THE WINNER(S) TAKE IT ALL!! - EASTER 2009 IN RETROSPECT
WEDNESDAY 16TH APRIL
SPECIAL REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
With the longest Bank Holiday weekend of the year, generally comes a hive of activity in gAylist/land London as bars put on extra special parties, regular weekly clubs beef up their offerings and the “big guns” of the scene (you know, Matinee, Salvation, Trade etc..) try to steal all the limelight. You would expect to have more on offer than the average weekend, but never too much to be spoilt for choice (mind you we like being spoilt). So, was this year going to be any different? who were the winners? and at who’s expense?
Easter 2009 saw not only special bar parties, beefed up weekly clubs , the big guns laying on events to tempt the masses but we even saw the launch of new clubs amongst what was a massive swathe of choices. So what was on offer? and did the weekend fulfil expectations?, did Industri ignite?, was SuperMartXe a success?, did Salvation scintillate? was Beyond bountiful?, did Matinee marvel? and was Trade tremendous? Well, sit back, as we whisk you through one the busiest weekend’s we have seen for many years, for some, five days rolled into one big party, for others, making select choices to fit with their budget, and lots more sitting out most if not all of the action.
So where did the partying begin, well Thursday night ofcourse and with the prospect of Friday being a “non-school” day (that’s no work to you & me), there was no excuse not to let your hair down (well not for us anyway) With our fave club Industri extending the partying until 4 a.m., we also had a new club launch called “Hoof” to savour at the stunning Ghost venue, the brainchild of non other than Guy Williams. Add to this Lo-Profile laying on an extra special night, titled “Deceit” with Kathy Brown performing together with the D.J. combo of Alessandro & Jamie Head, not to mention Ku-Bar, Kudos, Shadow Lounge & Village all breaking out Easter offerings, the choices were aplenty. But it was Industri that took the plaudits, drawing a huge crowd of soiree-ing socialites, meaning that both rooms were open and partying went on well into the wee hours of Friday morning. Messer’s Nicholls & Heron delighted with their musical mastery & the majestic Minty hosted the whole evening in her inimitable style, which helped to cement Barcode Vauxhall as the choice of many.
In days of old, Good Friday tended to be a quiet affair and a chance to rest easy with much of the country coming to a halt, but not for us party heads, with yet another new club night, Gladiator in Waterloo serving up house tunes both new & old, Lo-Profile doing it all again, this time the night named “Fallen” (it’s something about religion apparently), with big hitters Gonzalo & Nik Evans spinning the tunes and players like A.M. & Tonker doing it for Vauxhallites. However, the focus was once again on Barcode, Matinee dominating the night’s proceedings south of the river with the first of three pre-parties across London’s bars, offering free goody giveaway’s, discounted entry tickets to the “ménage a trios” events, but moreover providing superb eye candy with Latino lovelies wafting around. There was certainly a party atmosphere & fun was had by all, most taking a clubbing respite before the major events ahead.
Saturday saw the Easter weekend well under way and rather than being just “super” Saturday, it looked like being sensational Saturday, with plenty of gAylist offerings to tempt and attract, even with history reflecting that this night on a Bank Holiday weekend generally proves to be the weakest link. Love Muscle had a special “Denim & Dicks Easter parade” party, there was the first in the weekend ménage a trois threesome, Circuit at Colosseum, the pre-party in London for the Barcelona August festival and Lo-Profile continuing its own threesome with Brent Nicholls & D’Johnny the centre pieces of the clubs “Resurrection” event. But with was SuperMartXe’s “Silicon Babies” that won the hearts of most, being the biggest draw of the night and with the likes of Steve Pitron & Juanjo Martin on the decks, the added draw of Italian Stallion D.J. Pagano as well as the much publicised previous coatcheck problems ironed out, it was certainly the winner in the clash of the Saturday titans.
Easter Sunday dawned with Beyond swinging open its doors and was bound to be busy with many not wanting to stop, but it always has the danger of getting just that little too busy for enjoyment & this time seemed to be no exception. But the big guns were all out to play later in the day, Salvation at a new venue in Limehouse, Troxy, Trade locking horns with Fire’s Orange and Matinee pulling out all the stops with its La Leche party at Koko in Camden. Reports in on Salvation were promising, with a healthy attendance, the Trade & Orange combo was irresistible for many, albeit that the crowd was a-typical Fire and Matinee put on the most spectacular show we have ever seen in a London club. But there were other parties on too, Fusion making a welcome return to XXL, Gutterslut holding an “Easter Bunny Mini Rave” and another new club launch, “Loaded” at Area in Vauxhall, all that on top of the bars making the proverbial “hay”, Rupert Street topping the bill with the La Leche pre party. With so much on offer and only so many to go around, there were inevitable casualties, but Salvation & Trade were clear successes, as was Matinee, which proved our real highlight, in what for us was a sparser than planned weekend of activity.
