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Thursday 1 July 2010

Weekend - 2nd to 4th July













Hey Folks,

Well, we have already dedicated a special weekend post to Pride London’s parade day (Sat 3rd July), not to mention hot dates shouts for SuperMartXe, Hard On!, Best of Brits & the “official” afterparty to Pride, “Liberation, so if you haven’t seen them already, then go check them out now. However, there is plenty more going on this weekend so, in usual fashion, we focus on two parties that have hit our high notes & then look at our “best of the rest” offerings.

With so much going on in gAylist/land London, the choice of what to focus on in this post was difficult, but we thought that with superb Saturday over, thoughts would turn to splendid Sunday and therefore two events flash strongly on our radar. First up is Later at Fire, which returns for another Sunday afternoon audacious outing, although this one looks extra special, not least as, yet again, the sun will be shinning, so focus will be on the outside as well as in, Later being perfectly poised to satisfy both desires. Now, for those of you that haven’t sampled a Later party, this clubbing event has become very much a Vauxhall institution, having been running for well over seven years now, although in that time has seen its fortunes pitch & yaw, as Sunday daytime partying extra-ordinare (very much a Later trademark) has been in vogue, out of it and then back again, promoter Jay Sharp Vokins’ club very much back in the ascendency at the moment. Indeed, over the year’s we have enjoyed some prolific parties in the hands of this Sunday spectacular, especially back in the days when Beyond was at Colosseum & a trip to Later afterwards was virtually compulsory. However, recent moves to mix up the D.J. roster, introducing guest slots, has seen the club really find its feet again, Later once gain proving a perfect onward destination from “Beyond” bash’s at Area that are now so popular.

So, as good as Later has become, what makes this weekend’s party stand out? Well, we couldn’t help but being drawn in by their sparkling advert which his headlined with the statement “A spectacular date not to be missed” and then draws you in with the temptations of what looks like being a truly fantastic foray into funfair style activity. Yes, Later is going all “Funfair” on us, the infamous garden space, which has recently been given a major facelift & extension, sporting a whole array of fun filled fairground style attractions to delight, including a helter skelter, a coconut shy, a bucking bronco, a surf simulator (perfect for summer), not to mention plenty of mad performance acts & other fun-filled frolicking both inside & out, as well as a BBQ in the garden, that infamous hot tub, with (we are reliably informed) sexy pool boys on tap to serve your every whim! But the music will be just as magnificent and inside will feel more like a Saturday night than a Sunday, with resident Paul Martin getting the party well & truly kicking from midday, followed by Terry Bryan, a guy who is in a real purple patch at the mo and will storm the place for sure from 2 till 4. Then special guest D’Johnny takes to the decks, no doubt treating us to some tremendous tech infused tunes, with The Oli polishing off proceedings, taking you through to the 8 p.m. finish in glorious funky, electro & uplifting style. What more can we say apart from DON’T miss this one and with entry at just £5, is the best deal you will get all weekend, so with entry only available on the door, get there early, the Later “Pride Funfair” event kicking off at 12 p.m. this Sunday (4th July), running through till 8 p.m., with more details available at http://fireclub.co.uk/.

Our other devotion goes to a new club night which we are very excited about, as it sees the return to the gAylist clubbing event calendar of a venue which holds amazing & incredible memories for us, not least having hosted some of the best Sunday evening parties we have been to in our history out on the scene. So what are we going on about?, well firstly the new club night is called Revolucion, which launches this Sunday (4th July) at Opal on Victoria Embankment (next to Embankment tube), Opal as a venue have risen from the ashes of what was formerly The Rock, which, played host to , for us in its glory days, the fabulous Factor 25, which, when it was running on a Sunday evening here, was THE place to be & be seen on the scene. And the venue, which from the outside looks like a regency style & unimposing piece of architecture, opens like a tardis when you step inside, the compact & bijous upstairs opening out to a hugely impressive downstairs that will simply blow you away. And the new owners of Hungerford House, Opal Bars, have lavished the place in sumptuous cream, gold & complimentary colours fixtures & fittings, the ground floor “Blanca Bar” an inviting space to grab a drink or four before heading down into the stunning (and we mean stunning!) “Club Noir” space that has opulence & glamour written all over it. This venue literally has to be seen to be believed and is the perfect size & setting for what the “Revolucion” team has in mind.

