BARCODE SOHO & VAUXHALL – SATURDAY 21ST MARCH
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
It seems lately that the third weekend of the month is a quiet affair in gAylist London, with just the usual weekly clubs open and no real special events to tantalise us out. However, with D.J Alessandro celebrating his birthday, we kind of agreed to hit Soho & particularly Rupert Street, should we get back from a day trip to Brighton in time. At least, with no big clubs tempting us it would be an early evening, nothing too heavy. Well that was the plan anyway.
Having enjoyed a beautiful spring day on the south coast with friends, lapping up all of what Brighton had to offer, then returning home mid evening, we really had no excuse not to pitch up to see Alessandro, so headed for Soho, arriving in Archer Street at about 9.30 p.m. But, rather than going straight to Rupert Street, we opted to pop into Barcode Soho, which, with two floors open, and the basement offering more of a club feel and being glamorous with it, the temptation was too much and with the venue often serving as a “pre-club” starting point, old habits die hard, so why not we thought.
Once inside and arming ourselves with refreshments and the ground floor already packed with socialites out for a good time, we stationed ourselves in the foyer area, in anticipation of the downstairs space opening. Minding our own, suddenly in walked a bronzed Brent Nicholls, who had only yesterday returned from a part work, part play sabbatical away in Australia & Thailand. It was good to see him but we chatted only briefly as he needed to set up for his stint in the club.
With just minutes gone, the our treasured room was open & we descended the stairs and into the space below, which is one of our most favourite of any, not just in Soho but in the whole of gAyland London. Quickly moving over to our usual position just behind the D.J. booth, we needed to seek more refreshments, so hit the bar and were served by the sexy Brazilian, who is always so prompt in attention and with a smile at that. Back in our spot we were keen to catch up on plenty of news with Brent, although as the room was already filling rapidly he was regularly torn away to concentrate on the job in hand, delivering some fantastic funky, latin twisted & electro infused tracks, combined with superb laser lighting effects that soon had the room alight with dancing action.
In between conversations, we spotted familiar faces around, including Cliff Jackson, who popped over to say hello, then Rupert Street regulars, but a real thrill came our way when out of nowhere came fab club promoter Oliver Mohns, who bounded up to the D.J. booth, grabbing us in a massive embrace. It was so good to see him and we traded our latest stories, before he was torn back to his flyering duties, not before he grabbed us again, lifting us high off the floor in a loving move, what a man & a real friend. It seemed like a D.J’s harem, as not long after, another regular Barcode resident, Gonzalo arrived, having held out a four week run while Brent was away in Oz, but with a night off, was celebrating his birthday & looking very smart to boot. Then, yet more friendly faces appeared, as in came Nik Ripley and (not again we here you say) grabbed us in a huge embrace, before retiring with his friends to the bar.
Now plans for an early evening were slipping away by the seconds, so we thought we may as well pop over to Rupert St to see birthday boy Alessandro, although over visit was short lived as Barcode seemed the place to be. And so it was, as we returned to find the club space rammed with a wonderful mix of drinkers, clubbers, dancers, well you name it. And with Nik Ripley back, this time on his own, we felt the night had only just begun. As the music heaven continued and we boogied and gyrated, trading moves with our dancing friend. However, with the 1 a.m. finish looming, we hadn’t yet had our fill of Barcode, so in an instant we decided on a trip south to Barcode Vauxhall, well not quite our idea but Nik’s (mind you in fairness he only just beat us to the suggestion!). And at least our partying would end in Barcode, sampling both Soho & Vauxhall in one night proving to be a marvellous move.
So, arriving south of the river in a jiffy, we entered Barcode Vauxhall to an already alive front room, but headed straight for the clubbing space behind, first dropping our bits off in the coatcheck, then stopping at the bar before arriving onto a packed out dancefloor, spotting D.J. Mattias behind the decks pumping out his trademark uplifting house tunes, which had the room mesmerised. The fantastic lighting system, with striking lasers, mirror balls a plenty & swinging spots was setting off the room brilliantly and we simply couldn’t resist, so we found a spot near the podiums at the back and picked up with Nik where we had left off at Barcode Soho, although we had our work cut out to go stride for stride as we were up against an amazing Fierce International dancer, but then we are always up for a challenge.
