Soul Out – Mint Lounge Friday 26th December 2008
Review - T2 Bad
Boyeee..... Was it cold on Boxing night or what!!! I was still recovering from my visit to ‘Christmas Turkey Heaven’ where I’d been for the last two days and to be honest with you if it had been any other event; I’d probably stayed at home but Soul Out – Mint Lounge has become a firm fave of mine so braving the Arctic conditions I set off to see what was in store for me.
I had a feeling that the festive period could prove to be a quiet affair with the credit crunch and all, so I was interested to see how the major Soul events would fair. Soul Out – Mint Lounge is usually an intimate family affair and on Boxing Night it proved to be the same again even though the numbers were down on the usual attendance.
I managed to find a parking spot quite rapidly which made a change, but the mistake I made was in not having my mountaineering gear on!!! It only took me 2 minutes maximum to get to the Mint Lounge but that was long enough for even the condensation from my breath to freeze to my face!!! Once inside though, a stiff brandy started my thawing process in earnest.
This time around the Mint Lounge was a two roomed affair which offered more choice to the clubber, but I suppose in hindsight wasn’t a good idea because of the lower attendance. The two dudes who play in the small arena at Soul Out – Barca were playing in the second arena at the Mint Lounge. Although the music was a good selection of ‘Blackburn Style’ Quality Soul, it seemed pointless because there were only 20 people or so in this arena at any one time. This was in no part down to the DJ’s who soldiered on admirably; it was purely down to the numbers present.
In the main arena DJ Alex Badass was spinning the discs when I went in. Again this arena was again down on numbers, but it had a very lively atmosphere and everyone was in a party mood. Alex played an excellent set of ‘Old Skool’ tracks which kept the atmosphere rocking which to be honest was exactly the right thing to do; Boxing Night was not a night for science on the turntables!!!
There were a lot of faces who I’d never seen in the Mint Lounge before. I even bumped into Herbie, one of the original Gallery Nightclub doormen from 20-odd years ago!!! I asked him where he’d been hiding all these years and he told me he’d been in Mexico! He’s not Mexican in origin as far as I know, so I couldn’t quite understand why apart from the weather, he’d choose to spend an extended amount of time there..... Perhaps he had a thing for home-made fajita’s or something?
Mike Stephens took the decks toward the end of the night and continued in much the same vein as Alex. I spoke to Mike earlier and he was worried what people would think about the night with the lower attendance, but I assured him that I my opinion Soul Out – Mint Lounge wouldn’t be the only event to take a dip throughout the festive period as most promoters were reporting slow ticket sales for their events. I also said that he was entertaining those who were there and you couldn’t ask for more than that.
There was a nice crowd of people at the Mint Lounge and it had the feel of a Christmas house party but without the turkey sandwiches, the relatives doing the Conga and someone being comforted about breaking up with the love-of-their-life 23 years ago!!! Christmas is hard enough to cope with but Soul Out made it bearable and provided everyone who attended an escape from their real families, if only for a few hours!!!
Soul Control Verdict:
Soul Out – Mint Lounge for me was an enjoyable experience. Although the numbers were down DJ’s Alex Badass and Mike Stephen’s did the business all the same and the hardy clubbers who braved the sub-zero temperatures to attend also appreciated their efforts.
This night continues to go from strength to strength and hopefully 2009 will see this upward trend continue.
Soul Control Rating:
