BEYOND “ICE” CHRISTMAS SPECIAL –
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 5TH/6TH DECEMBER
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
Christmas seems to be getting earlier every year, with the adverts hitting our televisions as early as October, the supermarkets filling their shelves with mince pies, quality street tins, selection boxes et all, and the streets being festooned with decorations a plenty way earlier than we remembered from our childhood (and that was a long time ago!), so it came as no surprise that the gAylist scene in London would follow suit, with two of its biggest clubs rolling out their Christmas parties in the first week of December. Why?, well one had a relatively good excuse as it is a once a month affair, the other, well some would say it was trying to steal the limelight, but perhaps in reality, with other commitments in the run up to the big day, its promoters decided this first weekend of December was the best time to stage it (oh how hopeful we are that it was the latter of the two scenarios).
Whatever the reasons (blah blah blah!!), the club which has dominated the Sunday morning afterhours scene throughout 2009, decided to extend its offering, swinging open its doors at midnight and running a billed 12 hours (which turned out to be closer to thirteen) and in joining forces with Logan Schmitz & Steven Gellar, married the off-springs from Fire with, yes you guessed it, Beyond, which threw a Christmas spectacular which was bound to be yet another success before it even started. With a truly massive D.J. line up across three floors, the promise of some beautiful production/transformation of Area, making it into a “winter wonderland with some stunning stage shows”, how could we say no? even if we had been at Beyond just a week before. Well we couldn’t, so there!
Having partied hard at Matinee, we arrived at Area’s doors at well gone 7 a.m. and were greeted at the queue entrance by Tom Fuller, who immediately ushered in past the security checks (they did search us) and then into Area, just behind Paul Heron (had he followed us from Matinee?), Tom leaving us to our devices, having made sure that we were checked off his list (as was Mr H), releasing us into the club, which was well & truly pumping and immediately had the feel of a classic Beyond outing (even if it had been open 7 hours already!). We soon deposited our bag away safely in the coatcheck (no long wait like the previous week) and then set about finding our bearings, well more like checking out the three spaces, to see what, when, who why & where was the room to be in & at.
First we hit the Terrace bar, where Gonzalo was treating a pulsating space to another set of Trade lite lounge style tunes, which was clearly going down well with many who were cramming the space, dancing away to his magical music machinations, although having witnessed an incredible set of his in this very room just seven days ago, we wanted to investigate further. So, heading off in the direction of the “Black” room, we bumped to some familiar faces, Lee Yeomans & boyf , Clinton Goldsmith, looking gorge as ever & then we paused to speak with Simon Patrick (well we didn’t actually remember that bit, a reminder after the event jogging our memory, having apparently spoken to him at Matinee too!). Then, we found ourselves in the second space and seeing David Jiminez in control of the D.J. decks, we realised that we had missed out on Hi-Fi Sean’s set (damn!), with the promised “personal mirroball” offering he had pledged fallen by the wayside (blast!), so quickly made our advances into the main room.
There we were met by a veritable wall of muscular bodies moving in motion to the sexy sounds emanating from the massive speakers and looking up & around, there was no shortage of the usual sparkling Beyond production & signage, incredible laser & lighting effects, as well as sheet white walls intended to create the “ice” effect of the party theme. Squeezing ourselves round the packed room, we headed for the D.J. booth, where superstar Steve Pitron (well who else could it be, should it have been!) was mixing up some magnificent music, concentrating on the job in hand, hardly raising his head to say hello, but catching us out of the corner of his eye. Right in front of the booth was an extraordinary contraption, which turned out to be a massive snow bursting cannon, the effects of which could be see all around the floor and on the sweaty bodies of some recipients of its sporadic splurges, creating a Christmassy feel to great effect. Finding a little space next to this one-off addition to squeeze into, we almost missed our pals Benoit & Clinoit, with whom we had shared similar squashed spaces at Matinee, although how we could have missed them standing in front of us as they were, we don’t know (something must have been affecting our eyesight!), but soon found our stride dancing away next to them & to the delights this true Beyond legend of a D.J. was delivering.
And there we stayed for virtually the whole of Steve’s set, succumbing to the amazing atmosphere and spotting festively dressed hunk, one after the other, ascend the stage at the far end of the main room, Logan’s schmitzels dazzling the crowd with their displays of dirty dancing, so with yet more plumes of snow bursting out across the room, the scene was set for the winter wonderland party that had been promised. Mind you, with so much activity going on and hardly room to swing a festive cat, we had to relent for a while, making our way back to the Terrace bar, where Gonzalo had handed over to Swedish sweetheart D’Johnny, who took up where Mr Rivas had left off, with a classy collection of chunky & tech infused tunes that grabbed our attention & many around us, a light relief from the madness of the main room, but fabulous nevertheless.
