Tabloild - Club Review

TABLOID - SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN

Now, we love it when news hits our desks about new club events, especially in a world where when switching on the news or pickig up a newspaper (broadsheet especially) we seem to be consumed with doom & gloom, so the prospect of something excitingly new is hard to resist, even if, in this case, the venue isn't one of our more popular haunts. However, in the inimitable words of a D.J. friend of ours "it's all just one big disco" (have we used that before!?!?),how could we resist, especially if their was the prospect of dancing under a mirrorball (Camp or what!?). So, what was this new event? and were we easily drawn in or pushed to make an appearance?

Well, with a truly press related theme vein running right through the weekend of club events, for instance, there was "Paparazzi", (and we know what they are like!!), the official Soho Live afterparty, then there was "Scandal" (the newspapers are full of that these days), both which were showing their wears on the Sunday, the team over at Fire were also thinking the same thoughts, albeit on the Saturday, launching "Tabloid", which was showcassing some truly headlining D.J.'s (was that a pun?!) with the aim to make a real impact, possibly hit the covers of a magazine (there's a song about that!), but more likely to try and inject some fresh fun into Saturday nights at this Vauxhall institution that keeps pulling in the punters. So, did Tabloid steal the headlines?, Did it prove that it was worthy of front page exposure? And who was making the breaking news cum exclusive?

Having spent most of the day helping in preparations for Soho Live, our evening wasn't going quite to plan, eventually tearing ourselves away from Rupert Street's Paparazzi pre-party and decided it was time to make an appearnace at this new Saturday night event down in Vauxhall town. Yes, Tabloid was ceratinly a draw and having re-frequented oursleves with Fire not more than a week previously, we were quite relaxed about attending and in the spirit of tthoise words of our D.J. pal, we were actually quite excited about the propsect. Arriving at Fire's main entrance at just turned 10.30 p.m., timnely enough to take adavntage of the V.I.P. gathering we had been kindly invited to by Steven Sharp, we found our way into the Lightbox, the host area for this exclusive gathering, pre-club, where we found a select handful of guests sipping complimentary champagne and special cocktails, very much in the Tequilla style (what was the name of that drink?!), served by some truly scruptous bar staff, aprrporaitely dressed down (if you know what we mean!!).

Wandering around the bar, we found ourselves drawn to the table occupied by Fire owner Criag Elder, with friends and immediately made ouselves comfortable, with the champagne following nearly as plentfully as the conversation as we discussed the ways of the world, saking up the atmosphere and crowd which was very much scene related, D.J's, peformers, club figureheads and familar faces from around gAylist London that were, like us, taking advantage of this special gathering to give Tabloild the launch it well and truly deserved. Yes, Hi-Fi Sean Dickson was there and we were gratified in meeting his man, who was responsible for the impressive floral decotration around the Lightbox. Then, there was Mark McKenzie (aka Edna), who was proving very entertaining at our sudo head table and not long after our arrival a whole plethora of pals & familar faces appeared, including scene D.J. legend Steve Pitron, The Oli, Lee Yeomans, JC Christopher & even David Jiminez. But the fun was about to get all the better as we bumped into pal & D.J. extraordinarre Nick Tcherniak and boyf Tom, who were definately in partying mood like us and were also most amused with our cheeky showing of our Paparazzi t-shirt.

With the crowd beginning to swell, Steven Sharp walked up and kindly offered us a full tour of the venue (not that we hadn't seen it before) as he was keen for us to see all the new addtions to the main room, which looked superb and really made a statement, very much in the "Tabloid" style, new visuals, stunning lighting and production which gave the space a whole new feel. Winding our way back to the lightbox more faces were appearing and we settled back into our gathering of pals, which now included Nigel davenport, camera in hand clicking us in pose for prosterity. The excitment of the inclusion of D.J.'s Tall Paul & Jon Byrne was clearly on everybody's lips, definately pointing the music policy at Fire in a new direction, although with the stablemate of regulars the guarantee of great music was very much in the air. Certainly yhe atmosphere in the lightbox was electric, although with our expolits in Soho and then the free flowing champagne & other drinks at this very special VIP launch taking their toll, we were resigned to make an early departure, in the knowledge that we needed to be a fresh as possible for our duties at Soho Pride the following day.

Feeback from firends after the event, were that the main room in the hands of both Tall Paul & Jon Byrne rocked and they were very much the breaking news headliners of the evening. Tabloid as a concept could certainly work, although it is clear that clubbers still remain cautious about when & where to spend their hard earned cash. With the quality of the D.J. line up, together with the extra special production & efoort put in by the team at Fire, we are sure, with perserverence the club will become a resounding sucess, surely hitting the headlines of a magazine just as it should. (DISCO MATT)