"Beyond The Grave" - Club Review

“BEYOND THE GRAVE” – HALLOWEEN SPECIAL
SUNDAY 1ST NOVEMBER
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN


There is no escaping the fact that despite the amazing choice of clubs we have across this most diverse of scene’s in London, whether it be mainstream, underground, East End, West End, gAylist or fringe, there are only a few brands that stand out like tall poppies in a field of flowers. Moreover, when it comes to current “afterhours” clubbing, there is just one name that immediately springs to mind, probably being the tallest poppy of all in this respect. Yes, it’s Beyond, the club that has truly dominated Sunday morning’s this decade, which, throughout its various incarnations, twists & turns, continues in its popularity where others have either fallen by the wayside or have failed to take off at all.

So, it would come as no surprise that we made early plans to attend Beyond’s special Halloween party “Beyond The Grave”, although what was more of a surprise (and a shock to our system) was that we chose to sit out Saturday night, rather rising at 6 a.m. Sunday morning to make the short trip down to Vauxhall, feeling rested and fresh (if but a bit bleary eyed!), in the knowledge that our advancing years could cope with the full 7-8 hours of Beyond madness. In times gone by, Beyond has always been a further instalment of a hectic Saturday of activity and whilst in days of old we could go on & on, more recently we have struggled to keep the faith past 11 a.m.

So, in the knowledge we were going to stay the distance, we arrived at Area’s doors to find a lengthy queue, signalling that this was going to be yet another packed out event, although we were pleased to be greeted by the smiling face of Tom Fuller, who was looking his perky self & now recovered from his recent shock heart attack, certainly back where he belongs & very glad for it. We were given the royal treatment (we love it) by Tom and were soon ticked off the guest list, but there was more “red carpet” service in the form of Andrew, a most charming security guard who chaperoned us straight to the entrance & got us whisked into the club in a trice (Craig Elder please note!), a truly brilliant way to start our “Beyond The Grave” experience.

Inside the club and it was clear that many had got here at the crack of dawn as the terrace bar was already full, the main room was pumping and even the middle (Black room) had a healthy crowd present. The coat check took a bit of negotiating, but with that chore over, we were released to take in everything that the club had to offer. So, having finished our initial & usual run around each dance floor, we went in search of the D.J. listing which is generally pinned up in various spots around the venue, although we were struggling to find it on this occasion, so relied on our own judgment instead. The Sharp Boys were in command of a packed main room & were certainly getting the party into a real swing, with some incredibly uplifting & hard hitting house tunes that were hard to resist. Over in the Black room, Paul Christian had given way to David Jiminez, who was going down & dirty with his trademark tough tech house, not to everybody’s taste, but a truly alternative choice of music vibe (don’t we love a good choice!?!), whilst the fab D’Johnny was turbo boosting the atmosphere in the Terrace bar, with his energetic, funky & chunky house.

We settled on this latter space for a while, observing a whole host of scene faces, party boys & girls and the veritable feast of people in Halloween mode, some in extravagant makeup, looking like the living dead, others simply made up as horny devils, ghosts & pale faced zombies, but all in all adding to what was already an amazing feel to this special Beyond party. Some had clearly come on from parties before, whether it had been Juicy’s “Bloodbath” or even Hard On! (there were quite a few leather queens about) and this was true when we bumped into pal Rob, who gave us the lowdown on Suzi Kruger’s latest event. Not that he was the only familiar face around as we were soon greeted by Keith, with boyf in tow, then Andy and not long after that, Industri pal Stephen who had just arrived from an all night house party, all enquiring as to the whereabouts of our clubbing pal Joel, who in recent times has been by our side, but was sadly away on work duty this time round.

With D’Johnny really creating a storm of music passion, we were hard pressed to tear ourselves away, but were somehow drawn the main room again, where the Sharp Boys were about to welcome Chris Geary’s go-go’s onto the dance podiums, all three dressed for the occasion in very fitting ghastly & garish head gear/costumes. They took to the stage in an explosion on ticker tape, flashing pyrotechnics & CO2 cannons, as only Area does best, the laser lighting & effects adding to the already electric atmosphere and with plumes of smoke as well as the brilliant Beyond production, added to for this special party by a massive spooky clown face dominating the far wall, we knew we had arrived at an extra special outing.

