SALVATION 01.01.09 – THURSDAY 1ST JANUARY 2009
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
In a gay scene history spanning over 16 years, Salvation has formed a large part of our clubbing activity, mainly at Café De Paris which we remember well, visiting the launch party on a Sunday afternoon at this most glittering of venues in London’s West End, 10 years ago, yes 10 whole years ago in 1999.
In a recent chequered history we were so pleased to see supreme promoter Steve Elliot come out of the difficulties, to re-assume his spot at the helm of THE original Salvation, now at a new home round the corner at London’s Hippodrome, a huge & dramatic venue, just right for this glamorous & special event. We couldn’t be more pleased for this charming, engaging and generous man and having missed out on his parties in 2008, we were certainly not going to miss this one.
Having not being to the Hippodrome before, we needed to get our bearings, but clutching our V.I.P. ticket, arrived at the clubs main doors, just after the planned 5 p.m. V.I.P. reception start time. However, finding no activity we retired away for a short while, only to return to a massive queue, stretching from the main doors right back into Leicester Square. Thankful that it so long, when we got to the back, we found the actual V.I.P. queue (long enough in itself) and joined, patiently to gain entrance. And patient we had to be (not again and after all the problems of Matinee earlier in the new day of 2009) as it was nearly ¾ of an hour before we got to the head of the queue. By now Steve was outside the venue, negotiating entrance for close friends, then masterminding our smooth arrival into the club, although it was fair to say that the overzealous, over-demanding and overboard security were not helping matters and the clear reason why the queue had taken so long to shrink.
We were now in though and with our V.I.P. strap round our wrist, wafted into the massive club space, which simply took our breath away. We looked down on a huge dancefloor in a “roman coliseum” style setting with amazing lighting against black encrusted, glass lined and sumptuously decorated tiers of seating & bar areas reaching up over four separate floors/layers, making the space look gigantic yet intriguing. Concentrating on tucking our coats away, we descended some stairs to find a lengthy queue winding down to what appeared to be the main checkpoint, but were fortunate to bump into the lovely Andrew Che Neil who quickly pointed us in the direction of a separate and speedier coatcheck in the depths of the venue.
Back up on dancefloor level, we armed ourselves with energy refreshing drinks and then hit the space proper where the crowd was slowly building, selecting our spot carefully to warm into the proceedings. Elevated above the floor sandwiched by two large podiums & a stage area was the D.J. booth, occupied by temptress Emma MisWhite who was delivering a glittering commercial mix of tunes to really get the party going and as the masses that were already in the club began to sink down to the sole dancing space, we took our spot directly behind the two podiums to gyrate crazily back and forth, really engaging into the glorious atmosphere that was The Hippodrome in the hands of super club Salvation.
MisWhite continued to coax an ever increasing bunch of muscle queens, good looking lationo’s intermixed with club kids galore to the space and with the assembled gay press clicking away the party was now well into it’s stride. We continued to show our dancing flamboyance off on the stage behind the podiums which were continually ascended by a collection of exhibitionists, keen to strut their stuff. We rarely left our spot, only momentarily topping up with refreshments to keep up our energy levels up.
Looking around and up, the club was clearly brimming full and we caught the eye of a number of familiar faces, including D.J’s Mikey D & Jamie Head, Gabriele Cutrano photographer Chris Jepson and even the man himself Steve Elliot who continually checked in that we were having a good time. Then to elevate the electric atmosphere even more, the stage & podium area was cleared to make way for a stunning fire driven performance as a stealth like dancer took the room by storm with a superbly acrobatic display twisting around and dodging the fire torches to our awe and amazement. He was soon replaced by a beautiful collection of dancers, supplied by top notch outfit Fierce International, many of who had entertained us at Matinee earlier in the day and they once again failed to disappoint, complimenting the quality and glamorous feel that we have come to know of Salvation.
We wanted to savour the full atmosphere of the massive Hippodrome venue we proceeded to wind up and around the labyrinth of levels continually bumping into scene faces of old as the dancefloor below got more and more packed, Emma then sent the whole club wild as she pumped out the fabulous anthem “Toca’s Miracle” to whoops and cheers. This sent us speeding back down to ground level to join the mass, although we now knew (and our legs were telling us) that the twelve hours of dancing were beginning to take its toll, so we once again decided to disappear up and around the expanse for respite & to look down on what was the biggest dancing caldron of a space we have ever seen and packed solid with bodies at that. So, eventually, we retired completely, so as to ensure maximum enjoyment as we headed off to our next clubbing venture, with MisWhite having passed the batten to Sharon O Love behind the D.J. decks.
Well, what did we think of Salvation 01.01.09 at The Hippodrome? It is clear that this clubbing brand is as popular as ever. Indeed the massive queues outside the venue were testament to that. Despite the time it took us to get in, despite the awful organisation of the coatcheck (down to the venue - it took us over twenty minutes to get our belongings back) the club itself was stunning and the perfect setting for this stylish and glamorous outing. Whilst the music was a little on the commercial side for our current taste, there was no doubt it went down well with the masses. Whether it was reflective of 10 years of clubbing as the billing suggested, is questionable (more a celebration of the sounds of 2008), but it certainly had us dancing.
Feedback following the event was mixed, with the delays and queues at the door inevitably being the conversation piece, indeed we heard that some couldn’t get in at all, as the venue claimed it was at capacity, resulting in ticket refunds intermixed with disappointment. However, we had a superb time and will definitely consider a re-visit. Salvation, you remain at the top of your game, a massive draw and as successful as you always have been. Congratulations to Steve Elliot & team, we will be back. (DISCO MATT)
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
In a gay scene history spanning over 16 years, Salvation has formed a large part of our clubbing activity, mainly at Café De Paris which we remember well, visiting the launch party on a Sunday afternoon at this most glittering of venues in London’s West End, 10 years ago, yes 10 whole years ago in 1999.
