“BACK WITH A BANG”
BEYOND – BACK-TO-BACK
SATURDAY 5TH JUNE
SPECIAL REVIEW
Memories can be such amazing things and during our time in clubbing we have scores stored in our minds, whether it be the people we have enjoyed them with, the venues we have enjoyed them in, or simply just those moments in time that for one reason or another are truly unforgettable. But none of these clubbing memories would be possible without two special combinations, the D.J.’s & their music and the clubs & their promoter’s, so when we trawl through the great moments in our quite lengthy period strutting our stuff on the scene, one set of those tablet of times keeps ringing resoundingly in our heads, as not only does our reflection cast the spotlight on some of the scene’s best D.J.’s, the best music, but it encompasses what has become for us the best club of all time. Now, we could be talking about Trade, an amazing club that consumed our lives for well over ten years, but no, we could be talking about Crash, the underground revolution of Vauxhall that cemented some of the best & strongest friendships we have had in our life, but no, so, pushing those two legendary clubs & their memories aside, there is really only one left and that is Beyond.
So how come Beyond over the other two? Well, for all the magic that both Trade & Crash hold & represent in our lives, Beyond tops them each & every time, whether it be the unique & brilliant feel of the VIP room at former home Colosseum, the crème de la crème list of D.J.’s inextricably connected with the club & our memories, the myriad of people that have enjoyed our incredible journey in its hands for close on eight years, but moreover the magnificent music that lives on in our minds eye and continues to deliver in all departments in our rather choosy chain of criteria. But none of these extra special set of memories would be possible were it not for the vision & passion of one man, who back in 2001 saw an opportunity to bring something fresh & new to the vitality of the spurning scene in Vauxhall & provide clubbers the opportunity to continue their Saturday night partying deep into Sunday just a stone’s throw away from their earlier devotions.
One Craig Elder was the man with that vision and in launching Beyond to a then unsuspecting public, even he couldn’t have predicted just how popular the club would be. But without his passion, his direction & his vision, Beyond would not be the club it is today and it would not have attracted some of the best D.J.’s the scene has seen, names like Alan X, Paul Heron, Brent Nicholls, The Sharp Boys, Steve Pitron, & David Jimenez, with more recent music maestro’s including Alan K, Mikey D, D’Johnny, Jamie Head, Hifi Sean & how could we leave him out, Gonzalo Rivas. But for all the greatness of these star performers and indeed for all the hard work of the cast of behind the scenes & other individuals that continue to bring this mega legendary Sunday morning partying phenomenon to us, no special review would be complete without saluting the man that right from its inception back in June 2001 to this very day, a man that remains the figurehead of the club and just last Sunday talked so eloquently to us about his continuing passion & belief in his beloved Beyond.
So, with our prologue of this prolific partying phenomenon painted, you can imaging our excitement when news came through that the team behind Beyond were planning a special event that would give a nod back to the classic days of the club at its original home, super club Colosseum and not only that, but it would showcase some of the original D.J. stars that made those heady days so memorable in our minds. Then, when the added excitement of combining both old & new Beyond into one huge 14 hour extravaganza hit us with a wave of enthusiasm, we simply couldn’t miss out on what, on paper at least, would be the biggest Beyond event yet, including many of the elements that made Colosseum in its hands so special, not to mention the magical qualities of now regular home Area delivers week in week out and capturing the imagination of Beyond devotees, old & new, to create one very special and unforgettable event, labelled “Beyond Back-To-Back”. So did it deliver as promised & expected? And was Beyond at Colosseum at least, as we headlined this review, back with a bang?
Having decided to warm up our evening in Vauxhall’s Barcode, meeting up with pal & cougar impressionist Stephen, as well as a somewhat worse for wear clubbing crime partner Joel, we dodged a very untimely downpour and made our way across to Colosseum for the first instalment of this “Back-To-Back” splendour, at just turned midnight, arriving at the entrance and being greeted by the ever welcoming Alex Erfan who immediately commissioned one of his team members to show us around the revamped Colosseum venue. And it was clear that a fair amount of time & money had been spent on the place, the main room benefitting from a revised & ramped up D.J. booth, as well as spectacular new lighting & revisions to the elevated dance areas, the VIP room sporting a new sparkling curved wall backdrop, although the biggest improvement was to the facilities behind, with extended & new toilets and improved decor right across the expanse of the club. This was all added to by the extensive Beyond production employed for the night, making a striking statement and leaving you in no doubt as to what club you were about to devour, even if the night-time scheduling felt a little strange.
