LondonNet Club Night Review
Clandestino
Featuring: Miss Jools, Rap Saunders, and Luca Elle
Clandestino (2nd birthday party, 7 November 2004)
1st Sunday of the month, 10PM-6AM, 15UKP, 12UKP concessions
Genre: House
AKA and the End
18 West Central Street
London
WC1A 1 JJ
Tube: Tottenham Ct. Rd. and Holborn
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schedule!
Eye Candy for the exclusive everyman
Clandestino has an identity crisis, but remains entertaining
...
LEAVE IT UP to the AKA and the End to brew up a night like "Clandestino".
The indignity of epic, seemingly unceasing queues are made up for
by epic, seemingly unceasing entertainment. Even the queues are
entertaining, as bizarre street entertainers relieve frustration.
On the night's 2nd birthday (7 November), a guy who appeared to
be dressed as a matador, drinking wine and doing acrobatic gymnastic
stunts provided this spark. No one knew whether he actually worked
for AKA and the End or not, and no one seemed to particularly care
- it made the wait easier.
Inside, Clandestino is worth the delay. It successfully takes advantage
of one of the things that makes the End/AKA such a great club complex,
providing three rooms with different vibes and different music to
rope in those with short attention spans for at least a few hours.
AKA provides two levels of a chilled-out, relaxing mix of R&B
and House with fierce and precise live bongo drumming to spice things
up. The décor matches the music fairly well with typically
bright, warm, glowing colours. The second level has plenty of couches
to relax or a balcony to people watch. The night attracts a cosmopolitan
crowd as London itself, and it's not uncommon to hear languages
other than English spoken. While the crowd is attractive and young
it isn't needlessly elite or posh, the fashionable mix with fashion
victims, those in silk shirts with those in t-shirts, jeans, and
trainers. There are sometimes a few too many fashion mullets for
anyone's good taste, but there's still an appreciative level of
variety.
The lounge at the End offers up its usual fare, dancier R&B
and old funk, for those in the mood to groove, but not to lose their
mind. The most surprising feature of the club might be the main
room at the End. Far from the tremendously thundering big beat that
can threaten to blow the roof off the building, on Clandestino's
birthday, it was a more natural progression towards faster, more
aggressive music. The floor started un-crowded, but as the night
wore on, eventually there was enough of a massive thump to show
that even on a night of more relaxed house music, the dance floor
in the main room of the End is a fiery place to be.
Things aren't perfect. There was a queue on the way out, the usual
Pizza Express menu isn't available on Sundays and the beer is still
a little pricey. On the other hand, Clandestino is ideal for those
with a bit of money who seek entertaining eye candy, variety, and
thicker, mellower house music.
Steve Marshall
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