Cellar Door, 10th November

It took me about five years to actually get to Cellar Door and it was a total anticlimax. The space itself is pretty cool – it’s a repurposed public toilet in the middle of Aldwych. You’d never know it was there unless you knew it was there. Downstairs they make the most of the space with mirrored walls – so much so I kept walking through thinking there was more to it. There wasn’t. Luckily there were two seats along the side so we quickly grabbed those and waited for the acts to start.

I will give Cellar Door the benefit of the doubt – maybe we just chose a dud night. It was basically a guy on keyboard with a walkabout cabaret singer doing numbers such as The House of the Rising Sun and In These Shoes and moving around the audience giving them her most personal of attention. I found it all a bit cringey and forced though perhaps I just wasn’t drunk enough.

Speaking of drinks, we ordered ‘martinis’ – mine the Cool as a Cucumber and Carolyn’s the London Calling. For martinis they were oddly frothy and not particularly potent. Mine tasted nice enough – but was too mild. Carolyn’s was similar – and more to her preference when it comes to strength.

We had our cocktail and then made a sharp exit before the singing started again! 

Whirl-y-gig, 30th July

Whirl-y-gig, being very much of the Planet Angel style of raving, was therefore, of course, an incredibly fun and friendly night. Borne out of a dancing self-expression event for the Association of Humanistic Pscyhology, they outgrew them and now host an almost monthly clubnight in London and their own festival Whirl-y-fayre. It has a bit of a festival feel to it – like Wonderland – lots of decoration and colours everywhere. They try to keep the music eclectic but dancey. This didn’t work for me quite so well as it meant they chopped and changed styles, so you didn’t know if you would like what was playing one song to the next. And the sound levels in the Camden Centre, I felt, were woefully low. You could easily have a conversation at the back of the dance floor, which is not what I want from my raves.

However, I had a brilliant time. When the music I liked was played, it was great, and I have to say it did veer towards my style of thing as the night wore on. Everyone seemed so up for it and so happy to mingle and chat to people they didn’t know. I lost track of the number of people I befriended. They have interesting bits and pieces around - such as a board to stick messages on (someone wrote something very kind about me!) which makes the night feel a little more interactive and encourages getting to know people. I came away from the night with a huge smile on my face.

They finish each night with a parachute – you know, like when you were at school. This does feel a bit random as you all just sit underneath it and natter to yourselves, but the visuals are really quite cool!

One other small niggle would be that it ends at 4 am which is, of course, far too early. But there are always afterparties…

SS Atlantica, 28th May

I have been wanting to go to SS Atlantica for yonks – probably since I set up my Meetup group four years ago, but as it’s a once-a-year deal, getting to it proved tricky. I always seemed to have plans by the time they released the date. Not so this year.

So on a balmy evening we dressed in our finest evening wear and boarded the SS Atlantica for a jaunt along the Thames or two. We sipped champagne and enjoyed the views, and then spent some time in the belly of the boat drinking in the live hot jazz and taking part in illicit gambling. Which was all very fun. But this entertainment was short lived and soon it was general drinking and dancing and I must admit, we got a little bored by it. At midnight the boat docked to let people off who wished to disembark early (the night finished at 2 am) and most of my crowd agreed we should have got off at that point rather than go another lap onboard. While being on the Thames is always nice, I’m not sure it was worth the slightly elevated price compared to other B & H events, and I don’t think I’ll bother with it next year.

The Queen Adelaide, 9th April

The Queen Adelaide is sort of the reincarnation of the George and Dragon, a famous LGBT venue in Shoreditch that was one the many victims of London’s nightlife crisis (rent hikes in this case). I never got there before it shut, but the people behind it have moved along the same road (closer to me in fact) and re-opened the Adelaide to recapture what the G & D used to provide.