And did we rise to the challenge? Of course we did. With years of podium dancing under our belt, Crash, Beyond, Later, you name it, it was high time we hit another and with two spaces empty, we ascended one, with Nik on the other and began to entertain ourselves and the crowd in front of us, to a head-to-head dance off extraordinaire, fuelled by enthusiasm, energy and (well yes) more, hardly stopping for breath, seeing out Mattias’s superb set and continuing the dancing well into Astroboy’s turn. By now we were getting really heated up, so stripping down to the waist, continued our podium madness, until in a frenzied move, we lost our footing and came crashing down to earth with a huge bang, crash & wallop!! Nik came to our rescue and this signalled a retreat to the bar to lick our wounds before one final dance off (well we didn’t feel much after the fall – what do they say….no sense no feeling!!) before finally calling it a day, thus resisting the temptation of Beyond that was about to open.
So with the sun coming up, we waved goodbye to Barcode, to Nik, whom we packed off home to rest in anticipation of his husbands return from overseas, while we limped our way along the short journey to our bed (the pain was beginning to come through) to rest our injuries and reflect on yet another phenomenal weekend of fun. And it was all down to three people that made it so special for us, Brent, Oliver, but especially Nik.
In a city that offers so many clubbing events, whether weekly or monthly, whether huge or modest, whether established or groundbreaking, we cannot praise Barcode enough for stepping up to the plate & yet again offering a genuine club feel in bar like surroundings, as both Soho & Vauxhall offer dance spaces that are glamorous, spacious & well equipped. But there is more, with the most reasonable entry charges we know, drinks prices to match, and with a first class D.J. line up that any club would be proud of, what more could you ask for. Furthermore, with seven days of entertainment on offer, not least our fave outing Industri every Thursday at Vauxhall, all that remains to say is Barcode we love you. (DISCO MATT)
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
It seems lately that the third weekend of the month is a quiet affair in gAylist London, with just the usual weekly clubs open and no real special events to tantalise us out. However, with D.J Alessandro celebrating his birthday, we kind of agreed to hit Soho & particularly Rupert Street, should we get back from a day trip to Brighton in time. At least, with no big clubs tempting us it would be an early evening, nothing too heavy. Well that was the plan anyway.
Having enjoyed a beautiful spring day on the south coast with friends, lapping up all of what Brighton had to offer, then returning home mid evening, we really had no excuse not to pitch up to see Alessandro, so headed for Soho, arriving in Archer Street at about 9.30 p.m. But, rather than going straight to Rupert Street, we opted to pop into Barcode Soho, which, with two floors open, and the basement offering more of a club feel and being glamorous with it, the temptation was too much and with the venue often serving as a “pre-club” starting point, old habits die hard, so why not we thought.
Once inside and arming ourselves with refreshments and the ground floor already packed with socialites out for a good time, we stationed ourselves in the foyer area, in anticipation of the downstairs space opening. Minding our own, suddenly in walked a bronzed Brent Nicholls, who had only yesterday returned from a part work, part play sabbatical away in Australia & Thailand. It was good to see him but we chatted only briefly as he needed to set up for his stint in the club.
With just minutes gone, the our treasured room was open & we descended the stairs and into the space below, which is one of our most favourite of any, not just in Soho but in the whole of gAyland London. Quickly moving over to our usual position just behind the D.J. booth, we needed to seek more refreshments, so hit the bar and were served by the sexy Brazilian, who is always so prompt in attention and with a smile at that. Back in our spot we were keen to catch up on plenty of news with Brent, although as the room was already filling rapidly he was regularly torn away to concentrate on the job in hand, delivering some fantastic funky, latin twisted & electro infused tracks, combined with superb laser lighting effects that soon had the room alight with dancing action.
