BEYOND BELIEF – SUNDAY 15TH MARCH
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
Over the years, we have really enjoyed “afterhours” clubbing, firstly with weekly homage’s to Trade at Turnmills and then when Beyond hit the scene, formerly at super club Colosseum, our Sunday mornings were fun-filled and complete. However, some good things tend to come to an end and when Beyond closed its doors back in 2006, our Sunday’s were set to change. However, when the re-launch was announced, not at Colosseum, but at Area, we were intrigued, albeit in the hands of the Orange group.
So it was, Beyond was back on the scene and with the launch party a huge success, it has, over the last 10 months established itself as the genuine “afterhours” club it always was and has steadily re-built its popularity, despite sometimes drawing in a less attractive and quality crowd than in the days of Colosseum. Despite enjoying an amazing Pride Beyond event, we have not been regular visitors, far from it in fact, however, this latest instalment, styled “Beyond Belief”, swinging open it’s doors at the early start of 3 a.m., coupled with the prospect of a post Matinee party, we decided to break with recent tradition and make the trip
Our weekend was already well underway, thanks to firstly Industri and then to Matinee Erotica, where we had already partied wildly, latterly in the hands of pal Deni, who had us dancing furiously on Colosseum’s main floor, so we needed to summon all our energies to make it to Area. Arriving at the doors about 7.30 a.m., the queue was long and the club packed to the rafters, so much so it was one-in, one-out! However, with a little gentle persuasion, we, along with Deni, were given a fast track entry into what was clearly the event to be at. Mind you, with the club already seemingly at capacity, we struggled to get our belongings into the coatcheck. But, came to our rescue he did, as the gorge Jamie Head stored our stuff behind the D.J. booth in the Black room, where he was playing out to a eclectic mix of clubbers, some, like us, who had been playing at Matinee, others, clearly up for the string of fantastic tunes, Jamie was delivering.
Our friend Deni was being extra friendly both in the coatcheck queue and then on the dancefloor, picking up where he had left off in Matinee and we responded in charismatic fashion, lapping up the attention and dancing away. But we were keen to check out the rest of the club and leaving Deni to his devices out on the terrace, we headed for the main room. To say we had to wedge ourselves in was an understatement, so quite how the masses of bodies had the space to dance, we don’t know, although we were intent on getting to the D.J. booth to say hello to Mikey D, who had entertained so brilliantly at the Pride party last year. And it was clear he was once again entertaining the crowd here, set off by the trademark Area vivacious visuals & luminous lighting, with all the podiums filled with dancers, some with amazing multicoloured huge neon wands. However, we couldn’t find a spot to dance, so returned, firstly to the Black room, where hunky & chunky D.J. Hi-Fi Sean Dickson had taken over, then outside via the Terrace room, swinging past Terry Bryan, who was spinning some lighter sounds to compliment the more relaxed & social atmosphere in this space.
On the outside terrace, we paused for breath, spotting Deni up to his usual naughtiness and also plenty of other familiar faces, including Minty & Neil (ex Compton’s Mgr) who was over from his now native Malta for a short break. With a beautifully sunny Sunday morning developing, making the space quite warm, we also chatted with Dimitrios, whom we had traded dancefloor spaces in Matinee, talking about clubbing, not just in London, but around the globe. We still had plenty of urges to dance, so soon retired back indoors, trading the Black Room with the Terrace Bar, sampling Hi-Fi Sean’s tougher edged electro disco, with Terry Bryan’s anthem filled music choices. However, we knew we were in for a treat when Gonzalo took over & we weren’t to be disappointed, as the Terrace Bar space filled out completely with dancing merriment and Gonzalo entertained us with some hard hitting tech house tracks.
