8:00am Friday 18th December 2009
By Richard Bell
Simple presents Erol Alkan @ The Bullingdon and RICHARD BELL couldn’t be happier.
There’s something weird about the Bullingdon.
In all honesty I’m not all that keen on the place, it’s far too dark in there which is usually a good thing for a club (you know, not quite being able to make out what the girl you’re trying to chat up looks like can be a wonderful thing, especially if she’s way out of your league and hasn’t noticed because she can’t quite make out your face either....) The Bullingdon’s excuse for lighting however strikes me as an attempt by the owners to give people a very real experience of what being blind might actually be like.
And yet, in spite of their insistence on robbing their customers of the gift of sight, they still manage to bring in a remarkably impressive array of big names to their stage, the latest of which is the enormously popular Erol Alkan.
Quite how they manage to do this is beyond me; the pub has something of a grimy feel to it and the toilets are small and dirty-looking – yet veritable superstars of the electro scene are seemingly fighting over each other to grace the Bullingdon’s stage. Not that I’m annoyed about it, far from it, it simply puzzles me that the Bullingdon is able to bring in such brilliant names from the electro scene.
Alkan’s set is, inevitably, amazing. From the moment he takes to the stage, the crowd explodes in an enormous blast of sweat and excessive alcohol consumption while limbs flail in remarkable synchronicity to his final, sad but hugely well received departure at the end of the night.
Alkan conducts their every movement with a simple wave of his hand, reading the dance floor masterfully.
Throughout this fantastic night I’m able to forget my surroundings entirely and simply immerse myself in a swathe of electro brilliance, disregarding my own opinions of the venue in favour of having a truly great night out, and if the Bullingdon is able to provide more nights of this calibre, I think – over time – my position may soften.
Right now, I’m looking forward to finding out what its amazing promoters have in store for the Bullingdon’s continued metamorphosis from the drab ugly club I have always tried to avoid into the bright shimmering magnet that nights like this have the ability to turn it into.
Watch this space...
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