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.

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. 

Soul of the 60s, 19th December

I have been looking forward to writing this blog post because I couldn’t wait to share the sheer joy that is Soul of the 60s at The Phoenix. It is exactly the kind of night I had been looking for. Sure, the Northern Soul nights like Mousetrap and Crossfire I’ve been to are good – really good for authentic 60s soul. But I never know any of the songs they play and sometimes you just want to dance to something familiar. Familiar but fantastic.

And that is exactly what Soul of the 60s provides. If you can think of a well-known 60s soul song, they will play it. It is basically non-stop bangers and they even take requests (not sure if that is the general policy or if it’s because the DJ was, self-confessedly, quite tipsy)! Once we got on the dance floor it was a wrench to leave. I had every intention of going home at 12:30 as I had a treasure hunt to get to at noon the next day but I couldn’t tear myself away. I ended up dancing for another hour after that before I decided I would regret it in the morning if I didn’t leave now.

So what do they play? Strictly speaking, not just 60s soul. There was some 70s funk in there too – a bit of James Brown (Get On Up), a bit of 50s as well. But all of it was excellent music. They played Land of a Thousand Dances, they played Soul Man and Sweet Soul Music. I seem to remember they played ‘Stay’ from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. Name a song you like from that era, they probably played it, and if they didn’t that night, they probably will at some point.

This is some of the best music to dance to in my opinion – upbeat, happy, sexy, you don’t even have to think about it and your feet start moving. An absolutely stellar night which is definitely going to make it into my repertoire of regular nights I go to. I cannot wait to get back there.

Gaz's Rockin Blues, 22nd May

Gaz's rockin' Blues has somewhat legendary status, having been going for more than 20 years, most of which has been in the dingy caves of the St Moritz club. DJs and live bands play to a drunken crowd a mix of 50s and 60s rock n roll and ska and reggae.

Unfortunately, when I went, it seemed to be very ska-heavy which is not my favourite genre. And the band... well, let's just say the sound was rather unbalanced, with the backing singer louder than the main while also making it pretty obvious why she was only backing vocals.

There were far fewer people who were obviously into the 'scene' than I thought there would be - most of the crowd just seemed to be local workers who had gotten pissed up at the pub and wanted somewhere to carry on drinking. I'm not sure how much the music was actually relevant to their attendance.

I quite liked the club St Moritz - a little warren of rooms allowing you to sit at whatever distance and volume from the music you wanted. Prices weren't as bad as they could be - a Stella Cidre was £4.90. 

I can't really see myself ending up at Gaz's again. Gone (mostly) are the days where I find myself drunk enough on a school night to want to stay out later than the last tube and judging on my night there, this is the only reason I would return to this particular night. A friend who went another time was very surprised at my verdict as she loved it (though I can’t vouch for how drunk she was when she went). To the venue in particular, I would happily return as I do like an underground, slightly skeevy club. Feels authentic.

South London Pacific, 17th March

Goodness knows why this place was on my List but it was, and who am I to argue with its appearance there? When moving my List from spreadsheet to blog page, I did research some of the ones whose existence I'd forgotten and I got the impression that, actually, this wasn't really the kind of place I'd normally seek out. It seemed like it was a little cheesy, a little 'high street'. It was also way down in South London where I rarely go. But I couldn't expunge it from the list.

Then, a few weeks ago, my friend suggested we go there for a night called Hula Boogie. This sounded like my kind of night and something of an anomaly for the bar. Voted (I'm not sure by whom) "best vintage club night in London" for the last two years, it's a night devoted to music from the 30s to 60s.

There was to be jive lessons for the early arrivers as well as happy hour on cocktails - 3.95 each until 10. Popcorn, some free chocolate and some vintage clothing stalls.

Well, I got down there too late for the dance class but it turns out there weren't enough people there for it to be held anyway. In fact, the place stayed pretty crowd-free for most of the night, although it did get busier the longer I was there. Not busy enough, however, for me to not feel self-conscious about dancing. Most of the people there really seemed into the scene and knew all the right moves. I didn't feel right sullying the dance floor when they were on there as well. I got the impression a lot of the attendees went every month and all sort of knew each other.

The popcorn was nowhere to be seen but you can't sniff at cocktails for 3.95. They were all 'tiki' cocktails and so all fruity, which isn't really my style anymore, but hey - I still had a few! The clothing looked authentically vintage indeed, with only a glance I was fairly sure nothing there would fit me! After a couple of hours someone came round handing out the chocolate - a candy bar called a 'Jive' (basically a discount Twix, which doesn't mean I didn't appreciate it!)

The music was also all decidedly 50s or 60s, but perhaps I missed the early stuff. Oh, and did I mention this was on a Sunday? It was open until 1 am but not being in the most easy to get to place (a good 10 or so minutes from the Kennington tube station, staying beyond the last tube would have made getting home a nightmare.

So I may have missed some more of the good stuff at the end. I had a nice evening there, but it wasn't busy enough or 'amateur' enough for me to make the journey down there again.

Last Tuesday Society, 16th March

The Last Tuesday Society's masked Orphanage ball is a rather spiffing, titillating way to spend an evening. The dress code is masks mandatory, clothing optional, although it is a ball, dahling, so they do expect you to make an effort.

I slightly butchered a bridesmaid's dress I had to make it even more flouncy and fanciful and of course I shopped very carefully for the mask to accompany it. If you turn up without one, they slap you with a ten pound "fine" which then gets you a mask for the evening.