On a Saturday, at 1 am my friend and I decided we should probably go out for a drink after all, and as the Queen Adelaide is open until 3, decided we should probably go there. I’m glad we did. We headed straight downstairs to where the party was going in the main bar area. But there are plenty of other little rooms and nooks if you’re not in the dancing mood to just hang out, which is what we did. People were friendly and we soon got chatting to a couple of guys who were out on a bit of a bender.

The crowd is quite obviously, but not exclusively, LGBT and the music policy was pretty decent in terms of playing ‘floor fillers’. Sometimes a little too poppy for me, but they played quite a good selection of RnB type stuff, and also a bit of retro 90s stuff too. Ace of Bass I particularly remember featuring.

3 am came around very quickly and we, and those remaining, rather reluctantly made our way out of the venue. So good to have a fun (late) local.

Pinch, Strange Days, 20th February

Strange Days is the new 60s/indie pop night from the guys behind Star Shaped (which I have yet to get to).

It’s a monthly event at The Garage and we went along to the launch which was free to create a bit of hype. It was pretty much exactly what it says on the tin and if you’re a fan of the indie from yesteryear then you will absolutely love this night. The tunes were strong from the get-go and we danced and pogoed all the night through.

The one thing I would say is that in terms of recent indie music, there was a dearth. Tame Impala somehow snuck in but they were the only recent tune I can recall hearing and I thought it might have been because the song they played (Elephant) sounds very 60s anyway.

The only thing was that it was fairly empty – if you could have taken the crammed and sweaty vibe of Des Was a Bowie and swapped it for the crowd here, it would have made for a perfect night.

Pinch

Before heading over, we stopped in the very lovely, very charming Pinch, tucked on a side street way off the Kingsland Road stretch. It is well worth making the journey though. We arrived not too long before it shuts at 10:30/11ish and were welcomed in by the girl behind the bar who asked us what kind of flavours we fancied and made some perfect suggestions, before chatting to us about where we were going and what good places there were to go in the area. There were a couple of other couples in the place besides us, but it’s small so it didn’t feel empty. I think if this were my local you’d hardly ever get me out of it. It feels very different to Sager + Wilde, which up until now I would have said was my favouite wine bar, but I had an instant affinity with it. Sometimes things just click between you and a place. I can’t wait to bring my fellow wine lovers here.

Fox and Badger, 13th February

Firstly I should say that the Fox and Badger aren’t nearly as kinky as they would have you believe from their descriptions and the very NSFW posts that were littering my feed in the run up to the party. People were so confused as to what type of party it was that they had to actually clarify that there was no sex involved and no play room. When we arrived my friend got quite excited seeing a selection of flogging and spanking materials laid out but it soon became clear this was for show and there was nowhere to use them.

But it was still an excellent party, full of people of a certain open-minded persuasion. They had a few performances throughout the night, which were of an impressive quality. One girl performed a reverse-tease – she started off in a most angelic, all white outfit, and did the normal striptease routine. But it didn’t stop there, because then she started to put ON clothes – this time showing off her bad self with black Latex and PVC before inverting the trope and throwing money at the audience rather than the other way around. Very good.

There was only the one room so it was an intimate affair, conducive to chatting and getting to know your fellow party-goers. The music was of a housey flavour and everyone was dancing and making the most of the stage area when it wasn’t in use to do so.

The theme was red and hot and I would say every guest paid attention and made the most of it. Alex and Sinead, our host and hostess, were looking exceptionally fabulous – special mention must be made to Alex for his, what you could call brave, outfit. I’m always impressed by a man that can rock heels for a night. 

So yes, great fun all-round and I'm sure it won't be my last visit to the world of Fox and Badger.

Des was a Bowie fan, 30th January

I don’t know who Des was, and so I cannot vouch for whether or not he really was a Bowie fan. And I cannot say how much Bowie would normally be played, as we went the weekend after Bowie’s demise so there was a LOT of it.