In between conversations, we spotted familiar faces around, including Cliff Jackson, who popped over to say hello, then Rupert Street regulars, but a real thrill came our way when out of nowhere came fab club promoter Oliver Mohns, who bounded up to the D.J. booth, grabbing us in a massive embrace. It was so good to see him and we traded our latest stories, before he was torn back to his flyering duties, not before he grabbed us again, lifting us high off the floor in a loving move, what a man & a real friend. It seemed like a D.J’s harem, as not long after, another regular Barcode resident, Gonzalo arrived, having held out a four week run while Brent was away in Oz, but with a night off, was celebrating his birthday & looking very smart to boot. Then, yet more friendly faces appeared, as in came Nik Ripley and (not again we here you say) grabbed us in a huge embrace, before retiring with his friends to the bar.
Now plans for an early evening were slipping away by the seconds, so we thought we may as well pop over to Rupert St to see birthday boy Alessandro, although over visit was short lived as Barcode seemed the place to be. And so it was, as we returned to find the club space rammed with a wonderful mix of drinkers, clubbers, dancers, well you name it. And with Nik Ripley back, this time on his own, we felt the night had only just begun. As the music heaven continued and we boogied and gyrated, trading moves with our dancing friend. However, with the 1 a.m. finish looming, we hadn’t yet had our fill of Barcode, so in an instant we decided on a trip south to Barcode Vauxhall, well not quite our idea but Nik’s (mind you in fairness he only just beat us to the suggestion!). And at least our partying would end in Barcode, sampling both Soho & Vauxhall in one night proving to be a marvellous move.
So, arriving south of the river in a jiffy, we entered Barcode Vauxhall to an already alive front room, but headed straight for the clubbing space behind, first dropping our bits off in the coatcheck, then stopping at the bar before arriving onto a packed out dancefloor, spotting D.J. Mattias behind the decks pumping out his trademark uplifting house tunes, which had the room mesmerised. The fantastic lighting system, with striking lasers, mirror balls a plenty & swinging spots was setting off the room brilliantly and we simply couldn’t resist, so we found a spot near the podiums at the back and picked up with Nik where we had left off at Barcode Soho, although we had our work cut out to go stride for stride as we were up against an amazing Fierce International dancer, but then we are always up for a challenge.
And did we rise to the challenge? Of course we did. With years of podium dancing under our belt, Crash, Beyond, Later, you name it, it was high time we hit another and with two spaces empty, we ascended one, with Nik on the other and began to entertain ourselves and the crowd in front of us, to a head-to-head dance off extraordinaire, fuelled by enthusiasm, energy and (well yes) more, hardly stopping for breath, seeing out Mattias’s superb set and continuing the dancing well into Astroboy’s turn. By now we were getting really heated up, so stripping down to the waist, continued our podium madness, until in a frenzied move, we lost our footing and came crashing down to earth with a huge bang, crash & wallop!! Nik came to our rescue and this signalled a retreat to the bar to lick our wounds before one final dance off (well we didn’t feel much after the fall – what do they say….no sense no feeling!!) before finally calling it a day, thus resisting the temptation of Beyond that was about to open.
So with the sun coming up, we waved goodbye to Barcode, to Nik, whom we packed off home to rest in anticipation of his husbands return from overseas, while we limped our way along the short journey to our bed (the pain was beginning to come through) to rest our injuries and reflect on yet another phenomenal weekend of fun. And it was all down to three people that made it so special for us, Brent, Oliver, but especially Nik.
In a city that offers so many clubbing events, whether weekly or monthly, whether huge or modest, whether established or groundbreaking, we cannot praise Barcode enough for stepping up to the plate & yet again offering a genuine club feel in bar like surroundings, as both Soho & Vauxhall offer dance spaces that are glamorous, spacious & well equipped. But there is more, with the most reasonable entry charges we know, drinks prices to match, and with a first class D.J. line up that any club would be proud of, what more could you ask for. Furthermore, with seven days of entertainment on offer, not least our fave outing Industri every Thursday at Vauxhall, all that remains to say is Barcode we love you. (DISCO MATT)
No comments:
Post a Comment