One last attempt to get onto the main room dancefloor failed as it was still packed out, so we settled on the more comfortable Black Room, with regular trips both into the Terrace room and then on to the outside space, which had the feeling of an alfresco Disco party, with a bright blue sky backdrop and all manner of folks out enjoying this unique space, some dancing on the tables, many just chatting & relaxing away from the frenetic goings on inside. But, yet again, it was inside where we were bound, but decided to settle on the Terrace room for a while and a good choice it was, as the music for the “afterhours” vibe, was just right and at least we had space to dance.
With more familiar faces popping up, including the lovely Jeremy Precelton as well as Cliff from Q.X., we continued to spot clubbers from Matinee, mixing in with Fire style ravers & a whole bunch of Barcode babes, who just didn’t want their weekend to end. And as the morning speeded on, it seemed that Beyond was getting busier rather than quieter, with the main floor still brimming, now in the hands of Alan K, Hi-Fi Sean still pulling in the punters in the Black Room, but the star of the evening (well morning actually) was Gonzalo, who had the whole Terrace room lapping up every morsel of music & every amp of the electric atmosphere. However, our energy levels soon sapped and after socialising out on the terrace we decided it was time to leave the rest to it and, along with Deni, departed Beyond Belief to slump home and sleep off our excesses.
So, did Beyond Belief measure up to our expectations? Well, there is no doubt that it has established itself as one of the most popular “afterhours” events on the scene at the moment. However, with the main room overfilled and with a “one-in, one-out” queue to negotiate, we heard that many changed their minds and at times the club was uncomfortably busy. Nevertheless the Black room in the hands of Jamie Head & then Hi-Fi Sean, coupled with a brilliant performance by Gonzalo as well as the outside space to enjoy & socialise, made up for the other disappointments.
But you cannot escape the fact that it still has the feel of an Orange group club, which is fine for some, but not really our thing. Thankfully, with Matinee running beforehand, the crowd had tinges of quality and we were graced by the company of our friend Deni, who has “fun” as his middle name, so made all the difference. However, given the popularity of Beyond this time round, it is clearly pressing the right buttons, although we truly believe there is room for more afterhours clubs to truly rekindle this special time of the weekend and bring back our hedonistic Sundays. (DISCO MATT)
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
Over the years, we have really enjoyed “afterhours” clubbing, firstly with weekly homage’s to Trade at Turnmills and then when Beyond hit the scene, formerly at super club Colosseum, our Sunday mornings were fun-filled and complete. However, some good things tend to come to an end and when Beyond closed its doors back in 2006, our Sunday’s were set to change. However, when the re-launch was announced, not at Colosseum, but at Area, we were intrigued, albeit in the hands of the Orange group.
So it was, Beyond was back on the scene and with the launch party a huge success, it has, over the last 10 months established itself as the genuine “afterhours” club it always was and has steadily re-built its popularity, despite sometimes drawing in a less attractive and quality crowd than in the days of Colosseum. Despite enjoying an amazing Pride Beyond event, we have not been regular visitors, far from it in fact, however, this latest instalment, styled “Beyond Belief”, swinging open it’s doors at the early start of 3 a.m., coupled with the prospect of a post Matinee party, we decided to break with recent tradition and make the trip
Our weekend was already well underway, thanks to firstly Industri and then to Matinee Erotica, where we had already partied wildly, latterly in the hands of pal Deni, who had us dancing furiously on Colosseum’s main floor, so we needed to summon all our energies to make it to Area. Arriving at the doors about 7.30 a.m., the queue was long and the club packed to the rafters, so much so it was one-in, one-out! However, with a little gentle persuasion, we, along with Deni, were given a fast track entry into what was clearly the event to be at. Mind you, with the club already seemingly at capacity, we struggled to get our belongings into the coatcheck. But, came to our rescue he did, as the gorge Jamie Head stored our stuff behind the D.J. booth in the Black room, where he was playing out to a eclectic mix of clubbers, some, like us, who had been playing at Matinee, others, clearly up for the string of fantastic tunes, Jamie was delivering.