In a recent chequered history we were so pleased to see supreme promoter Steve Elliot come out of the difficulties, to re-assume his spot at the helm of THE original Salvation, now at a new home round the corner at London’s Hippodrome, a huge & dramatic venue, just right for this glamorous & special event. We couldn’t be more pleased for this charming, engaging and generous man and having missed out on his parties in 2008, we were certainly not going to miss this one.
Having not being to the Hippodrome before, we needed to get our bearings, but clutching our V.I.P. ticket, arrived at the clubs main doors, just after the planned 5 p.m. V.I.P. reception start time. However, finding no activity we retired away for a short while, only to return to a massive queue, stretching from the main doors right back into Leicester Square. Thankful that it so long, when we got to the back, we found the actual V.I.P. queue (long enough in itself) and joined, patiently to gain entrance. And patient we had to be (not again and after all the problems of Matinee earlier in the new day of 2009) as it was nearly ¾ of an hour before we got to the head of the queue. By now Steve was outside the venue, negotiating entrance for close friends, then masterminding our smooth arrival into the club, although it was fair to say that the overzealous, over-demanding and overboard security were not helping matters and the clear reason why the queue had taken so long to shrink.
We were now in though and with our V.I.P. strap round our wrist, wafted into the massive club space, which simply took our breath away. We looked down on a huge dancefloor in a “roman coliseum” style setting with amazing lighting against black encrusted, glass lined and sumptuously decorated tiers of seating & bar areas reaching up over four separate floors/layers, making the space look gigantic yet intriguing. Concentrating on tucking our coats away, we descended some stairs to find a lengthy queue winding down to what appeared to be the main checkpoint, but were fortunate to bump into the lovely Andrew Che Neil who quickly pointed us in the direction of a separate and speedier coatcheck in the depths of the venue.
Back up on dancefloor level, we armed ourselves with energy refreshing drinks and then hit the space proper where the crowd was slowly building, selecting our spot carefully to warm into the proceedings. Elevated above the floor sandwiched by two large podiums & a stage area was the D.J. booth, occupied by temptress Emma MisWhite who was delivering a glittering commercial mix of tunes to really get the party going and as the masses that were already in the club began to sink down to the sole dancing space, we took our spot directly behind the two podiums to gyrate crazily back and forth, really engaging into the glorious atmosphere that was The Hippodrome in the hands of super club Salvation.
MisWhite continued to coax an ever increasing bunch of muscle queens, good looking lationo’s intermixed with club kids galore to the space and with the assembled gay press clicking away the party was now well into it’s stride. We continued to show our dancing flamboyance off on the stage behind the podiums which were continually ascended by a collection of exhibitionists, keen to strut their stuff. We rarely left our spot, only momentarily topping up with refreshments to keep up our energy levels up.
Looking around and up, the club was clearly brimming full and we caught the eye of a number of familiar faces, including D.J’s Mikey D & Jamie Head, Gabriele Cutrano photographer Chris Jepson and even the man himself Steve Elliot who continually checked in that we were having a good time. Then to elevate the electric atmosphere even more, the stage & podium area was cleared to make way for a stunning fire driven performance as a stealth like dancer took the room by storm with a superbly acrobatic display twisting around and dodging the fire torches to our awe and amazement. He was soon replaced by a beautiful collection of dancers, supplied by top notch outfit Fierce International, many of who had entertained us at Matinee earlier in the day and they once again failed to disappoint, complimenting the quality and glamorous feel that we have come to know of Salvation.
We wanted to savour the full atmosphere of the massive Hippodrome venue we proceeded to wind up and around the labyrinth of levels continually bumping into scene faces of old as the dancefloor below got more and more packed, Emma then sent the whole club wild as she pumped out the fabulous anthem “Toca’s Miracle” to whoops and cheers. This sent us speeding back down to ground level to join the mass, although we now knew (and our legs were telling us) that the twelve hours of dancing were beginning to take its toll, so we once again decided to disappear up and around the expanse for respite & to look down on what was the biggest dancing caldron of a space we have ever seen and packed solid with bodies at that. So, eventually, we retired completely, so as to ensure maximum enjoyment as we headed off to our next clubbing venture, with MisWhite having passed the batten to Sharon O Love behind the D.J. decks.
Well, what did we think of Salvation 01.01.09 at The Hippodrome? It is clear that this clubbing brand is as popular as ever. Indeed the massive queues outside the venue were testament to that. Despite the time it took us to get in, despite the awful organisation of the coatcheck (down to the venue - it took us over twenty minutes to get our belongings back) the club itself was stunning and the perfect setting for this stylish and glamorous outing. Whilst the music was a little on the commercial side for our current taste, there was no doubt it went down well with the masses. Whether it was reflective of 10 years of clubbing as the billing suggested, is questionable (more a celebration of the sounds of 2008), but it certainly had us dancing.
Feedback following the event was mixed, with the delays and queues at the door inevitably being the conversation piece, indeed we heard that some couldn’t get in at all, as the venue claimed it was at capacity, resulting in ticket refunds intermixed with disappointment. However, we had a superb time and will definitely consider a re-visit. Salvation, you remain at the top of your game, a massive draw and as successful as you always have been. Congratulations to Steve Elliot & team, we will be back. (DISCO MATT)
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