But the weekend was still not over for others and it was down to two to see through the remaining holiday day, Trade vs Orange and new afterhours club “bpm” which was the third element of the ménage a trois spectacular. With the combination of Cologne’s massive underground club phenomenon Greenkomm and London’s Hook’d joining forces with the most glittering list of gAylist D.J’s, including Guy Williams, Brent Nicholls, Paul Heron, Pier Morrocco, Lisa German & Mickey Galliano (and that was just the main room), expectations were very high, but then you know what they say about expectations! So with Trade crushing the competition, even though, despite all the hype, late reports in were that only the main room was busy to ramming and the crowd was a tad trashy. But, with the party running through well into Monday afternoon, it was obviously a popular pick, rounding off a most hectic weekend.
Well, with so much choice it would have been a miracle if all the clubs had reported brisk business and with words like credit crunch, economic downturn, & recession ruling the headlines, even the usually buoyant pink pound market was bound to take a beating. Add to that an exhaustive choice of events & parties and there had to be casualties. But, to answer some of our earlier questions, yes Industri did ignite, SuperMartXe was a success, Salvation did scintillate, Beyond was bountiful, Matinee did marvel and Trade was tremendous, but at what expense?
Did too much choice mean that clubs that would normally be packed, were far from full, some even verging on empty and did the domination of a few, strangle-holding many, detract from the variety on offer? The answer is possibly yes and for some a costly decision to run with ventures, new clubs Gladiator, Loaded & bpm reporting average to disappointing turnouts, even Love Muscle & Circuit’s numbers were not good, Barcode on Friday not as packed as usual, Fusion emptying out quite early and with only the niche clubs avoiding being swallowed up in the “big guns” showdown.
So in retrospect, Easter 2009 looks likely to be remembered more for lots of losers rather than winners. Yes SuperMartXe romped home, yes Trade pulled in the crowds, and as “winners” they probably did take it all!! But is this really the what we want to be the face of clubbing these days, domination killing off the competition & leading to little or no choice at all and in an ever changing club scene, is this what we are sinking towards? We hope not, as London’s gAylist scene has always been about variety, about choice, about quality, so let’s herald that this continues. (DISCO MATT)
WEDNESDAY 16TH APRIL
SPECIAL REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
With the longest Bank Holiday weekend of the year, generally comes a hive of activity in gAylist/land London as bars put on extra special parties, regular weekly clubs beef up their offerings and the “big guns” of the scene (you know, Matinee, Salvation, Trade etc..) try to steal all the limelight. You would expect to have more on offer than the average weekend, but never too much to be spoilt for choice (mind you we like being spoilt). So, was this year going to be any different? who were the winners? and at who’s expense?
Easter 2009 saw not only special bar parties, beefed up weekly clubs , the big guns laying on events to tempt the masses but we even saw the launch of new clubs amongst what was a massive swathe of choices. So what was on offer? and did the weekend fulfil expectations?, did Industri ignite?, was SuperMartXe a success?, did Salvation scintillate? was Beyond bountiful?, did Matinee marvel? and was Trade tremendous? Well, sit back, as we whisk you through one the busiest weekend’s we have seen for many years, for some, five days rolled into one big party, for others, making select choices to fit with their budget, and lots more sitting out most if not all of the action.
So where did the partying begin, well Thursday night ofcourse and with the prospect of Friday being a “non-school” day (that’s no work to you & me), there was no excuse not to let your hair down (well not for us anyway) With our fave club Industri extending the partying until 4 a.m., we also had a new club launch called “Hoof” to savour at the stunning Ghost venue, the brainchild of non other than Guy Williams. Add to this Lo-Profile laying on an extra special night, titled “Deceit” with Kathy Brown performing together with the D.J. combo of Alessandro & Jamie Head, not to mention Ku-Bar, Kudos, Shadow Lounge & Village all breaking out Easter offerings, the choices were aplenty. But it was Industri that took the plaudits, drawing a huge crowd of soiree-ing socialites, meaning that both rooms were open and partying went on well into the wee hours of Friday morning. Messer’s Nicholls & Heron delighted with their musical mastery & the majestic Minty hosted the whole evening in her inimitable style, which helped to cement Barcode Vauxhall as the choice of many.