Our friend Deni was being extra friendly both in the coatcheck queue and then on the dancefloor, picking up where he had left off in Matinee and we responded in charismatic fashion, lapping up the attention and dancing away. But we were keen to check out the rest of the club and leaving Deni to his devices out on the terrace, we headed for the main room. To say we had to wedge ourselves in was an understatement, so quite how the masses of bodies had the space to dance, we don’t know, although we were intent on getting to the D.J. booth to say hello to Mikey D, who had entertained so brilliantly at the Pride party last year. And it was clear he was once again entertaining the crowd here, set off by the trademark Area vivacious visuals & luminous lighting, with all the podiums filled with dancers, some with amazing multicoloured huge neon wands. However, we couldn’t find a spot to dance, so returned, firstly to the Black room, where hunky & chunky D.J. Hi-Fi Sean Dickson had taken over, then outside via the Terrace room, swinging past Terry Bryan, who was spinning some lighter sounds to compliment the more relaxed & social atmosphere in this space.
On the outside terrace, we paused for breath, spotting Deni up to his usual naughtiness and also plenty of other familiar faces, including Minty & Neil (ex Compton’s Mgr) who was over from his now native Malta for a short break. With a beautifully sunny Sunday morning developing, making the space quite warm, we also chatted with Dimitrios, whom we had traded dancefloor spaces in Matinee, talking about clubbing, not just in London, but around the globe. We still had plenty of urges to dance, so soon retired back indoors, trading the Black Room with the Terrace Bar, sampling Hi-Fi Sean’s tougher edged electro disco, with Terry Bryan’s anthem filled music choices. However, we knew we were in for a treat when Gonzalo took over & we weren’t to be disappointed, as the Terrace Bar space filled out completely with dancing merriment and Gonzalo entertained us with some hard hitting tech house tracks.
One last attempt to get onto the main room dancefloor failed as it was still packed out, so we settled on the more comfortable Black Room, with regular trips both into the Terrace room and then on to the outside space, which had the feeling of an alfresco Disco party, with a bright blue sky backdrop and all manner of folks out enjoying this unique space, some dancing on the tables, many just chatting & relaxing away from the frenetic goings on inside. But, yet again, it was inside where we were bound, but decided to settle on the Terrace room for a while and a good choice it was, as the music for the “afterhours” vibe, was just right and at least we had space to dance.
With more familiar faces popping up, including the lovely Jeremy Precelton as well as Cliff from Q.X., we continued to spot clubbers from Matinee, mixing in with Fire style ravers & a whole bunch of Barcode babes, who just didn’t want their weekend to end. And as the morning speeded on, it seemed that Beyond was getting busier rather than quieter, with the main floor still brimming, now in the hands of Alan K, Hi-Fi Sean still pulling in the punters in the Black Room, but the star of the evening (well morning actually) was Gonzalo, who had the whole Terrace room lapping up every morsel of music & every amp of the electric atmosphere. However, our energy levels soon sapped and after socialising out on the terrace we decided it was time to leave the rest to it and, along with Deni, departed Beyond Belief to slump home and sleep off our excesses.
So, did Beyond Belief measure up to our expectations? Well, there is no doubt that it has established itself as one of the most popular “afterhours” events on the scene at the moment. However, with the main room overfilled and with a “one-in, one-out” queue to negotiate, we heard that many changed their minds and at times the club was uncomfortably busy. Nevertheless the Black room in the hands of Jamie Head & then Hi-Fi Sean, coupled with a brilliant performance by Gonzalo as well as the outside space to enjoy & socialise, made up for the other disappointments.
But you cannot escape the fact that it still has the feel of an Orange group club, which is fine for some, but not really our thing. Thankfully, with Matinee running beforehand, the crowd had tinges of quality and we were graced by the company of our friend Deni, who has “fun” as his middle name, so made all the difference. However, given the popularity of Beyond this time round, it is clearly pressing the right buttons, although we truly believe there is room for more afterhours clubs to truly rekindle this special time of the weekend and bring back our hedonistic Sundays. (DISCO MATT)
No comments:
Post a Comment