But the night (well the morning) was far from over, with The Sharp Boys taking charge in the main room, clearly having a hard act to follow in the footsteps of the stupendous Steve Pitron, but they rose to the challenge brilliantly, serving up a selection of scintillating upbeat, then down & dirty as well as funky house sounds to keep the audience well & truly glued to the main room. Even D.J.’s who had finished their stints, Terry Bryan & Mickey D (both whom we had missed out on) were indulging in the fun, not far from our favourite spot shy of the D.J. booth and from here we had a perfect view of proceedings as well as faces wandering past, spotting first JC Christopher swinging by, then our second Swede of the night, Sofie, who was just as pleased to see us as we were her. And with time literally flying, we knew we were heading for the final D.J. helping when Alan K arrived, running round to us from booth to say his hello’s.
A quick rest & reprieve was suddenly required, so we headed for a breath of oxygen in the Terrace bar and bumped into the lovely Jamie Head who was relaxing before his set following on from D’Johnny, so we spent a few moments catching up on news, then having rested sufficiently, headed back into the main room for what turned out to be our final fling for this “Ice” spectacular, assuming our favoured spot by the D.J. booth and being showered with handfuls of snow (the fake stuff of course), the culprit being Mr JC who was lobbing it over the booth covering our hair & torso, some even resting on our braces. All this while Alan K was dishing out some delectable dance tunes, injecting the perfect energy to see the crowd through till the end of the party, although our legs were running out of steam and whilst our body still wanted to dance, the lallies were saying no!
With one last attempt to “get it together Rita” (an old phrase of ours), we soaked up a little slice of Jamie’s set, before finally relenting, gathering our belongings, saying farewells to whoever we could find, then leaving Area behind us and heading off into a sunny Vauxhall midday to amble the short distance south to the seclusion of our home, both to chill out & reflect on yet another wild yet wonderful Saturday night & Sunday morning’s worth of chaotic clubbing, the memories of the “Ice” party just departed still strong in our minds and the fake snow still covering our brow.
Well, it kind of goes without saying that this was yet another brilliant Beyond party. There is something quite magical about Sunday morning clubbing for us and regardless of how many times we venture out to Area, it rarely fails to delight. Yes, the previous week’s visit was a little below par for us (why, we are still not sure), but even having savoured only about half of this extended Christmas bonanza of a bash, Beyond delivered in almost every respect. It may be true that the decoration didn’t quite make the club the “winter wonderland” we had expected, but the snow plumes, the magnificent music, the delectable dancers and the amazing atmosphere made up for it all. Did opening for twelve hours bear the fruit the promoters wished for? well maybe a little bit, but Beyond is all about “afterhours” clubbing, when it is at its best & where, for us, it needs to stay. (DISCO MATT)
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 5TH/6TH DECEMBER
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
Christmas seems to be getting earlier every year, with the adverts hitting our televisions as early as October, the supermarkets filling their shelves with mince pies, quality street tins, selection boxes et all, and the streets being festooned with decorations a plenty way earlier than we remembered from our childhood (and that was a long time ago!), so it came as no surprise that the gAylist scene in London would follow suit, with two of its biggest clubs rolling out their Christmas parties in the first week of December. Why?, well one had a relatively good excuse as it is a once a month affair, the other, well some would say it was trying to steal the limelight, but perhaps in reality, with other commitments in the run up to the big day, its promoters decided this first weekend of December was the best time to stage it (oh how hopeful we are that it was the latter of the two scenarios).
Whatever the reasons (blah blah blah!!), the club which has dominated the Sunday morning afterhours scene throughout 2009, decided to extend its offering, swinging open its doors at midnight and running a billed 12 hours (which turned out to be closer to thirteen) and in joining forces with Logan Schmitz & Steven Gellar, married the off-springs from Fire with, yes you guessed it, Beyond, which threw a Christmas spectacular which was bound to be yet another success before it even started. With a truly massive D.J. line up across three floors, the promise of some beautiful production/transformation of Area, making it into a “winter wonderland with some stunning stage shows”, how could we say no? even if we had been at Beyond just a week before. Well we couldn’t, so there!
Having partied hard at Matinee, we arrived at Area’s doors at well gone 7 a.m. and were greeted at the queue entrance by Tom Fuller, who immediately ushered in past the security checks (they did search us) and then into Area, just behind Paul Heron (had he followed us from Matinee?), Tom leaving us to our devices, having made sure that we were checked off his list (as was Mr H), releasing us into the club, which was well & truly pumping and immediately had the feel of a classic Beyond outing (even if it had been open 7 hours already!). We soon deposited our bag away safely in the coatcheck (no long wait like the previous week) and then set about finding our bearings, well more like checking out the three spaces, to see what, when, who why & where was the room to be in & at.
First we hit the Terrace bar, where Gonzalo was treating a pulsating space to another set of Trade lite lounge style tunes, which was clearly going down well with many who were cramming the space, dancing away to his magical music machinations, although having witnessed an incredible set of his in this very room just seven days ago, we wanted to investigate further. So, heading off in the direction of the “Black” room, we bumped to some familiar faces, Lee Yeomans & boyf , Clinton Goldsmith, looking gorge as ever & then we paused to speak with Simon Patrick (well we didn’t actually remember that bit, a reminder after the event jogging our memory, having apparently spoken to him at Matinee too!). Then, we found ourselves in the second space and seeing David Jiminez in control of the D.J. decks, we realised that we had missed out on Hi-Fi Sean’s set (damn!), with the promised “personal mirroball” offering he had pledged fallen by the wayside (blast!), so quickly made our advances into the main room.