In days of old, Good Friday tended to be a quiet affair and a chance to rest easy with much of the country coming to a halt, but not for us party heads, with yet another new club night, Gladiator in Waterloo serving up house tunes both new & old, Lo-Profile doing it all again, this time the night named “Fallen” (it’s something about religion apparently), with big hitters Gonzalo & Nik Evans spinning the tunes and players like A.M. & Tonker doing it for Vauxhallites. However, the focus was once again on Barcode, Matinee dominating the night’s proceedings south of the river with the first of three pre-parties across London’s bars, offering free goody giveaway’s, discounted entry tickets to the “ménage a trios” events, but moreover providing superb eye candy with Latino lovelies wafting around. There was certainly a party atmosphere & fun was had by all, most taking a clubbing respite before the major events ahead.
Saturday saw the Easter weekend well under way and rather than being just “super” Saturday, it looked like being sensational Saturday, with plenty of gAylist offerings to tempt and attract, even with history reflecting that this night on a Bank Holiday weekend generally proves to be the weakest link. Love Muscle had a special “Denim & Dicks Easter parade” party, there was the first in the weekend ménage a trois threesome, Circuit at Colosseum, the pre-party in London for the Barcelona August festival and Lo-Profile continuing its own threesome with Brent Nicholls & D’Johnny the centre pieces of the clubs “Resurrection” event. But with was SuperMartXe’s “Silicon Babies” that won the hearts of most, being the biggest draw of the night and with the likes of Steve Pitron & Juanjo Martin on the decks, the added draw of Italian Stallion D.J. Pagano as well as the much publicised previous coatcheck problems ironed out, it was certainly the winner in the clash of the Saturday titans.
Easter Sunday dawned with Beyond swinging open its doors and was bound to be busy with many not wanting to stop, but it always has the danger of getting just that little too busy for enjoyment & this time seemed to be no exception. But the big guns were all out to play later in the day, Salvation at a new venue in Limehouse, Troxy, Trade locking horns with Fire’s Orange and Matinee pulling out all the stops with its La Leche party at Koko in Camden. Reports in on Salvation were promising, with a healthy attendance, the Trade & Orange combo was irresistible for many, albeit that the crowd was a-typical Fire and Matinee put on the most spectacular show we have ever seen in a London club. But there were other parties on too, Fusion making a welcome return to XXL, Gutterslut holding an “Easter Bunny Mini Rave” and another new club launch, “Loaded” at Area in Vauxhall, all that on top of the bars making the proverbial “hay”, Rupert Street topping the bill with the La Leche pre party. With so much on offer and only so many to go around, there were inevitable casualties, but Salvation & Trade were clear successes, as was Matinee, which proved our real highlight, in what for us was a sparser than planned weekend of activity.
But the weekend was still not over for others and it was down to two to see through the remaining holiday day, Trade vs Orange and new afterhours club “bpm” which was the third element of the ménage a trois spectacular. With the combination of Cologne’s massive underground club phenomenon Greenkomm and London’s Hook’d joining forces with the most glittering list of gAylist D.J’s, including Guy Williams, Brent Nicholls, Paul Heron, Pier Morrocco, Lisa German & Mickey Galliano (and that was just the main room), expectations were very high, but then you know what they say about expectations! So with Trade crushing the competition, even though, despite all the hype, late reports in were that only the main room was busy to ramming and the crowd was a tad trashy. But, with the party running through well into Monday afternoon, it was obviously a popular pick, rounding off a most hectic weekend.
Well, with so much choice it would have been a miracle if all the clubs had reported brisk business and with words like credit crunch, economic downturn, & recession ruling the headlines, even the usually buoyant pink pound market was bound to take a beating. Add to that an exhaustive choice of events & parties and there had to be casualties. But, to answer some of our earlier questions, yes Industri did ignite, SuperMartXe was a success, Salvation did scintillate, Beyond was bountiful, Matinee did marvel and Trade was tremendous, but at what expense?
Did too much choice mean that clubs that would normally be packed, were far from full, some even verging on empty and did the domination of a few, strangle-holding many, detract from the variety on offer? The answer is possibly yes and for some a costly decision to run with ventures, new clubs Gladiator, Loaded & bpm reporting average to disappointing turnouts, even Love Muscle & Circuit’s numbers were not good, Barcode on Friday not as packed as usual, Fusion emptying out quite early and with only the niche clubs avoiding being swallowed up in the “big guns” showdown.
So in retrospect, Easter 2009 looks likely to be remembered more for lots of losers rather than winners. Yes SuperMartXe romped home, yes Trade pulled in the crowds, and as “winners” they probably did take it all!! But is this really the what we want to be the face of clubbing these days, domination killing off the competition & leading to little or no choice at all and in an ever changing club scene, is this what we are sinking towards? We hope not, as London’s gAylist scene has always been about variety, about choice, about quality, so let’s herald that this continues. (DISCO MATT)
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