With our tour over and refreshments in hand, we joined a select crowd on the main room dancefloor, while Paul Martin served up some warm up sounds to get the party feel elevated, but with 1 a.m. fast approaching the feel remained a little lack lustre, even given the fabulous company we were holding, a whole host of Industri pals in attendance, Stephen, Jeremy, Andy & David, not to mention a wandering Joel who had returned from his forays around the club but still seemed unsettled in our presence. Then we spotted Paul Heron arriving for duty behind the decks, he coming over to say his hello’s, also remarking on reservations about how the party would turn out, given the scant numbers, but then disappeared behind the scenes to set up for an appropriate back-to-back set with Gonzalo Rivas, the two soon swinging into action, Paul treating us to some classic Beyond tracks revamped, while it was down to Gonzalo to fly the new flag of funky, chunky tunes to delight.
By now the VIP room had started up in the hands of Alan X, who, in Beyond days of old, was more used to finishing things off on the main floor and with this special space tucked away, it was always going to be a battle to attract an audience, although as people wandered through, they were drawn by the more uplifting & disco tinged sounds Alan was playing. But our devotions were very much back in the main room, as not only were Paul & Gonzalo gripping us with their pulsating performance, but a whole host of performers had swung into action, including some lively Brazilian inspired acrobatic dancers, an imposing 7ft Alien parading around the room, as well as more conformist go-go dancers flexing their muscles on the podiums across the space, the impressive lighting & lasers casting their luminous spells on proceedings and the mesmeric Beyond visuals emitting from the massive screen next to the D.J. booth. And it wasn’t long before we found our stride in our favoured dancing spot of old, joined by Stephen & an arriving Brent Nicholls who was keen to have a bit of a boogie as well as snap some shots before starting his stint in the VIP room.
Not too long after Brent’s 2 a.m. start, we moved our devotions to this special space, the place which had, in the original days, always held much of our Beyond magical moments and became one of our most favourite dancing spots of any venue in London. Seeing Mr Nicholls back behind the decks here made it feel more like the Beyond of old than any other so element of our experience so far and to make it even better, Brent was pulling out some stunning updated renditions of classic sounds played back in those early days, the odd latest track like “Release Me” & “Downpipe” drawing in a considerable crowd and packing out the compact VIP room, elevating the already considerable atmosphere, a whole eclectic mixture of club kids, glitzy girls & muscular men rubbing shoulders and dancing in delight to the D.J.’s devotions.
So good was Brent’s performance and so much like the good old days the feel was becoming, we spent the majority of the rest of our stay in his grip, pal Stephen still in attendance & launching his cougar swipes across our bows, having rested his feet & eyes a little on the couch in the corner, clubbing pal Joel also lapping up the fun & frivolity of the VIP room and our extravert dancing moves, made all the more pronounced by Mr D.J. pulling out the tune of then, Shakedown’s “At Night”, followed by the tune of now, Dennis Ferrer’s “Hey, Hey”, the lyrics being hilariously twisted from “...I heard you say...” to “...I heard you’re gay...” which became the theme & tone of a most entertaining evening of magical musical memories, even if the tune that will forever remind us of his times in the VIP room at Beyond, Sea Flowers’ “Easy Livin” was absent from Brent’s repertoire of rhapsodies. But this exclusion mattered not a jot as we savoured every moment, only briefly nipping into the main room, where The Sharp Boys were holding sway, the duo seeing out the remaining minutes & hours of our time at this first half in our 14 hour Beyond bonanza.