Once you're in you are allowed to remove it, which is handy as there's a lot to see and do and sometimes a mask can rather obscure your view.

This night took place in one of their regular haunts - the members' club on Adam Street. You descend some stairs to find a chocolate fountain gushing in a corner, a room with a bar for dancing and mingling, an adjacent room where there is a DJ (who was blasting the finest in classical music when we arrived) for more dancing, a smaller room where the "menagerie" was housed, and then a room in which "instruments of torture" were available for anyone to have a play, as well as a cage.

Downstairs was where the dance lesson took place (that I missed out on) and where you could get portions of borscht, pickled vegetables and Russian (I'm guessing) pastries. When I went by to get myself a snack the borscht was still being warmed, not ready for another ten minutes and I'm sad to say I didn't remember to go back and get some. No matter, I certainly made the most of the chocolate fountain and I was very impressed wiht the dipping selection - marshmallows, fruit and best of all pretzels and little biscuits from which you could make your very own Flipz and choccy digestives. Amazing. I made a bit of a glutton of myself, which proved somewhat embarrassing when I then went into the menagerie to have a stroke and a play with the beasties in there.

Someone making friends with one of the snakes

Being passed around the room were two lizards, two snakes and a hairy tarantula. I stayed well away from that but had a pet of one of the lizards - letting it stalk across my hand a couple of times before it was claimed back by the guy who'd grown attached to it, and I was completely charmed by one of the snakes. Someone chose to turn the lights out and when they came back on, my friend alerted me to something nasty-looking on my hand. Yes, snake poo. Actually, no, not snake poo. To my shame, it was chocolate from the fountain all over my hand. Wresting myself from the entrancement of the snake wending it's way around we went over to the next room and had a play around in the cage, posing like pent-up prisoners.

The torture playthings were rather basic - anyone who's been to Antichrist or Torture Garden I'm sure would consider them rather tame, if not lame, but the crowd at this place weren't hardcore S & Mers and the 'toys' did what they were supposed to do - provided a frisson of eroticism to the night. One contraption required you to kneel into it so that your posterior was exposed, all the better for a light spanking. The other was an X-frame that you were strapped into while the "punisher" spanked you with hand, or with cane. I didn't get trussed up myself, but my friend had a whale of a time on it. I was given a couple of cheeky whacks with the cane afterwards. It was up to you how man-handled you wanted to be and how much sting you wanted to feel - your bare cheeks could be exposed or you could insist on remaining fully clothed. Naturally bare cheeks added to the thrill of it.

Downstairs there was a band playing gypsy swing, although they also made an appearance upstairs for a while. And the music which took you through to the end of the evening was 50s rock n roll. 

It was definitely something a little different, especially with the animal element. There were a few naked people, as is customary at these things, and though it probably wasn't the most debauched party in the world, it did make you feel a little 'Eyes Wide Shut'. Everyone made an effort, and masks being mandatory gave the party an air of mystery and I daresay relieved people of their inhibitions somewhat. For a little decadence in your life, head to one of these. 

Stumblin' Slims, 31st March

I can't remember how I heard about Stumblin' Slims. Probably through looking at the Blues Kitchen's website, a bar in Camden that I've been to before. Anyway, I had heard about it and had been considering going to Stumblin' Slims for New Year's Eve, when we decided against it in favour of something more 'clubby'. But I still wanted to go at some point, especially after watching Hairspray over Christmas and getting in a jive kinda mood.

So when their next night came up, at Concrete, I booked tickets as soon as they went on sale, nabbing early bird tickets at merely a fiver. It was just as well. I had no idea how popular the night was, and they sold out of all tickets at least a week before the night was on.

Stumblin Slims has been described as "a cross between a prom night and a late night drag race" (Guardian) though I think that's just them using some 50s vernacular for the sake of it. I saw no sign or cars or corsages. It is a fun night though of great music and people dancing their socks off. There was a good number of people dressed up in some form or other in 50s/rockabilly gear, and when we entered (at 10:45) they had a girl on hand to do people's hair and makeup if you needed it, though she had disappeared only a few minutes later when we went to put our coats away.

When we arrived the live band was on and loads of people were dancing – the dance floor was packed and we were forced into bopping about on the edges. The band were just a three piece but they created a massive sound and played a crowd-pleasing selection of tunes. In fact, it was quite disappointing when the band stopped and the DJ came on. There was a palpable shift in atmosphere as the band finishing coincided roughly with last-tube time and the place emptied out a little. The sound system at Concrete isn’t that great either which also lead to a bit of a deflation in ambience. We rode out the transitory period, and by the time Stephen and I left at a little past one, I would say that the party had picked up and was going full swing again. The music seemed a little louder than it had been, and you couldn’t fault the songs they were playing. If I hadn’t been starving, I would have happily stayed until the very end. At this point I would love to list the various tunes that were played but can't remember any specific titles. Suffice to say, it was some good old fashioned rock 'n' roll.

I’m not sure how I feel about Concrete as a venue. Stephen liked it – thought it was just the right size, but I find the low ceilings a bit oppressive, and as I mentioned, they don’t exactly have a top-end sound system. However, they play host to lots of different and interesting nights so I am sure I will find myself back here more often than not. I am pleased to report that, after the coat queue fiasco at Deviation, that such an incident was not repeated.