"Hype" - Club Review

“HYPE” – SATURDAY 2ND MAY 2009
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN



Well, with our weekend already off to a healthy start, what with a 12th Birthday celebration in Soho, followed by our weekly homage to Industri, then a pre-party bash, we were very much looking forward to our Saturday night, on so many occasions being “super” Saturday, but perhaps with the second Bank Holiday of the year upon us (so soon!?!), would Saturday prove to be the lost relation in a longer than usual weekend?

Ever since news of “Hype” hit our desks, we have, perhaps like many others, anticipated what certainly, well as far as the billing was concerned anyway, seemed a party to rival the success of bigger sister SuperMartXe. Indeed, with the ingredients looking much the same, it was surely destined for success, but as sometimes is the case, to much of a good thing can run against the form, despite all best intentions. So was “Hype” a case in point? Well, what do you think!?!

Having warmed ourselves up in the usual way, with a trip to Barcode Soho, in the hands of you know who and with pal Stephen accompanying us, our Saturday certainly got off to a healthy start, just the warm up we wanted and which has always done the trick, providing a superb curtain raiser to an amazing night at The Coronet. And it was Elephant & Castle where we were bound, arriving at the doors of “Hype’s” home at our now usual fashionably late time of nearly an hour past midnight. Now, we were expecting a bit of a queue, but having been kindly put onto a list, we didn’t have to wait long at all and with the security checks safely negotiated, paid our dues (a tad on the expensive side for a concessions list we thought!!) and then found our way to the outside(ish) coatcheck, where again a wait was expected, but on this occasion (a Coronet first!), nothing of it.

So, into the main room we sped, to find it, we have to say, far from full, in fact looking around we reckoned not more than 600 people, many looking very Fire like (oh dear!), but with a smattering of Matinee or should we say SuperMartXe faithful's, wanting to get their piece of this, how was it explained now?, a “Limited Edition” event, with the aim to be much more about the music and the P.A. performances rather than the big style stage settings and shows. Indeed, with the D.J. booth taking prime spot on the massive stage front and an elevated area in the middle of the dancefloor, it seemed to have all the trappings of what had been promised., what was it again, oh yes, the music and the P.A., well remembered!

We found our way down to the front of the massive main room, in no way the usual feat of squeezing past seething bodies, moreover a easy journey hardly impeded, where we spotted scene legend Steve Pitron in control of the decks. Now, in years gone by, with so many heady Crash & Beyond parties under our belt, perhaps we were expecting great things of this incredible D.J. talent, and maybe that’s where we went wrong, as, if we were being honest, Steve’s performance was a little on the average side, maybe perhaps due to the fact that he was first on, or that our expectations were running a little too high. Nevertheless, we made the most of his set, finding our pace with relative ease, even though we had plenty of room to stretch our legs (we do like our dancing space). With a few familiar faces around us, some spotting us as Disco Matt, others just plain old Matt, we did feel somewhat at home, even if the atmosphere was not quite as electric as we had anticipated it would be and so it was that we saw out the remainder of Steve’s set, without leaving our spot, working ourselves into the “Hype” rhythm as only we knew best.

With Steve’s set over and the D.J. reigns handed over to Spanish & Matinee import, Rafa Ariza, who took the music on an altogether much tougher & euro style direction, we took a moments respite back up towards the bar, which actually felt busier than the dancefloor. It was evident that the crowd was building considerably and with friendly faces a plenty, including Clington Forbes, Cliff Jackson (he was loving the music) and Clinton Goldsmith, as well as a much more SuperMartXe feeling audience up here, we pondered on a return to the dancefloor proper for a while. Standing immediately behind the massive lighting & effects enclosure, it was a perfect place to see the full magnitude of this gigantic Coronet space and, just what a task lay ahead to fill it. Indeed it was fair to say that the effects were magnificent, albeit sometimes on the bright side, exposing the empty spaces below us.

Having made our presence felt with organiser Logan (who had his hands full preparing for the impending show), with a burst of pyrotechnics out came P.A. Rebekka Brown, who just days ago had celebrated her birthday, to attempt to ignite the atmosphere and crowd, in her inimitable fashion, with a string of anthems including her new track, “Don’t let this moment end”. This heralded the arrival & joining on the centre performing island, floating above the dancefloor, of violinist extraordinaire, Micah, with his powerful acoustic instrument and amazing neon lit bow, cutting an impressive stride next to Rebekka, complimenting both her vocals and the house beats pumping out, quite brilliantly. This proved to be, not one, not two, but three appearances by the duo, clearly on strict orders to get the party motoring, just the way that SuperMartXe had been so great in achieving before now.

Now we were well and truly into our stride, although it has to be said, given the smaller crowd, we felt the music was a little on the tough side and was holding some back from the full on dancefloor vibe, with only shades of truly hands in the air house favourites to lighten the mood. So, this kind of signalled our somewhat restless to-ing & fro-ing between the dancing expanse and the more elevated & comforting bar area, where we got the chance to catch up with Steve Pitron, see incumbent D.J. D’Johnny as well as Industri & Matinee pals, Sofie & Romano, amongst others, like us savouring, the “Hype” journey that was being laid out in front of us. Arming ourselves with much needed energy & assistance boosts, we ventured back down to where we started the evening, with a number of people asking of our supposed valuable view of proceedings (quite flattering really), pointing our focus onto what we were going to report.

With the night wearing on and Rafa Ariza eventually giving way to homegrown talent Mr D’Johnny, our anticipation levels never really reached our expectations and, yet again, like both the music maestro’s before him, D’Johnny only monetarily showed sparks of true house hedonism, with a track of the moment, which would have gone down a storm had the crowd been there to enjoy it. However, with only small pockets of the dancefloor remaining busy and the bar area now feeling considerably diminished of bodies, it didn’t! and, despite our best intentions to see out the remainder of the nights delights, called in our early bath ticket, at just before 6 a.m., sliding into the grasp of a chilly early May morning and home to ponder on a night that, in some (well in lots actually) respects, didn’t quite do it for us.

So what was all the “Hype” about? Well we don’t know really. Feeling from the outset that it was trying hard to emulate the SuerMartXe feel of success, for some reason it didn’t hit the mark. Was it because, as we have said before, Saturday, on a Bank Holiday weekend, is the poor relation? Was it that many were holding back, saving their pennies for the rich pickings of Sunday? Or was it, as we suspected, that many had seen “Hype” as a money making exercise, rather than an extension of the SuperMartXe success story, with all the trappings looking curiously the same, yet not delivering! Were we too “hyper” critical, we think not, as whilst many reported enjoying the experience, we, as always, have reflected our personal opinion, for what it is worth.

On reflection, if “Hype” is to take-off as the promoter wishes, in our view, it has to be a very “Limited Edition” and targeted perhaps in a time when there is genuine desire by the faithful to give it the support it deserves. There is no doubt that, when full, the theatre space that is the Cornet works, but on this occasion it only served to detract from the atmosphere. There were so many elements that should have worked, yet didn’t and we only hope that the audience has not been put off and that the “Limited Edition Hype” and it doesn’t become a one-off!! We guess only time will tell on that score (DISCO MATT)