But no Beyond these days seems quite the same unless it is in Area, although given the strength of the Colosseum days from 2001 through 2006, we never thought we would be saying that. However, as times change, Beyond has too and so much of the new is better than the old, the clubs new home having treated us to so many prolific parties, as well as providing what has become our most favourite dancing spot of any venue we know or have known. Area seems to tick so many boxes, we being lost for words in being able to describe just how it does it, but quite simply it does, whether it be the fabulous treatment & greeting from Tom & Naomi, through to the fact that we feel at one with the D.J’s & their performances, to the unrivalled feel of the outside terrace space, often filled with table topping revellers and, of course, that truly magical spot of our dancing dervishness in the main room just next to the D.J. booth, where we not only get the chance to exercise our exhilarating moves, but we get a brilliant view of the amazing Area lighting pyrotechnics & displays.
And this second instalment in the “Back-To-Back” event proved to be just as good if not better than any Area outing before it, our arrival missing the usual presence of Tom & Naomi on the door, but their absence more than made up for by the mesmeric music on the main room floor, delivered delectably by first Mikey D, then Steve Pitron, our 14 hours of dancing rounded off by a rough round the edges Alan K, weary from a night of partying himself, but nevertheless still on breathtakingly brilliant multi mixing form, pulling out yet another amazing “Release Me” version among others, to add to the hours of terrific tunes Mikey & Steve had once again treated us too. Even clubbing pal Joel remarked on just how good the Area leg of the event was and this is a man that rarely stays the distance, although it was the distance we made, occasional dips into the Terrace bar to savour the delights of D’Johnny & Jamie Head, welcome respites from the feverish activity in the main room. But having reported on this awesome award winning experience so many times, you know the score by now and just how good our Sunday mornings have become brandished by Beyond, both Joel & us finally relenting at just before 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon, escaping to final moments fling of this mega afterhours and slinking home to reflect on a bombardment of Beyond brilliance.
So, as we had posed at the outset, did this Beyond “Back-To-Back” event deliver as promised & expected? Well, in many ways it did, the Area segment of the 14 hours speaking for itself. It was clear from the numbers through the door on Sunday morning compared to Saturday night, that Beyond at Area still benefits from other clubs feeding it, but there are also many that save themselves, getting up to soak up the full extent of this afterhours audacity and, for so many reasons, it once again proved to be yet another ecstatic experience in our catalogue of clubbing cahoots with this Beyond brand.
As for the Colosseum part of the party, well staging it on Saturday night was always going to prove tricky in recapturing the magic of old, plus scheduling the event the weekend after a Bank Holiday was a definite cause for the numbers through the door. That said, the main room developed a very healthy crowd and the VIP room had periods where the space was packed out. The production in Colosseum was very impressive indeed and whilst we would question some of the performers inclusion in the event, they did give some added dimension & fun to proceedings, although the improved feel of the venue & the new lighting & effects were a definite plus. However, once again, it was the D.J.’s that made our night at Colosseum, both Brent Nicholls & Paul Heron especially testament to their timeless quality and appeal, ensuring that some of those magical moments of old were recaptured, leaving us satisfied with our step back in time. As for future Beyond’s at Colosseum, only time will tell on their appeal, but making events special rather than regular may prove more fruitful and maybe trying out a Sunday morning might be an idea, then Beyond at its former home would definitely be back with a bang. (DISCO MATT)
Postscript
Such is the strength of Beyond, a whole host of D.J.’s have devoted special music compilations to the club, so, along with this special review, we thought we would share a selection with you.
Both Steve Pitron & Mikey D have posted individual & collective compilations of Beyond sets of theirs and you can grab your copies via http://stevepitronssessions.podomatic.com/ and http://mikeyd.podomatic.com/. Regular Area residents Hifi Sean Dickson & Alan K have also compiled special mixes with Beyond the dominant theme, Sean’s special “Terrace Mix” available at http://hifisean.podomatic.com/ while Alan K’s four devotions can be downloaded/played at http://djalank.podomatic.com. Brent Nicholls was a guest D.J. at the recent Beyond pervert event at Area and commissioned a special 110 minute mix which you can stream at http://djbrentnicholls.com/music, while his house disco drenched 2002 mix, truly evoking the sounds of the Beyond VIP room at that time, is available to download at http://djbrentnicholls.com/music/B2B. Our final music nod to Beyond comes from Nick Tcherniak who has been both a Blackbox & main room guest and has laid down a special recording extract from his set at the Beyond/Trade event, which you can grab at http://nicktcherniak.podomatic.com/.