There we were met by a veritable wall of muscular bodies moving in motion to the sexy sounds emanating from the massive speakers and looking up & around, there was no shortage of the usual sparkling Beyond production & signage, incredible laser & lighting effects, as well as sheet white walls intended to create the “ice” effect of the party theme. Squeezing ourselves round the packed room, we headed for the D.J. booth, where superstar Steve Pitron (well who else could it be, should it have been!) was mixing up some magnificent music, concentrating on the job in hand, hardly raising his head to say hello, but catching us out of the corner of his eye. Right in front of the booth was an extraordinary contraption, which turned out to be a massive snow bursting cannon, the effects of which could be see all around the floor and on the sweaty bodies of some recipients of its sporadic splurges, creating a Christmassy feel to great effect. Finding a little space next to this one-off addition to squeeze into, we almost missed our pals Benoit & Clinoit, with whom we had shared similar squashed spaces at Matinee, although how we could have missed them standing in front of us as they were, we don’t know (something must have been affecting our eyesight!), but soon found our stride dancing away next to them & to the delights this true Beyond legend of a D.J. was delivering.
And there we stayed for virtually the whole of Steve’s set, succumbing to the amazing atmosphere and spotting festively dressed hunk, one after the other, ascend the stage at the far end of the main room, Logan’s schmitzels dazzling the crowd with their displays of dirty dancing, so with yet more plumes of snow bursting out across the room, the scene was set for the winter wonderland party that had been promised. Mind you, with so much activity going on and hardly room to swing a festive cat, we had to relent for a while, making our way back to the Terrace bar, where Gonzalo had handed over to Swedish sweetheart D’Johnny, who took up where Mr Rivas had left off, with a classy collection of chunky & tech infused tunes that grabbed our attention & many around us, a light relief from the madness of the main room, but fabulous nevertheless.
But the night (well the morning) was far from over, with The Sharp Boys taking charge in the main room, clearly having a hard act to follow in the footsteps of the stupendous Steve Pitron, but they rose to the challenge brilliantly, serving up a selection of scintillating upbeat, then down & dirty as well as funky house sounds to keep the audience well & truly glued to the main room. Even D.J.’s who had finished their stints, Terry Bryan & Mickey D (both whom we had missed out on) were indulging in the fun, not far from our favourite spot shy of the D.J. booth and from here we had a perfect view of proceedings as well as faces wandering past, spotting first JC Christopher swinging by, then our second Swede of the night, Sofie, who was just as pleased to see us as we were her. And with time literally flying, we knew we were heading for the final D.J. helping when Alan K arrived, running round to us from booth to say his hello’s.
A quick rest & reprieve was suddenly required, so we headed for a breath of oxygen in the Terrace bar and bumped into the lovely Jamie Head who was relaxing before his set following on from D’Johnny, so we spent a few moments catching up on news, then having rested sufficiently, headed back into the main room for what turned out to be our final fling for this “Ice” spectacular, assuming our favoured spot by the D.J. booth and being showered with handfuls of snow (the fake stuff of course), the culprit being Mr JC who was lobbing it over the booth covering our hair & torso, some even resting on our braces. All this while Alan K was dishing out some delectable dance tunes, injecting the perfect energy to see the crowd through till the end of the party, although our legs were running out of steam and whilst our body still wanted to dance, the lallies were saying no!
With one last attempt to “get it together Rita” (an old phrase of ours), we soaked up a little slice of Jamie’s set, before finally relenting, gathering our belongings, saying farewells to whoever we could find, then leaving Area behind us and heading off into a sunny Vauxhall midday to amble the short distance south to the seclusion of our home, both to chill out & reflect on yet another wild yet wonderful Saturday night & Sunday morning’s worth of chaotic clubbing, the memories of the “Ice” party just departed still strong in our minds and the fake snow still covering our brow.
Well, it kind of goes without saying that this was yet another brilliant Beyond party. There is something quite magical about Sunday morning clubbing for us and regardless of how many times we venture out to Area, it rarely fails to delight. Yes, the previous week’s visit was a little below par for us (why, we are still not sure), but even having savoured only about half of this extended Christmas bonanza of a bash, Beyond delivered in almost every respect. It may be true that the decoration didn’t quite make the club the “winter wonderland” we had expected, but the snow plumes, the magnificent music, the delectable dancers and the amazing atmosphere made up for it all. Did opening for twelve hours bear the fruit the promoters wished for? well maybe a little bit, but Beyond is all about “afterhours” clubbing, when it is at its best & where, for us, it needs to stay. (DISCO MATT)
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