It was an odd night. It took place in The George, which is a pub. Not even a pub converted to a venue the way The Macbeth is. It’s just a pub. But people made do and danced where they could (including, at one point, on the tables – one woman was terrifically hammered). The crowd was mixed – mainly fairly young but with a few of an older generation who maybe group up with Bowie. Again, couldn’t say if this was due to his death, or due to the fact they’d been drinking in the pub the whole day and just found themselves at an indie night.

The music wasn’t completely my cup of tea – I like indie but I like all the stuff I grew up with and this went a bit further back and a bit deeper, playing quite a bit that I didn’t know. I made the most of it and danced along but wasn't left wondering when I could possibly get down there again.  

Joe's Camden, 23rd January

I think it says a lot that in the middle of January when almost the entire population of London had given up on reveling, Joe’s in Camden was heaving.

At first I thought it was just going to be us in the place, doing what we could to fill the dance floor but slowly and gradually the place filled until I suddenly became aware the place was busy as hell. And quite deserved. The place is a bar and does food during the day, but at night the jams are played and people start to jive. Every night is retro night, and they mostly play 50s and 60s rock and roll. So you can expect Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley but also the Jackson 5 and Etta James. We were rockin’ and rollin’ non stop. It’s very much an anyone’s bar – unlike a lot of the retro/vintage nights I’ve been to, the people here weren’t dressed especially authentically, nor taking up the dance floor pulling moves that would intimidate you into just gawping as an onlooker on the side. If you like Rock n Roll or Motown then this is where you want to head.

Great Big Kiss, 7th January

When I started my Meetup many moons ago, the very first night we went to was a 60s indiepop, northern soul night called How Does it Feel to be Loved at The Phoenix. I had never heard of it before but it was a rollicking good time and I decided I wanted to try its sister night Great Big Kiss where the focus was a little more on girl groups. Almost four years later and I crossed that off my List.

It was also held at The Phoenix which is a venue I have since come to know very well. It was a cold, rainy January night, and even though the turnout from my Meetup was actually about the same as normal, I think the number of people who would normally have come to the party was under par. We went downstairs at about 10 and it was pretty empty. It wasn’t much busier by 11 and had it not been for my Meetup group the dance floor would have been all but empty. But we’re an enthusiastic bunch and we got to dancing almost straight away. The music was a lot more authentic than I had anticipated. That's another way of saying none of us knew any of the songs. I had expected at least a few we would be able to sing along to. It was also a lot slower in tempo than we felt was ideal. More swaying than foot stomping. We suspected it might get a bit livelier come midnight, and it seemed to – a bit  - but still no songs we recognised. However, patience was key and within half an hour we were singing along to Beggin’ and Louie Louie. The night I would say had mostly focused on Northern Soul and much less on the Motown and indie it also advertised. For passing fans of the genre it was a long time to wait for the ‘good stuff’, but if you’re genuinely into this kind of music then you will love it.

You could easily tell the ‘fair weather' fans from the serious followers as they had the genuine dance moves down pat and were very much dressed the part. We weren’t. I had a fun night for sure and danced for a good couple of hours but I would probably not return to this night and go to Soul of the 60s or All shook Up instead.

Wonderland, 5th December

When I first got to Wonderland, at a little before midnight I was a little worried. Where were all the people? Why weren’t the ones that were there as dressed up as me?

Forward to two hours’ time and all those cares had been forgotten. Sure, it wasn’t rammed but there were more than enough bodies to give the place some atmosphere and I didn’t feel like the odd one out in my choice of costume. I had such an excellent time. I hadn’t been before but had told anyone that asked that I believed it was a bit like Rumpus but on a smaller scale. I think that was a fair assumption. They had live acts, DJs and some ‘goings on’ and had completely transformed the Prince of Wales into an indoor festival.

We arrived and there was a laid back band playing some gentle ska type music. Later on Great Scott absolutely rocked the mic with their MCing and had the crowd in thrall. There was the great coronation of Queen Alice, much to the chagrin of the Queen of Hearts which involved confetti being sprinkled everywhere and much hoopla, and then another folky upbeat band a bit later. Plenty of entertainment. And that was just the one room – there was also another more focused on just dancing and a few little touches along the way, like a glitter shower (non-functioning when I went to explore it).