BEYOND – BACK-TO-BACK
SATURDAY 5TH JUNE
SPECIAL REVIEW
Memories can be such amazing things and during our time in clubbing we have scores stored in our minds, whether it be the people we have enjoyed them with, the venues we have enjoyed them in, or simply just those moments in time that for one reason or another are truly unforgettable. But none of these clubbing memories would be possible without two special combinations, the D.J.’s & their music and the clubs & their promoter’s, so when we trawl through the great moments in our quite lengthy period strutting our stuff on the scene, one set of those tablet of times keeps ringing resoundingly in our heads, as not only does our reflection cast the spotlight on some of the scene’s best D.J.’s, the best music, but it encompasses what has become for us the best club of all time. Now, we could be talking about Trade, an amazing club that consumed our lives for well over ten years, but no, we could be talking about Crash, the underground revolution of Vauxhall that cemented some of the best & strongest friendships we have had in our life, but no, so, pushing those two legendary clubs & their memories aside, there is really only one left and that is Beyond.
So how come Beyond over the other two? Well, for all the magic that both Trade & Crash hold & represent in our lives, Beyond tops them each & every time, whether it be the unique & brilliant feel of the VIP room at former home Colosseum, the crème de la crème list of D.J.’s inextricably connected with the club & our memories, the myriad of people that have enjoyed our incredible journey in its hands for close on eight years, but moreover the magnificent music that lives on in our minds eye and continues to deliver in all departments in our rather choosy chain of criteria. But none of these extra special set of memories would be possible were it not for the vision & passion of one man, who back in 2001 saw an opportunity to bring something fresh & new to the vitality of the spurning scene in Vauxhall & provide clubbers the opportunity to continue their Saturday night partying deep into Sunday just a stone’s throw away from their earlier devotions.
One Craig Elder was the man with that vision and in launching Beyond to a then unsuspecting public, even he couldn’t have predicted just how popular the club would be. But without his passion, his direction & his vision, Beyond would not be the club it is today and it would not have attracted some of the best D.J.’s the scene has seen, names like Alan X, Paul Heron, Brent Nicholls, The Sharp Boys, Steve Pitron, & David Jimenez, with more recent music maestro’s including Alan K, Mikey D, D’Johnny, Jamie Head, Hifi Sean & how could we leave him out, Gonzalo Rivas. But for all the greatness of these star performers and indeed for all the hard work of the cast of behind the scenes & other individuals that continue to bring this mega legendary Sunday morning partying phenomenon to us, no special review would be complete without saluting the man that right from its inception back in June 2001 to this very day, a man that remains the figurehead of the club and just last Sunday talked so eloquently to us about his continuing passion & belief in his beloved Beyond.
So, with our prologue of this prolific partying phenomenon painted, you can imaging our excitement when news came through that the team behind Beyond were planning a special event that would give a nod back to the classic days of the club at its original home, super club Colosseum and not only that, but it would showcase some of the original D.J. stars that made those heady days so memorable in our minds. Then, when the added excitement of combining both old & new Beyond into one huge 14 hour extravaganza hit us with a wave of enthusiasm, we simply couldn’t miss out on what, on paper at least, would be the biggest Beyond event yet, including many of the elements that made Colosseum in its hands so special, not to mention the magical qualities of now regular home Area delivers week in week out and capturing the imagination of Beyond devotees, old & new, to create one very special and unforgettable event, labelled “Beyond Back-To-Back”. So did it deliver as promised & expected? And was Beyond at Colosseum at least, as we headlined this review, back with a bang?
Having decided to warm up our evening in Vauxhall’s Barcode, meeting up with pal & cougar impressionist Stephen, as well as a somewhat worse for wear clubbing crime partner Joel, we dodged a very untimely downpour and made our way across to Colosseum for the first instalment of this “Back-To-Back” splendour, at just turned midnight, arriving at the entrance and being greeted by the ever welcoming Alex Erfan who immediately commissioned one of his team members to show us around the revamped Colosseum venue. And it was clear that a fair amount of time & money had been spent on the place, the main room benefitting from a revised & ramped up D.J. booth, as well as spectacular new lighting & revisions to the elevated dance areas, the VIP room sporting a new sparkling curved wall backdrop, although the biggest improvement was to the facilities behind, with extended & new toilets and improved decor right across the expanse of the club. This was all added to by the extensive Beyond production employed for the night, making a striking statement and leaving you in no doubt as to what club you were about to devour, even if the night-time scheduling felt a little strange.