And talking of Revolucion, the concept is the brainchild of one Steven Charles Baker (aka Stevie B), who has been making waves & cutting strides on the clubbing scene for nearly as many years as we have been dancing on it, so knows his oats when it comes to creating a winning formula, Stevie calling on the promotion prowess of the one & only Megan, who makes a welcome return to the capital to co-host this truly upmarket & extrovert event, which we are sure will reflect & recapture some of those magical Sunday evening moments that made Factor 25 & clubs of its ilk so popular in their day. Add to that the feel within the scene that Sunday is becoming the new Saturday again and Revolucion should be best placed to take advantage, this launch party seeing Steve B dive behind the decks with his old sparring partner, Fat Tony, both of them promising a back-to-back set “like you’ve never heard them before”, but believe us when we say that, having seen these two in action together in the past, we get the feeling we are in for something really special. Joining them to deliver the delightful & masterful uplifting & chunky, funky sounds with hints of harder house is Danny Gilligan, known on the metrosexual hard house scene for over a decade, who will no doubt add his own tough yet uplifting edge to the musical mesmerism. So, Revolucion certainly has the credentials to deliver an exceptional evening of musical entertainment & with special drinks offers, (£3 double vodka & redbull, £3 bottles of Sol) and advance tickets at just £5, available at Soho outlets, Prowler & Clone Zone, as well as at the venue & online at http://moreonthedoor.com/ or via http://opal-bar.co.uk/ yet another fantastic value for money event that should not be missed.

Right, so what of our best of the rest options for this pride weekend? Well looking at Soho first and it seems that The Shadow Lounge is very much leading the way this weekend, as not only does it host the “official” pre-party for Pride London tonight (Thurs 1st) club night “Hola” taking centre stage as promoter Laurent C is joined on the decks by resident D.J., the awesome oz, Terry Vietheer, while guest sound spinning slot goes to Marron Bitch (aka Fidel), all adding up to serve up a pre pride party to remember, while our lovely “foxy ladies” return on Friday, Mis-White & Minx both delivering delectations of dance house music making “Therapy” the place to heal those musical wounds. Then on Pride night the team roll out all the stops for a special pride inspired “Inferno” session, resident Andrew Elmore selecting the sounds, while “Orange Does Soho” makes another citric splash on Sunday, Jamie Head (we hope) hitting the decks to delight. Lo-Profile never really escapes our net however, & the weekend sees main man Jamie Head light up proceedings on Friday, joined by Mr international himself, Paul Heron, while on Saturday, a very busy D’Johnny slips into the start, while Alessandro rolls up from Rupert St to raise the musical temperature to boiling point. Mind you, upstairs looks pretty good too, Friday seeing the very welcome return of Brent Nicholls, who pumps up the Profile bar music volume with his nu-funk beats, while Saturday is steered superbly by Nick Evans. Now we mentioned Rupert St in our Pride special post, but it’s worth mentioning again, as this always ends up being the most popular spot in Soho for the more sophisticated in us and with their “Wet n Wild” party on Saturday, the place will be packed both inside & out, so is well worth a look in. Our final quick Soho mention goes to The Box which is just out of Soho in fact, over at Seven Dials no less, but will be THE gAylist mecca this weekend, D.J. Minx doing it again on Friday, while Mark Bambach bangs in the pride inspired sounds on Saturday, the wonderful Jonny Hooley hosting the night.

Down in Vauxhall and we have been doing lots of weeding to pick out our best bits, Onyx poking its head out first with their own “official” pre-pride party at Area on Friday, the prolific P.A. of Katherine Ellis sure to hit the mark, as will Italian stallion D.J. guest Pagano who will no doubt create plenty of drama on the dancefloor, not least from his latest track remix of the same name, go Mr Francesco go!! Residents Phil Marriot, Jamie Hammond, Lee Harris, Lisa German, Ariel et all will add to the pride passion to secure yet another huge success of an event for promoter Jonny Marsh, the embankment bar outside space surely a winner too. And Area will steal the limelight tonight (Thurs) too, as Romain Lopez launches his new night “Energie 3D”, a new concept in clubbing, as the main room will be dominated by a giant screen projecting 3D images to accompany luminous laser shows and is worth a look in, although the massive event in the Area weekend calendar will be mega afterhours Beyond, which ticks every single box yet again, adding another in the form of special P.A. Kaysee. Such is the huge attraction & profile of this event, we will be devoting a special Extra Bites post to it, so watch this space for that, while Booster rounds off an Area weekend to remember, highlights including the return of Jason’s Jukebox, as Jason Prince pumps up the pop. Next door, Barcode will be braving it with their fierce competition, “Matador” returning on Friday, special guest D.J’s Tom Stephan & Sami Kiveri mixing it up with residents Steven Artis & Saki, while a special mention goes to birthday boy Nick Tcherniak who takes the middle set (1 till 4) on Saturday and will be celebrating too, so is well worth a visit. Plus no weekend could ever start without “Industri” which infiltrates your Thursday night with social splendour from hostess Minty & brilliant beats from Brent Nicholls. Other Vauxhall highlights are the R.V.T’s “S.L.A.G.S./Chill-out” which holds a double trouble weekend, both on Saturday night, The D.E. Experience fresh from Trafalgar Square & then does it all again on Sunday, while Orange is the Vauxhall colour on Sunday night/ Monday morning, Boy George making a special D.J. guest appearance.