So, two rooms means it is a much smaller party than Rumpus. But I kinda liked that about it. I felt like I chatted to more people than I might at Rumpus, and also, didn’t have the fear of missing out on something going on. With all the acts happening in the one room, I knew where to go and at what time. Definitely took the FOMO out of my night.

The crowd was fun and friendly and before I knew it it was 5:45 am and time to start thinking about heading home. Wonderland – I will see you again!

Barrio Soho, 21st October

Ok, so I never went to the old-style Barrio Soho, so I can’t compare before and after the relaunch. But I can tell you what it’s like now, having been invited to sample the new menu (both drinks and food) and soak up the atmosphere. This is totally the place to go for fun and fiesta after work – have a few cocktails and a bite to eat upstairs and then once you’re nice and warmed up you can continue the party downstairs where it has its own little dance floor.

Drinkswise we tried pretty much everything they had with my favourite being the Cuba Lima which was a variation on a pisco sour. 

We also had a good selection of food. The mixed basket of fried goodness – pigs ears, pigs trotters and pork scratchings were thoroughly excellent. I was dubious about the ears having had them once before and finding them slimy and gristly, but fried and crunchy they make a good snack! The trotters were in nugget form and definitely my favourite. Both dips had a nice kick to them.

We also got to have a couple of rounds of pork tacos and homemade tortillas with some guacamole were waiting on the table for us. Happily made quick work of those!

The only thing I didn’t care for was the Mexican corn – but I’m just not a corn on the cob kinda gal. This had cheese and cayenne on them and were fine, I just don’t enjoy the process of eating off the cob. Sweet potato fries were tasty but not the best version I've ever had - they were rather large and some of them could have done with a few more minutes.

The atmosphere was as lively as the décor, bringing a bit of sunshine to the rapidly approaching winter. 

The Piano Works, 25th September

A friend of mine told me all about the lovely evening he’d had at this newly opened Piano Bar in Farringdon which I’d never heard of, and as soon as he’d mentioned it, for the next week or so I couldn’t move for seeing this place talked about.

So I got straight on it and booked an area for my Meetup. I knew there were two pianos and throughout the night the band was built up around them. They work strictly on a request basis so anything can be played, from Dean Martin to Weezer depending on what the crowd is asking for.

By the time we got there the band were in full activation and it was clear there were quite a few after-work parties there that were well oiled. My group settled down right next to the bandstand and had a jolly time. Given the fact that anyone could request, some of the music was a little too crowdpleasing and cheesy for me, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and was tempted on more than one occasion to get up and dance. The two pianists take turn singing the songs, and at one point one of them swapped out with a girl pianist who had a better voice than both of them by miles.

The other downside to the music being purely on a request basis is that everyone wants to request songs, and they hint that for yours to stand a chance of being played you need to include a tip. But even so, there’s no way they are going to get to everyone’s and I’m sure they must gauge the audience in deciding which songs make the cut. Our waitress did say that if our songs weren’t played we would get our money back but we didn’t really expect them to follow through on this and when the place was shutting at the end of the night we were proved correct. Did we mind? Not really – we’d had such a good time we stayed right until the end and 2 quid wasn’t something we minded losing out on for the evening’s entertainment.

Entry is free before 9 pm, £5 before 10 pm and £10 after but if you make a group booking of 10 or more you can save the entrance fee. With Christmas coming up this is the ideal work night out. 

Halloween 2015

Halloween is probably my favourite time of the year. It’s when all the freaks come out to play, and some of my favourite nights know this and take full advantage, putting on some of their best parties. I’m not going to go into detail on each of tese, but thought I would provide a quick run down of the parties that have taken my eye over the Halloween weekend.