Being relieved to be just in time for the show, we felt a real surge in our energy levels, helped along by the arrival of D.J. Mikey D, who said a brief hello before assuming the decks and then lifting the music madness to a much higher level, stringing one superb one octane infused house tune after the other together, sometimes mixing two tunes into one in perfect harmony, that had us spinning on our spot & dancing in pure ecstasy. Having enjoyed so many good sets in the hands of this talented D.J., in the Crash days of old, then at Beyond in Colloseum, we have to say, this set ranked as one of his best, a pure delight and a feast of fabulous, familiar tracks intertwined with new hits that had the audience gasping for air, yet screaming in extravert excitement and us in pure hedonistic heaven (no wonder the room was packed to the rafters!!).

Taking a moments breath, we squeezed past the torso to torso crowd in the main room, seeking a little relief back in the Terrace bar, to find D’Johnny preparing to hand over the reigns to another fave D.J. of ours, the gorge Jamie Head, whom we hadn’t seen for ages but had unknowingly missed him by minutes at Lo-Profile just two days before. With the weather quite inclement outside, the Terrace bar was fuller than usual and as Jamie began his set the space seemed to fill out even more, his chunky electro tainted yet bold & boisterous house style & choice of tunes striking a chord with many around, including our pal Stephen who was well into the action by now. To be faced with such a choice, would it be Jamie in the Terrace bar? or Mikey in the Main room? was a difficult if but delightful predicament to be in, so rather than making a choice, we ferried our way backward & forward, taking in everything that was brilliant at Beyond in the hands of these two music maestro’s.

With Mikey eventually handing over to resident Alan K, the party was far from over as the main room continued at fever pitch pace, Alan dishing up some delectable & tasty tracks of uplifting sexy & sumptuous house, a real purple patch in his set culminating with a remix favourite of ours “Get Busy” which had us craving for more. But we were still captivated by the Terrace room too and Jamie was now laying down some serious sounds that sent us into a stratosphere of dancing delrionism, with midday well & truly gone and our longest stay in beyond for ages about to be racked up. There was no sign of the crowd abating either and when our pal Stephen walked by with a young man in tow, we knew his day was far from over, moreover about to begin.

Jamie kept us entertained right through until the 1.30 p.m. finish, when we thought better of continuing the party at “Later” over in Fire, rather saying our goodbye’s, firstly to Alan K who was still mashing it up in the main room and then to Jamie himself, who, like Mikey D had made this “Beyond The Grave” outing a really special experience for us. So with plenty to think over, let alone a whole myriad of tunes still ringing through our ears & buzzing through our head, we hit a windy & wet Vauxhall to speed home & reflect on yet another perfect Sunday morning clubbing at Area.

So, how do we conclude our views on Beyond’s Halloween special? Well, in truth the words already laid out speak for themselves, but to sum it all up, the whole experience was magic! From the superb greetings & treatment at the door, to the up for it & friendly crowd we encountered inside, to the brilliant music from start to finish and to the host of familiar faces that meant we never felt out of place. Moreover, were made well & truly welcome, especially by the band of D.J’s whom we were so privileged to see play, The Sharp Boys, then Mikey D, & Alan K in the main room, as well as D’Johnny & Jamie Head in the Terrace Bar, all making a point of saying hello, what more could you ask for?!?

To say that this was a brilliant Beyond is a little of an understatement, but having been lucky to experience some truly great parties at this club icon of an event, we would hate to set it too far apart from any other. However, each & every person played their part in making it truly memorable and our thanks go to so many, but particularly to Messrs Dower & Head who pulled off two truly remarkable sets, only added to by the sparkling performances of all the other D.J.’s. If music be the food of love, then Beyond had it in bountiful’s and we can’t wait for the next party. (DISCO MATT)