With our tour over and refreshments in hand, we joined a select crowd on the main room dancefloor, while Paul Martin served up some warm up sounds to get the party feel elevated, but with 1 a.m. fast approaching the feel remained a little lack lustre, even given the fabulous company we were holding, a whole host of Industri pals in attendance, Stephen, Jeremy, Andy & David, not to mention a wandering Joel who had returned from his forays around the club but still seemed unsettled in our presence. Then we spotted Paul Heron arriving for duty behind the decks, he coming over to say his hello’s, also remarking on reservations about how the party would turn out, given the scant numbers, but then disappeared behind the scenes to set up for an appropriate back-to-back set with Gonzalo Rivas, the two soon swinging into action, Paul treating us to some classic Beyond tracks revamped, while it was down to Gonzalo to fly the new flag of funky, chunky tunes to delight.
By now the VIP room had started up in the hands of Alan X, who, in Beyond days of old, was more used to finishing things off on the main floor and with this special space tucked away, it was always going to be a battle to attract an audience, although as people wandered through, they were drawn by the more uplifting & disco tinged sounds Alan was playing. But our devotions were very much back in the main room, as not only were Paul & Gonzalo gripping us with their pulsating performance, but a whole host of performers had swung into action, including some lively Brazilian inspired acrobatic dancers, an imposing 7ft Alien parading around the room, as well as more conformist go-go dancers flexing their muscles on the podiums across the space, the impressive lighting & lasers casting their luminous spells on proceedings and the mesmeric Beyond visuals emitting from the massive screen next to the D.J. booth. And it wasn’t long before we found our stride in our favoured dancing spot of old, joined by Stephen & an arriving Brent Nicholls who was keen to have a bit of a boogie as well as snap some shots before starting his stint in the VIP room.
Not too long after Brent’s 2 a.m. start, we moved our devotions to this special space, the place which had, in the original days, always held much of our Beyond magical moments and became one of our most favourite dancing spots of any venue in London. Seeing Mr Nicholls back behind the decks here made it feel more like the Beyond of old than any other so element of our experience so far and to make it even better, Brent was pulling out some stunning updated renditions of classic sounds played back in those early days, the odd latest track like “Release Me” & “Downpipe” drawing in a considerable crowd and packing out the compact VIP room, elevating the already considerable atmosphere, a whole eclectic mixture of club kids, glitzy girls & muscular men rubbing shoulders and dancing in delight to the D.J.’s devotions.
So good was Brent’s performance and so much like the good old days the feel was becoming, we spent the majority of the rest of our stay in his grip, pal Stephen still in attendance & launching his cougar swipes across our bows, having rested his feet & eyes a little on the couch in the corner, clubbing pal Joel also lapping up the fun & frivolity of the VIP room and our extravert dancing moves, made all the more pronounced by Mr D.J. pulling out the tune of then, Shakedown’s “At Night”, followed by the tune of now, Dennis Ferrer’s “Hey, Hey”, the lyrics being hilariously twisted from “...I heard you say...” to “...I heard you’re gay...” which became the theme & tone of a most entertaining evening of magical musical memories, even if the tune that will forever remind us of his times in the VIP room at Beyond, Sea Flowers’ “Easy Livin” was absent from Brent’s repertoire of rhapsodies. But this exclusion mattered not a jot as we savoured every moment, only briefly nipping into the main room, where The Sharp Boys were holding sway, the duo seeing out the remaining minutes & hours of our time at this first half in our 14 hour Beyond bonanza.
