Network Associates Dinner Dance Event @ Rennaisance Hotel, Manchester. Saturday 3rd November
Review - T 2 Bad
Recently Manchester seems to be getting a taste for wining and dining and the Network Associates Dinner Dance continued this trend at the Renaissance Hotel. I didn’t attend the Black Tie Dinner part of the evening, but from what I heard I missed the most intriguing part of the evening. The controversy seemed to surround the rice & peas aspect of the dinner, or the lack of it and the jerk chicken minus the jerk seasoning. Apparently the Renaissance catering team contrived to miss providing any rice and peas as advertised on the menu and gave the hungry belly masses mashed potatoes instead!!!!
At least this gave comedian Felix Dexter the impromptu humorous ammunition he needed to turn the first part of the evening around. Many people complained that they thought the speeches went on far too long and the promoters Peter & Ian acknowledged this. Hey but I tell you what, don’t the people of Manchester scrub up well!!!! The major let down for me was the complete lack of décor and production, as nothing was done to enhance the look of the venue. All the same, the hotel was packed with people sporting tuxedos and ball gowns and there was me with my jeans on! Well you know what they say about our lot from Soul Control: You can take a man from the hood etc………Anyway I was working that night and had another 2 venues to go to where I don’t think a tuxedo would have been appropriate attire!
The music was supplied by the Megatone Sound Foundation and Gordon West or “GW” as he now likes to be known. Megatone played a very safe set as I expected and GW played….. well like GW. Gordon’s built his reputation on late 1980’s slow jams and if that is what you came to hear, you certainly wouldn’t have been disappointed. The chic up town crowd danced the night away and the DJ’s kept the dance floor full the majority of the night. It was also good to see my life-long friend Jackie out with her mum which this type event is probably the only one where I would voluntarily go with my parents. If my mum ever came to a Soul Control event I could just see her wielding her bible and predicting the end is nigh because the bass-line just shook her nutriment and Guinness off the table and she mistook it for the fire and brimstone of judgement day!!!
Soul Control Verdict:
There were some early hitches to overcome and the music was a little too safe for my liking, but overall I think the night was reasonably successful. The promoters would like me to say that every aspect of the evening will be examined with a fine tooth-comb to ensure the rice and peas is right for the next event!
Soul Control Rating:
