as to compare the Rome crowd, the atmosphere & the ambiance with that with which we enjoyed at the CC Club, well there was no comparison. So who could blame him for looking well and truly miserable.

To add insult to injury, we were completely ignored by the team of Rome staff who were supposed to take down names & details of the lions share of the gathering throng of up-market gay clubbers, to ensure a continued interest an turn out to this Sunday soiree, as so prompted by the lovely Romane on the door when we arrived, they rather wandering around the venue and chatting amongst each other as like naughty school children disobeying their masters instructions, truly infuriating!

We were so close to fleeing the Lo-Profile by this stage but were rescued by two scene stalwarts in the form of Chris Jepson & Pier Morocco. Chris shared with us his woes of the change from the CC Club to Lo-Profile, although we both agreed that in the nine months since the last outing, Sunday’s on the gay scene has become a difficult nut to crack. And as for Pier Morocco, well taking over the decks from Fabio White was just the reprieve we were looking for and in many ways saved the day as he delivered just exactly the music we expected from Rome, up-to-date, hard hitting and gorgeous house tunes which held us and the crowd perhaps longer than could have been expected, under the circumstances.

Well, what can we say? In the highs & lows of our clubbing experience, we are sorry to say that Rome, on this occasion, hit an all time low. Never have we anticipated a club event so much, to then be well and truly let down. Now, is there a way forward for Rome as an entity? Well yes, we think so, but the promoters need to take heed! Change the venue! It simply didn’t work, if not make certain sure you deliver what you promise, a transformation. You said in your promotion video that it would not feel like a regular Lo-Profile night, but in our humble experience it did!, Either this, or go back to you roots (the CC Club) and deliver what you were clearly capable of, because if you don’t, Rome as a venue is dead in the water and such a shame that would be for all concerned.

We have never yet had to be so forthright in our views of a club night, but with so much expectation followed by so much disappointment, how can you blame us. We sincerely hope that the powers that be within the Rome organisation listen to what we have said, as we love you as a club concept but you have to get it right! (DISCO MATT)