But no Beyond these days seems quite the same unless it is in Area, although given the strength of the Colosseum days from 2001 through 2006, we never thought we would be saying that. However, as times change, Beyond has too and so much of the new is better than the old, the clubs new home having treated us to so many prolific parties, as well as providing what has become our most favourite dancing spot of any venue we know or have known. Area seems to tick so many boxes, we being lost for words in being able to describe just how it does it, but quite simply it does, whether it be the fabulous treatment & greeting from Tom & Naomi, through to the fact that we feel at one with the D.J’s & their performances, to the unrivalled feel of the outside terrace space, often filled with table topping revellers and, of course, that truly magical spot of our dancing dervishness in the main room just next to the D.J. booth, where we not only get the chance to exercise our exhilarating moves, but we get a brilliant view of the amazing Area lighting pyrotechnics & displays.
And this second instalment in the “Back-To-Back” event proved to be just as good if not better than any Area outing before it, our arrival missing the usual presence of Tom & Naomi on the door, but their absence more than made up for by the mesmeric music on the main room floor, delivered delectably by first Mikey D, then Steve Pitron, our 14 hours of dancing rounded off by a rough round the edges Alan K, weary from a night of partying himself, but nevertheless still on breathtakingly brilliant multi mixing form, pulling out yet another amazing “Release Me” version among others, to add to the hours of terrific tunes Mikey & Steve had once again treated us too. Even clubbing pal Joel remarked on just how good the Area leg of the event was and this is a man that rarely stays the distance, although it was the distance we made, occasional dips into the Terrace bar to savour the delights of D’Johnny & Jamie Head, welcome respites from the feverish activity in the main room. But having reported on this awesome award winning experience so many times, you know the score by now and just how good our Sunday mornings have become brandished by Beyond, both Joel & us finally relenting at just before 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon, escaping to final moments fling of this mega afterhours and slinking home to reflect on a bombardment of Beyond brilliance.
So, as we had posed at the outset, did this Beyond “Back-To-Back” event deliver as promised & expected? Well, in many ways it did, the Area segment of the 14 hours speaking for itself. It was clear from the numbers through the door on Sunday morning compared to Saturday night, that Beyond at Area still benefits from other clubs feeding it, but there are also many that save themselves, getting up to soak up the full extent of this afterhours audacity and, for so many reasons, it once again proved to be yet another ecstatic experience in our catalogue of clubbing cahoots with this Beyond brand.
As for the Colosseum part of the party, well staging it on Saturday night was always going to prove tricky in recapturing the magic of old, plus scheduling the event the weekend after a Bank Holiday was a definite cause for the numbers through the door. That said, the main room developed a very healthy crowd and the VIP room had periods where the space was packed out. The production in Colosseum was very impressive indeed and whilst we would question some of the performers inclusion in the event, they did give some added dimension & fun to proceedings, although the improved feel of the venue & the new lighting & effects were a definite plus. However, once again, it was the D.J.’s that made our night at Colosseum, both Brent Nicholls & Paul Heron especially testament to their timeless quality and appeal, ensuring that some of those magical moments of old were recaptured, leaving us satisfied with our step back in time. As for future Beyond’s at Colosseum, only time will tell on their appeal, but making events special rather than regular may prove more fruitful and maybe trying out a Sunday morning might be an idea, then Beyond at its former home would definitely be back with a bang. (DISCO MATT)
Postscript
Such is the strength of Beyond, a whole host of D.J.’s have devoted special music compilations to the club, so, along with this special review, we thought we would share a selection with you.
Both Steve Pitron & Mikey D have posted individual & collective compilations of Beyond sets of theirs and you can grab your copies via http://stevepitronssessions.podomatic.com/ and http://mikeyd.podomatic.com/. Regular Area residents Hifi Sean Dickson & Alan K have also compiled special mixes with Beyond the dominant theme, Sean’s special “Terrace Mix” available at http://hifisean.podomatic.com/ while Alan K’s four devotions can be downloaded/played at http://djalank.podomatic.com. Brent Nicholls was a guest D.J. at the recent Beyond pervert event at Area and commissioned a special 110 minute mix which you can stream at http://djbrentnicholls.com/music, while his house disco drenched 2002 mix, truly evoking the sounds of the Beyond VIP room at that time, is available to download at http://djbrentnicholls.com/music/B2B. Our final music nod to Beyond comes from Nick Tcherniak who has been both a Blackbox & main room guest and has laid down a special recording extract from his set at the Beyond/Trade event, which you can grab at http://nicktcherniak.podomatic.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment