What a Year! - 2008 in Retrospect - Special review

WHAT A YEAR! – 2008 IN RETROSPECT
NEW YEARS EVE – WEDNESDAY 31ST DECEMBER
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN


As 2008 draws to a close, we thought it would be good to reflect on the year, and “what a year” it has been in gAylist clubland London, all the excitement, all the drama, all the fun and sometimes the disappointment that we have come to expect from the scene in London. The year has seen new clubs open, old clubs close, old clubs re-open. It’s seen new D.J. talent make an impact, old D.J. talent rekindled and top scene D.J. talent continue delivering exceptional music. Then, there were special events, birthday celebrations & wonderful parties, so, yes, what a year it has been.

So where do we start, well at the beginning would be good, so hold on tight as we race through from January to December covering as much as we can squeeze in on what has been a busy year for us, so here goes. Oh, by the way, if we miss bits, it’s not intentional, so don’t be offended!

With 2008 getting off to a sluggish start, the end of January saw some injection of passion, with super Spanish club Matinee’s London wing, landing a new residency at Fabric in Farringdon, which was set to be it’s home for the next six months, re-launching itself in superb fashion, also celebrating Matinee’s 10 years of global clubbing domination. We also saw another re-launch in the form of legendary afterhours club, Beyond, also at a new venue, this time the Fridge in Brixton, but also at an unusual “tea-dance” time on a Sunday afternoon, which didn’t go down to well with old Beyond faithful's, including ourselves. However, with the launch (yes not a re-launch, thank heaven’s) of a new club night on a Thursday’s, Industri at Barcode Vauxhall, in the capable & experienced hands of London’s undisputed Queen of the night, Minty, along with the massive D.J. combo of Brent Nicholls & Paul Heron, our year was set to take an altogether exciting & new direction.

February, the month of passion, saw plenty of it, with all the big club names throwing on special Valentines parties, intermixed with birthday celebrations for iconic gay venues and the second outing of new alternative (to become infamous) club night Gutterslut, masterminded by the fabulous Per Q.X. and Elliot J Brown. Matinee was also back with a real punch, in the form of “Knockout”, with a massive boxing ring dominating the main room at Fabric, a bold move by Evolved Events impresario Oliver Mohns, although when dancing hedonists took over the ring, this proved a costly addition, if but very impressive looking. The month also crowned our christening, signalling a real step change in our clubbing activity & scene profile & we remain eternally grateful to our creator.

With the spring now in the scene’s step, March saw plenty of activity with Easter being the major focus. Legendary club Trade performed it’s “Last Dance” at Turnmills, heralding 17 years of pure clubbing magic and as one door closed, another door opened (or should we say, re-opened) as Area, now in the hands of The Orange group, made an impact, first bringing Ibiza club “Space” to town and then moving Juicy from it’s home at Fire. All the big guns were out for the Easter Bank Holiday, with Matinee once again taking centre stage, showcasing the massively talked about & successful La Leche” party , which eclipsed virtually every other offer on town, including “Action” which was given a replay run at new revamped Area.

April was an interesting month on the scene, with things feeling a little stale. Club promoter fantastique, Wayne Shires, launched a new venture Bearea, at (you guessed it Area) and Matinee decided to ring the change by moving its slot and trying out the “tea-dance” format with Matinee Rewind. D.T.P.M. celebrated its birthday, with a triumphant return to the scene, back at old favourite venue, The End and with brilliant music provided by the likes of Guy Williams, Steve Thomas & Gabriele Cutrano, it proved to be the highlight in an otherwise mundane month.

So May came with the promise of two Bank Holidays to tempt out the scene faces & party goers. Matinee yet again took advantage, with an event dedicated to the press, in the form of Paparazzi, which certainly drew a crowd. However, the first weekend saw the second re-launch of Beyond, this time at Area and what a re-launch it was, with scene legend D.J. Steve Pitron performing a magnificent set and Andrew Harris masterminding stunning laser lighting effects. The month also saw Barcode Soho re-launch, with a revamped and glamorous new look. Having been in the shadow of its bigger sister in Vauxhall for some time, the amazing new club space downstairs on Archer St. took our breath away and has since been a regular starting point on a Saturday night out clubbing, especially with Brent Nicholls behind the decks. With the second Bank Holiday serving up plenty of gAylist offerings, new kid on the block Revolver launched, the brainchild of Messrs Mohns & Schmidt of Evolved Events, choosing Scala in Kings Cross as it’s initial home, a dramatic and stylish venue, perfect for the impressive production magic that has became Revolver’s trademark. With Coco Star performing what is likely to be the musical anthem of 2008, “Toca’s Miracle”, this new venture certainly made a real impact.

Now the scene was well and truly alight, with summer on our doorsteps and the prospect of Pride parties a plenty. June saw us pausing for breath before savouring yet another amazing Revolver outing at Scala, Italian stallions Pagano & Gabriele Cutrano together with the back-to-back sets of Oliver M & Eduardo De La Torre proving real highlights of the month. We also saw our fetish side come out, with our first trip to Hard On! And what an experience it was. With amazingly sexy go-go dancers major D.J. performances, including Hi-Fi Sean Dickson and a totally different clubbing experience under the direction of Suzi Kruger & her team, we were sure to return.

Historically, one of the biggest weekends on the scene, London Pride took the beginning of July by storm, with specialist parties held by Juicy, Megawoof, Heaven, Beyond & Matinee, which prompted one of our busiest 48 hours of the year, savouring first Barcode Soho, then south to Vauxhall, then up to new club launch Alphatek in Kings Cross, then back south again for Beyond, to round off everything at the magnificent Pride finale of Matinee magic over in Farringdon, although many had dropped off the edge by then. Other highlights were our first trip to Gutterslut in the east end with our fierce partner in crime Lexi, which proved, like Hard On! to be a truly enlightening experience, and then back on familiar terrafurmer, with another birthday celebration, this time Barcode Vauxhall’s 2nd, then, Revolver’s party in celebration of all things 007, finally crowning a hectic month with the afterhours tribute party to D.J. legend Tony De Vit, Hook’d at The Arches, commemorating ten years since the passing of this much loved missed talent.

August first saw Brighton steal the headlines with a massive Pride event, so much more popular than London’s a month before and then one of the real highlights of the year for us, Soho Pride, bang slap in the middle of the month. With Gaydar really transforming Soho Square and with the honour of a backstage pass, we had an absolute scream in the company of Brent Nicholls, Jamie Head and our fave club hostess Minty, seeing out one of the best Soho Pride (indeed any Pride) events we have enjoyed in all our years. The big day was warmed up by a superb reunion party in honour of Crash (our most favourite club brand of old) and with Soho Pride then spurning after parties galore, where else could we be but “Glamorous” at Club Sin, the brainchild of Jeremy Precelton, rounding off for us probably the best weekend of the year. But the real talk of the month was, once again, Matinee, which found a new home at the legendary club Colloseum in Vauxhall, still for this month on a Sunday night, but yet again proving to be a massive draw and a most popular switch from Fabric and a great way to finish off the final Bank Holiday weekend of the month.

Now the year took a further turn with autumn on the horizon and we focussed on Soho as the place to be, with trips to both Barcode & Lo-Profile, to prove that you can have a great time away from the big clubs, savouring fabulous sets including one from new boy Alessandro. Then, from the highs of our vote of the years joint best D.J. set from the superb Mikey D at Beyond, to the disappointing low of the clubbing year being the much awaited return of “Rome” to the scene, we were heartened by our club of the year, Matinee, returning back to a Saturday slot and rolling out probably its best event of the year in the form of “Viva”, celebrating all things Latino & Mediterranean. With some inspired performances from the cast of D.J’s including Jordi Lights & Pagano, it also saw our joint top set of the year delivered by Brent Nicholls in the V.I.P. room, with only one party proving to surpass this one for us. Another great D.J. performance was to be played out at Revolver by the amazing legend Tom Stephan aka “superchumbo” & with Paul Heron coming into the fold, this rounded off another wonderful month in gAyland London.

October was a special month in many ways, not only being the time we forged some amazing friendships with many people, including Italian D.J producer Danny Verde, go-go dancer Craig (aka BePe), emerging D.J. talent Lee Yeomans with producer partner Max Sanna, & getting to know hard working D.J.’s Guy Williams & Eduardo de La Torre so much better. It also signalled the best party of the year for us, celebrating 18 years, Trade took up a big slice of the month, with a mega party at The Arches. With a venue alight with action, the “lite” lounge was pure stratospheric enjoyment in the hands of Guy Williams, then Brent Nicholls & a magnificent Paul Heron, proving to be our top club party choice of 2008. The combo of those three along with a spectacular line up across the club was magical and has yet been surpassed by any other party. Matinee put out another great event, “Marineros”, we tried out new venture Go-Go Brazil at Heaven and was there every step of the way when Revolver moved to its new home at The Astoria, supporting Oliver M & crew through a tumultuous time following his business split from Logan.

With the year rapidly moving to a close, November saw us squeeze five clubs in one night proving that, quote, “she work’s hard for her money”, with the first Saturday jaunt around the West End encapsulating Barcode Soho, Rupert Street, Surge at Ku Klub, Revolver’s Halloween spectacular, “Twisted Circus” and then Lo Profile. Matinee was yet again a party on our calendar, with an “out of this world” theme Space Invaders, proving popular again and one of the best of our main room experiences at this super club, on this occasion surrounded by D.J. pals a plenty as Italian stallion Pagano played out, probably his best set of the year. Birthday boy and friend Ramon threw a party at Apothecary and with Barcode re-launching Sunday’s there was much going on. The month, however, was dominated by the launch of SuperMartXe, which also highlighted the ugly side of the scene with nasty activities between promoters, for us, taking the edge of what could have been the best month of the year. November ended with the fond farewell to Discotec which had filled Thursday nights so often in the past and was waved goodbye with some inspired sounds, especially from Guy Williams and a super crowd to match.

So, to the final month of 2008 and our anniversary month at that, with birthday being the word for many, but with Christmas also within reach. Lo-Profile celebrated its first birthday on the first day of December and we rubbed shoulders with a glittering array of scene faces to toast this special Soho venue. Then, the Matinee machine pulled out all the stops with their Xmas party and the re-opening of the V.I.P. room proved a real highlight, drawing out incredible sets from Alessandro & then Brent Nicholls. With more birthday celebrations on the cards, cute Eduardo de La Torre’s, then our very own at the social soiree club of the year, Industri, December was proving very hectic and with another trip to Hard On! on our actual birth date, we had to summon all our energy resources to make to Christmas day. But make it we did and to the infamous Christmas night party outing, Trade, this time at The Egg club, where we were treated to magnificent musical sets from the fabulous Gabriele Cutrano and the impressive & handsome Nick Tcherniak, not to mention bumping into many faces old & new, including Fat Tony, Gonzalo, Ben Jamin, & Lee Yeomans, who all contributed to a party perfect for rounding off a spellbinding year.

So what of 2008? Well it has been a truly special year in many respects. There have been a long list of changes in gAylist clubland London and we have been privileged both to review and be part of it. The year has seen some fabulous new clubs launch and some equally fabulous clubs take a curtain call. Our highlights have to be Trade’s 18th Birthday party, Matinee Viva and Beyond in September. But the biggest influence has been Industri, which holds a very special place in our heart, as do all involved in this most amazing social soiree.

In a year that has seen us lose a very close friend but gain some many new ones, the answer the question “What a Year” is, well it has been an awesome, brilliant, ecstatic, fantastic, magnificent, resplendent, superb & wonderful year. We salute and give thanks to a London gay scene sporting a huge list of truly great clubs, bars, but most importantly great people, a whole collection of whom we are proud to call friends. If next year is anything like 2008 we are in for a real treat. (DISCO MATT)