Alternative offerings are a-plenty this weekend, as the East End is alight with activity for Pride, The Dalston Superstore heading our list of superb showing suspects, Guy Williams returning on Friday with his “Paradise 45” party, the fabulous Pete Herbert joining Guy on the decks in nu-disco funk splendour that saw both steal the show at the last “Reverse” party, while on Saturday it’s the turn of “Hot Mess” with Holestar & guests spinning electro, pop & disco house. Further down into Shoreditch & Friday sees a Timeout recommended “Sessions” party well worth a look in at East Village on Great Eastern St with Riva Starr & Hanna Holland on the decks (watch out for Per QX making a guest appearance), while East is definitely the name of the game as Wayne Shires’ “Disco Fag Bar” get together hits venue East Bloc, 217 City Road, EC1, also on Friday. “Gay Bash” is a new Saturday nighter at Village Underground in Shoreditch, promoter Sink The Pink, bringing the likes of Jonny Woo, Ma Butcher, Prince Nelly & John Sizzle together to entertain, while a hop over the river into St Thomas’ St sees “Exilio Latino” back at Guys Bar for a pride special, their take including a “best of pride parade” and a waka waka world cup dance (sounds interesting). Talking of pride specials, a party entitled “Gross Indecency – A Pre Gay Lib Gay Club” takes place at the Camden Centre on Euston Road on Saturday, Readers Wifes, & Amy Lame included in the list of entertainers, while its more conformist closer to town as “Ghetto” makes a supremely popular return with a “Superstarz” gathering of seven clubs for the price of one, Wig Out, The Cock, Miss-Shapes, Gutterslut, Babe, Work & PYT combining for one serious mash-up over three rooms, also on pride Saturday. Mind you the big alternative plaudits go to “Circus” which takes over The Bloomsbury Ballrooms on Friday, Jodie Harsh hosting this sophisticated yet off the wall affair where edgy east end boys meet wagtastic west end girls for a “Summer Ball” special, Miss Harsh having landed the cool as a cucumber Peaches to D.J. alongside residents Kris Di Angelis & Erol Sabadosh, while you couldn’t get any more alternative than floating out onto the Thames for a special swish pride party celebrating the life & achievements of gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, while dancing to sounds from Qboy and international mega jetsetter star, Wayne G, entertainment coming your way from acts such as David Hoyle & The Fab Russella, but beware as you can’t arrive fashionably late, as last boarding for the boat is 8 p.m. (ish!)

Further & full details of these, our best of the rest offerings, can be found in the popular press and/or via the events pages on tip top social networking site Facebook.

My goodness, we are close to running to four pages, so just quickly, don’t forget to check out our Hot Dates posts for SuperMartXe’s “The Wizard Of Oz” extra spectacular event, Hard On’s! “Gay Pride Special”, The Orange Group’s “The Best Of Brits” bash and Pride London’s own “Liberation” party and we will try and bring you latest news on these offerings in a final post tomorrow night. Also, make sure you check out our “Pride London Special” recommendation post, which details everything you need to know about the big day of celebrations in the squares & streets on Saturday, as well as info on the parade itself.

Finally, we have just about enough space & time to squeeze in a mention for Seen Queen’s “essential gAylist guide to pride”, detailing THE places to be seen, this special feature being updated daily & is available at http://seenqueen.com/features/0610_londonpride2010.

Dare we take up more time to tell you where we will be? Well, quickly... “Energie 3D” & “Industri” tonight (possibly both briefly), Profile Bar for Brent Nicholls tomorrow night (definitely), the Pride daytime stuff Saturday (undoubtedly – where? well you know about that!), SuperMartXe (resplendently), Best Of Brits (maybe, plus Barcode for Nick Tcherniak’s birthday if we do), Beyond (surely), Later (absolutely), Revolucion (probably), writhing in agony on Monday (unquestionably), wow!! So if you see us out, probably crawling by Sunday night, come say hi and as we always say....”Go There! Be There!”

xDM

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