Friday October 30^th

A Curious Invitation's Theatre of Blood

Last Tuesday Society DanseMacabre 

ABQ Gus’s funeral (Dios de la Muerte theme)

Carousel do The Addams Family (burlesque, circus, dancing)

Saturday October 31^st

White Mischief's Heaven and Hell Ball (cabaret, burlesque, steampunk)

To the Lazer Cave Sequin Zombie Lazer Rave (rave, electro, techno)

Regression Sessions Halloween Special (kidult games, all kinds of music)

Torture Garden (fetish, kink, electro)

End of the world party (all kinds of music)

Magic theatre (vintage, electro swing)

Dark Circus (cabaret with a darker theme)

RIP (rave, techno)

The Vaults Raveyard (cabaret, electro swing)

Found Horror Series: MayaJane Coles at Building Six (rave)

Sink the Pink (tranny galore!)

Once Upon a Time in the Afterlife (all sorts, Day of the Dead theme)

I’m going to the Curious Invitation event on Friday and the End of the World Party on Saturday as I haven’t done either of those before. But competition was fierce!

Cuisson POPdown and Cherry Cola, 27th June

I went to Cuisson’s Pop-Down dinner at the end of June. Held in a basement coffee shop, it certainly had the transient pop-up feel to it, giving it a slightly guerilla atmosphere.

And the cooking was quite impressive, even if unfortunately most of the dishes weren’t to my own personal taste.

There were six ‘courses’ (if bread be counted as a course??). For each I would say the ingredients and combinations were very well thought out leading to well balanced dishes. They were the perfect idea for a summer’s day – all very light and fresh.

We started with bread and their own made cultured butter. I was so pleased my dining companion was late as it allowed me to eat all her portion as well. It was exquisite. Then came the first real course – described as yoghurt with cucumber and anise, this was served almost as a gazpacho – a very thin soup. I don’t like yoghurt but luckily the other flavours counterbalanced this and I found it did taste quite nice – like a ‘souped up’ (excuse the pun) tzatziki. I couldn’t quite get over the fact I was spooning very thin yoghurt into my mouth however, which wasn’t the most pleasant sensation.

After this was something I could easily tuck into – ratte potatoes with hay, grelot tops and umami, closely followed by duck liver, thankfully served in pate form. This was spread onto a homemade cracker and was a very rich, savoury taste and my favourite (apart from the bread) course of the evening. The chunks of pineapple were a good foil to the deep ducky taste.

Next up – octopus pil pil with mustard and wild rice. Again something I would never order for myself. I think if you liked octopus then this was probably a good example of it. And it was at least sliced and presented in such a way that it was very easy to forget what it looks like in the natural world. It was now we began to realise all the courses so far had been cold, which we thought a little odd. I don’t think this was meant to be a feature of the night, but perhaps had something to do with the facilities available to them. It meant that I felt vaguely dissatisfied with the meal after, wishing I’d had at least one piping hot, filling dish.

Instead what I had as the final flourish was a lukewarm piece of salmon with horseradish cream/mousse. The horseradish was light and fluffy, and, most importantly to me – subtle. The fish was firm yet translucent. An accomplished dish but not one that rocked my particular tastebuds.

The dessert was similarly light and summery with a lychee and mango bavarois. It was so light and airy I felt I practically inhaled it rather than ate it. Very pleasant and a refreshing finish to the evening’s meal.

The aim of the pop-down was to create a relaxed and somewhat interactive dining occasion and it sort of worked. The chefs introduced the meal and you were free to take a wander and have a look at what they were doing, as well as them circulating and checking on you. Service was attentive and warm. As a supper club experience it was quite fun, and we chatted to the fellow diners on our table. Cuisson also do a dessert-only version which I think would be worth checking out, and they regularly change the menu so if the one I have described doesn’t float your boat I reckon it would be worth taking a punt on another evening.

Cherry Cola

After our grown up meal, I went back to Cocktail Trading Co and proceeded to get really quite pissed for the evening. After this we went up to Cherry Cola in Camden to bid farewell to the Purple Turtle. This indie institution was closing its doors forever and Cherry Cola, the indie night were seeing it off. We got there and caught the tail end of the final live band and then they plunged into some very decent indie and indie-tinged pop. Everyone was bopping and dancing and jumping about and I am very pleased to say Cherry Cola hasn't ended with the Purple Turtle - you can find it resurrected in East London at The Macbeth these days. 

All Shook Up, 20th June

All Shook Up is a fairly new addition to the retro/vintage nightlife scene, spinnind discs of rock n roll from the 50s to the 60s. It’s held monthly at Bloomsbury Bowl and I must admit, for this very reason I was unsure it would be much of a success. I had been out once to Bloomsbury Bowl at night and it was so dead I went home much earlier than I would normally.

Happily, this night was much more lively, and even though I did, in fact, leave early, this was nothing to do with boredom and instead because I was meeting friends at yet another party.

The venue itself was pretty hopping with plenty of people there to bowl and eat, but it was the dancefloor I was concerned with and this was plenty well populated. My group wasted no time in getting on and twisting and jiving and luckily the music they were playing encouraged us to do so straight away. Those that stayed behind after I went reported that they continued to have a great night.

What was also quite sweet is that the last time I was here there were a few of the older generation who had obviously been there the first time and knew all the moves. The same crew were there this time, showing us youngsters how it is done!

It’s good to get another night on the scene showcasing these rock ‘n’ roll tunes so if that’s your bag, definitely check this night out. 

To the Laser Cave, 16th May

To the Laser Cave was literarally full of shiny, happy people. Because To the Laser Cave is a rave with one key difference. Everything is about lasers (obvs), glitter, glowing and shininess. And almost everyone fully embraces this. It made such a difference from your common or garden East London rave.

Firstly, the venue was a lot smaller than I had expected, fostering a more intimate vibe in the first place. It was held at Bloc in Hackney Wick which I had thought would be a huge warehouse but it had just the one moderate room, with a second room holding the bar and a few largeish areas for seating.

But it also attracts a certain person - a certain mindset that thinks, yeah I like clubbing, but I know I'll like it even more if I stick a bunch of tin foil on my person and innumerable glow sticks. And they're right - it heightens the night, gives everyone something to talk about with everyone else.

The music was almost incidental but as far as I remember it was also pretty good. I danced. A lot. Fat Boy Slim's Weapon of Choice dropping was a memorable moment.

At around 5 am I was beginning to flag but my friend persuaded me to hold on for another hour and see it through. And I'm so glad I did. Just as the last song was played somehow, suddenly, the daylight flooded the room and everyone cheered. It was quite a euphoric moment and nothing like any ending to a clubnight I've ever been at.

I cannot wait to go back. 

Alternative Nightlife June-July 2015

I keep saying I’ll start doing more posts which give a heads up on upcoming events and then I get so behind on my actual blog posts I don’t! But here’s another stab at it.

Basically, here’s a bit of a rundown of what’s coming up on my Meetup over the next month, so if you fancy coming along, do feel free!

First up this weekend we’re heading to Paperworks which has been the year-long pop-up outside space brought to you by Corsica Studios. They have DJs and food and it’s sounded fun so we’re going on its final weekend!

Next weekend is a big one – it’s Antichrist’s 11^th birthday July 3rd so we’re going along to that. This is only my third Antichrist, and, even though it wasn’t hugely busy last time, I had a really good night and I expect it to be even better on its birthday. My first visit coincided with such an occasion and I loved it.

Then, the next night (the 4th), a complete change of pace. Bourne and Hollingsworth, the supremos in themed party nights (Blitz, Prohibition) have a new one! This time we’re only going back as far as the 90s, with Playback. This feels a little too recent in my mind to make a theme around it but if anyone can do it, B & H can! They’re promising the finest music of the era, some live acts, décor harking back to the 90s and drinks inspired by the colour/tackiness of the time as well (frozen daquiris and wibbles anyone?)! Dress up in your finest denim and fringerie and come along!

In fact, the Meetup are back in Bourne & Hollingsworth’s presence the weekend after that as well, when we attend the Chap Olympiad. Nothing but the silliest/most refined sports to be enjoyed from this event – things like moustache wrestling or, of course umbrella jousting. Spiffing!

And then I’m rounding off the month with another dip into the kinky side of life – my first Camden Crunch. As I haven’t been before I don’t know what exactly to expect – it’s a more laid back, casual event than other fetish nights as it’s not a proper clubnight, more of a get together party. But I’m sure it will be full of the lovely folk I’ve come to expect from these sorts of things.

In between all these weekend shenanigans, we’ve got some immersive theatre to get to at The Jetty again. We really enjoyed The Boy who Climbed out of his Face from Shunt there last year and hope that Zebedee Productions can put the shipping containers to equally good use with Heartbreak Hotel. And there’s some silly fun to be had as Last Man Standing Quiz is back on the 1^st of July! All the fun of a pub quiz without the pressure to actually know anything!

Club Hashtag, 10th April

A friend of mine had been to several Club Hashtags and had become something of an ambassador for the night, firmly believing it should attract more people than it was.

What my friend extolled about the night was its sense of randomness. Anarchy almost. It was essentially a clubnight but throughout the night, they would have performances of around 3 minutes – ten performances in all – with no announcement about them happening. They just started. These performances ranged all over the place, not being pinned down to any specific genre. You never quite knew what was going on, and I liked the sound of this. Finally it fell on a Friday I could make.

But everything was different. There was now an MC! And only three acts instead of ten! And these acts were very much introduced as the night went on, so you knew they were about to happen. They were still performances lasting roughly the length of one song so the amount of performance was drastically reduced.

However, the flavour of the previous events (that I imagine) was there in the form of these performances and the eclectic music played. They left you slightly bewildered though ultimately pleased. The first was the ‘youngest cannibal in Europe’ – a sweet girl who just happens to want to eat your flesh. About an hour later we had a fabulous performance from Fancy Chance doing an impression of Prince. Her singing wasn’t the strongest but her panache and stage presence was. It helped that she was actually smaller than Prince and was very convincing in stature!

And finally, after a false start, we had The Fabulous Russella doing a drag lip sync performance. I mean, I guess that’s what you’d call it. He first removed his fabulous shoes, and took up his position facing the back of the stage. The music started too quickly for him so he made them start at the beginning again, thus heightening our anticipation. He then spent the whole song miming with his back to the audience! Baffling. I’m sure it was meant to make a statement about something but I have no idea what.

The music was great. It tended to be stuff that everyone knew but without descending into cheese. It ranged from The Clash and Jilted John, Uptown Top Ranking through to a lot of drum n bass and jungle towards the end of the night. We danced and pogoed and jumped around until our feet hurt (or mine did at least).

I should also mention Steve Nice who was a very good host, not least because he caught wind of my meetup being there and decided to meander through the crowd until he found my little group, MCing over the track along the way. My meetup has never been sought out like that before!

In truth I was a little disappointed with the night because it was so different from what I’d thought it would be (bring back the randomness!). If I hadn’t had those expectations, however, then I would be all positivity, saying what a fun and slightly weird night I'd had, which I did. I would gladly go back again. 

R & She/Tipsy, 28th March

So, a gay R & B night, especially one that plays nothing but tracks by women can rightly be described as pretty niche. But what a popular niche that is!

Monthly at Tipsy is R & She, a clubnight covering just such a niche. Doors open at 9 and by 11:30 the place is already a sweaty mess. Tipsy is one of those basement clubs that is basically just a space, a bar and a soundsystem, no more no less. Everywhere else is for dancing, and so it is used. They warned on their Twitter feed that it gets busy and to get there early. We made a concerted effort to get there before 11 and I wouldn’t say it was very busy at all. Half an hour later and that had all changed. I was so pleased we got there that little bit earlier as it meant we could dance with a bit of room. We do like to spread out when we're dancing! And everyone was dancing straight away - the music defied you not to!

