Trade/Orange "The Second Coming" - Club Review

TRADE/ORANGE "THE SECOND COMING" - MONDAY 31ST AUGUST
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN


Well, they say you can never keep a good thing down and there is definately one iconic nay lengendary club brand that fails to lie down and die, a club that has formed a major part of our clubbing past and one that was probably responsible for labelling us "London's original party boy" as it really formed our passion for dancing, for partying and for pushing the boundaries in all sorts of ways. Yes, there have been a few clubs that have really captured the imagination, Factor 25, Salvation, Matinee and two other biggie's Crash & Beyond, but there is no denying that in terms of pure decadence, groundbreaking parties & events to remember there is is only one that is top of the pile. Yes, we are talking about Trade, a club that we religiously visisted week-in, week-out for years and have hardly missed any party since it went all occasional on us. Mind you the last time it collaborated with The Orange group, we couldn't see our way to grace the doors of Fire, even for Trade, but we guess, since then we have mellowed and with the words of a well known D.J. "it's just a disco" ringing through our ears, it was time we put our prejudicies to bed, at least for this most special of outings.

So, with plans to roll the weekend into one massive party slightly de-railed, as a snooze ended up being more of a coma, we woke at 6 a.m. and having gathered ourselves, arrived at Fire's rear entrance at just turned 7.30 a.m., slightly later than planned, but luckily were greeted by door host Tom Fuller & non other than Fire owner Craig Elder, who immediately gave us the royal treatment (for the second time this weekend), showing us round the now extensive rear outside space which included a brand new swmming pool installation, aslo talking about plans for the additional arches he has purchased (now a total of 8!). It was great to see Craig on the level, such a change from previous meets and we were suitably impressed with the changes, at least to the outside of the club & indeed him. Leaving Craig to his devices we headed in from an outside space full with people chilling and into the club itself, with the promise of four rooms of action open. It was immediately clear that the club was packed and we slowly re-aquainted ourselves with the myriad of corridoors leading fristly to the lightbox, then to the mirror arch (more in name only now), then to the main room itself, before popping our heads into the old third room, now a glamorous bar area come dance spot. Every space, with the possible exception of the lightbox, was absolutely packed to the rafters and hot with it, mind you with Tyron playing in the Fire Bar, The Oli in the main space (styled the Orange room) and Gonzalo about to hand over to the dynamic duo, Nick Tcherniak and Steve "Janet" Thomas in the mirror arch (the Trade room), the music was just as hot!

Heading to the bar for refreshments, we were intent on settling on the Trade room as our primary destination, also with the anticipation that clubbing pal & fellow Trade enthusiast, Joel, was due to arrive, we soon settled into our age old spot not far from the D.J. booth under the arches, where we had enjoyed so many occasions in our Fire past. Here, we began to savour what became probably the best back-to-back set we have even had the pleasure to witness, as both Steve and Nick spun out a series of amazing tracks in true hard, tech infused house style tainted with the traditional Trade sounds that had us simply mesmerised, dancing frantically and sending our body temperature sky high, although so good was the music we just danced on & on, throwing ourselves into the whole experience. Looking around the room as we grooved to the impecable music of the duo, it was brilliantly decorated in Trade production, floating Trade bullets, Trademark artwork stretched round the walls, all enhanced by superb laser lighting & effects and for us, probably the closest feel to Turnmills we had experienced. So good was Nick's & Steve's combo set, even a brief excursion into the main room, where the legendary D.J. Steve Pitron was whipping up a storm, also bumping into pal Benoit, was short lived and returning back to our spot under the arches, yet more fantastic track after track had us in full swing in an instant.

Truly awesome was both Nick's & Steve's performance, we really didn't want it to end, but time was now moving on and with the Italian stallion Pagano arriving to assume the Trade room decks, we knew our night (well day by now) was set fair for another great 2 hours of fun filled dancing, as the excitment of the previous duo's music was replaced by the deep, progressive & tough tones we have come to love in the hands of this truly great talent. And Pagano failed to dissapoint as he laid down some real classics, swelling an already busy space even more and only the occasional break for refreshments interrupted our homage to his stunning set. Mind you, we wondering whether our friend Joel had made it, so popped outside to check our phone and with three missed calls & a couple of messages we suspected he had arrived, so on returning back to the Trade room bumped into the man himself, who joined us on the dancefloor. By now, Pagano had handed the reigns over to Lady Bianca (whom Joel was most looking forward to) and the quality of the music continued unabaited in true Trade style, only to be heightened when Pete Wardman entered the fray, stepping the pace up even more (as if it wasn't lively enough) with one major hard house track after the other, emulating so many great performances of his we had enjoyed at Turnmills. Now we knew we were experiencing a very special Trade party indeed, infact Trade baby of old & pal Rob kept remarking to us how good it was, as did Joel who thought, like us, the music was simply sensational.

By now we were well into the afternoon and with no plans to stop partying, when the Trade room eventually began to thin out, we headed for the Orange room with Joel, to savour yet another back-to-back set, this time in the hands of Jamie Head & Mickey D, two Crash & Beyond veterans but every bit as fresh with their music choices. They also both played a scintilating set, captivating a packed space with a collection of uuplifting electro infused house tunes and while the crowd was now down to a hardcore of true party revellers, good looking muscle queens intermixed with typical Fire style party oys & girls, who like Joel and us, simply didn't want to stop, the room was still brimming. With regular trips to refuel our energies and influence our stamina, we could have gone on and on and we did in a way, with Alan K filling the last slot of our twelve hour extravagansa in superb style, meaning it was gone 8 p.m. before we decided to retire with Joel for welcome refreshments over at Barcode Vauxhall.

So, what did we think of Trade/Orange? Was our first trip back to Fire a pleasurable one? And what were the highlights? Well, there was no doubt that the combination of Trade and Orange seemd to work quite well, although for us it was all about Tracde, hence we spent the most of our stay in the mirror arch room. And we were certainly treated to some amazing music, not least in the hands of Lady Bianca, Pagano & Pete Wardman, but moreover by the simply sensational set by Messrs Tcherniak & Thomas which was one of the biggest highlights of the party for us and we have to say again, probably one of the best back-to-back performances we have witnessed, ever! Mind you Jamie Head & Mickey D didn't do a bad job at all, actually a really credible one, which will also hold great memories for us, as will our return to Fire for lots of reasons. Yes, the club was hot, very hot, the feel of Fire hasn't changed that much and that goes for the crowd too. We suspect that if it had only been a regular night, we would have given it a miss, but the draw of Trade and in such great D.J'ing company, not to mention our clubbing pal Joel, was too much to resist and made for an wonderful party indeed. Hats off to Craig Elder, his team & The Trade Collective for a sucessful event which we will remember for a long time. (DISCO MATT)