Especially with such a strong start – Amerie’s 1 Thing, Beyonce’s Naughty Girl and Aaliya’s More than a Woman made an appearance. It mostly stayed at that level although there was a weaker point in the night where we noticed they were cheating a little – playing remixes of songs made famous by men originally. For example Pretty Lady by Savana.

But other than that it was pretty solid – we bumped and ground to Nina Sky, Destiny’s Child and lo, not very long after I said I would love them to play a song by Cassie, so they did!

I don’t know if Tipsy has air conditioning but if they did it could not compete with the sheer number of bodies and the heat they were creating by moving. After a while, you just had to give yourself over to the sweat. It was all part of the fun! Naturally we stayed to the very end, even when my feet had more or less given up on me. I was happy to take a seat and sit-dance along. Fabulous, darling!

Once Upon a Time... 20th February

New clubnights pop up at a breakneck speed and when I heard about Once Upon a Time… at the Fairground, I thought it sounded perfect fodder for my Meetup group. It  was also being held at the Bussey building (over all floors) which is a cool venue so I took the group along to check it out.

As you can imagine from the title it was a bit of a mish mash of circus and fairground. Dressing up for either theme was optional, some people did but I think most people didn’t.

We went for a pre-drink at the coolest bar in this part of town – Bar Story. We sat outside next to their firepit so I didn’t see much of the inside but it was your general, stripped back, railway arch kind of bar, serving fashionable cocktails such as penicillins and negronis at the kinds of prices you’d expect to pay in South London - £7 or so. The cocktail was good but considering I live in East London it’s not the sort of place I would schlep over to Peckham solely for.

We traipsed over to the club at about 11 where it still felt like the party was warming up. On the bottom floor a pretty good ska-punk band was playing, while upstairs they had the fairground games and photobooth. There was almost no one on this floor so we bypassed this for the very top where the Freakshow and Musical Bingo were taking place. Musical Bingo put on one of their most fun shows I have been to – not only did we get the great music to dance to and cross off our bingo cards, but we were treated to little performances that roughly matched the songs. Of course they had chosen fairground/circus themed songs to play and Ditzy Ritzy was dressed as a bearded lady. Ride a white horse saw our host getting piggybacked by an assistant, and we had people doing synchronized acrobatics and all sorts. After this I was well up for a party. But they had more! The ‘freakshow’ part of the show – where we had the ever naughty Dot Cotton perform her unique clownery, and we also had Sir Leopold Alexsander performing his Strong Man act, as well as just a random performance involving a woman with a lot of balloons bouncing around and popping them. It was at the point when a rather lacklustre magician came on that I chose to explore the other floors.

The second floor was again mostly empty and rather devoid of atmosphere so I went to the ground floor and that’s where I stayed. I must admit, it was a little strange. They were playing hip hop, grime, RnB, drum n bass and I think a lot of the crowd were normal clubbers who expected this kind of thing from a club on a Friday night. Certainly a good portion of the crowd seemed surprised when the music changed tack and suddenly a woman with a big snake came on stage and started stripping! Her show was pretty good but I didn’t think this mix worked so well – the acts felt like interruptions to the dancing (or vice versa for some people), and while I love that kind of music, I don’t think it’s necessarily what people who came to this event for its ‘alternative’ side expected. It was definitely a departure from the live band earlier – I had thought there would be more of this. Unless of course I missed it all when I was upstairs playing bingo.

Whenever I went through the second floor it was empty and so I thought they had been a little overambitious by hiring the whole venue. The fairground games were almost hidden away and when I went no one was playing them.

I did enjoy that there was a bit of walkabout performance going on – we were greeted by stilt walkers, and there was what can only be described as a drunk clown who appeared all over the place with his balloons. Overall I had a really fun night and I will be interested to see what they have lined up next, apparently it is Once Upon a Time – at Sin City. Sounds interesting…