Mod Life Crisis

First off, I’ve got to come clean that I was playing here last night. Hopefully I can give an unbiased view as a punter, who has attended most clubs in the local area for many years.

The venue itself is great. Just off the M40 and a short walk from the train station. It’s by the main Swan theatre, so it’s well signposted. There’s a small car park on site (£2 for the evening) and a larger multi storey 30 seconds away. The event is held upstairs. Once through the doors, there is a sizeable bar to the left, with a decent bar area. The bar staff worked hard all night and kept waiting times down. All of this is away from the dance floor, so you can dance or drink without impacting anyone doing the other. Prices were ok - less than £5 a pint. (For anyone unfamiliar with drink prices in the south-east, we consider this reasonable).

The dance floor has tables and chairs alongside it and at one end. At the far end is a raised stage, with the decks and speakers. The sound system was decent - not too loud that conversation was impossible, and it held up well throughout the evening. The dance floor is a decent size, would have benefitted from being polished (something to consider for future events).

As it was the opening night, of hopefully many, we had no idea of what the crowd would want. By the end of the night this was very apparent. It’s a “Top 500” event, with no OVO policy. (Two DJs did play OVO). If you are into rare/underplayed, this probably won’t be for you. If you want a night out dancing away to sounds you know, get yourself down here. About 150 were in attendance (from as far afield as Bournemouth - bless you, Anna and friends 🥰), and the dance floor was busy from 8 pm until closing at midnight. Please believe me - this is very, very unusual for our local area (where the unwritten, but strictly adhered to Golden rule is “Thou shalt no go anywhere near the dance floor until 9pm”).

Special mention to Pete Longden for a) getting such a superb night arranged and so well promoted b) playing out for the first time, delivering such a well-received set (and helping break that Golden rule).

Already looking forward to June 27th, when I can enjoy just being a dancer.

This was our first visit to this Club; it will not be our last. Before we had even entered the building we received a warm welcome from one of the regulars, a theme that continued throughout the night. When entering the room, the bar is directly in front of you, well away from the dance floor and the opposite end from the decks. There is ample seating in the bar area and all along both sides of the dance floor. The floor itself is very good to dance on (I’m not educated enough to tell you if it’s sprung, I can tell you that you can move your feet effortlessly, which is good enough for us). My only negative is that the dance floor was, at times, too small to comfortably cater for everyone. This is not because it’s small, far from it, just that so many people want to dance (and they can dance; the floor had people on it all night, and was not empty once).

Drink prices are superb (£3.70 for a wine, (3.60 a pint of bitter shandy, £4.90 for a g&t; Mrs MLC was a happy lady!).

Music policy was very reminiscent of our local clubs pre-COVID, nothing you haven’t heard plenty of times, but great to hear nevertheless. Mainly 60s classics, with a smattering of modern.

What really made the night for us was how friendly everyone was. We recognised a few faces from clubs in Bicester and Banbury, as well as a few Rugby stalwarts, but it was the welcome from complete strangers that was so lovely. The next night here is Feb 21st and it’s already on the calendar. See you all then, maybe with more in tow.

All the best

The Waddesdon Contingent 

Ok, I am more than a little biased reviewing this Club, as we have been going since their very first night many years, and several venue changes, ago. I will try not to be too effusive in my praise.

The Carlton Club is a lovely building, with ample parking at the back, and plenty of free on-street parking immediately outside. The bar is set to the back of the room and the prices are great - 2 pints, 2 wines and change from £20.

Plenty of seating by the bar and around the very good dance floor (which gets better the more it is danced on; it has little pockets where you simply glide). Can comfortably sit 100+ people.

Last night the music was spot on. The resident DJs, Kev and Tony, supplied decent sounds at the start of the evening. Sandwiched in between were two superb sets from Tom Howard of Banbury Soul Club (a great mixture of classics, rarer 60s and modern) and Hammie; fourth time we’ve seen him this month, and this was my favourite set. I kept waiting for him to play a song I liked less than the others, so I could have a sit down - it was a long wait, and I was a sweaty mess by the end of it.

The best thing about this club, along with the music, is the people attending. Tony, Kev and their wives set the tone with their warm, friendly greeting, while everyone there seems intent on having a great time. Always a great turnout from Northampton, Kettering, Towcester - even a popular national DJ turned up to dance (although he looked more “under the thumb” since he got married 🤣).

The Waddesdon Contingent are really looking forward to the next one in late April.

So, a new venue for a well-established Club. 
It’s in a village hall, with a large parking lot outside. Once we battled our way through the gang of feral youths hanging outside, we entered a decent sized hall. Plenty of tables n chairs, good size dance floor and the decks raised up on a stage at the end nearest the door. Bar area in a separate room - basic offering, prices ok. Was also a dodgy Welsh bird offering free cake and biscuits to all and sundry. Just say NO, kids - it’s gateway baking to get you hooked on harder baked goods further down the line.

Music was excellent throughout the whole event, with plenty of people up dancing all the time. Great to see people attending from as far afield as Stoke and New Cross Gate (Congratulations for getting your car out of there in one piece 😎).

Particularly enjoyed Tony Clarke’s set and was great to see Ivan Colman again.

All in all, a great event. Many thanks.

The Waddesdon Contingent.

Our first visit to this new venue (having been regulars at the old one) and we loved it.
 

The venue itself isn’t initially that easy to find; despite being on a main road, it’s pitch black and easy to miss. Once there, plenty of parking. As you walk through the doors, the decks are immediately to the right, facing a decent-sized dance floor, with seating and the bar to the back. Drinks prices are great - less than £30 for 7 drinks.

There was a great crowd there, who hit the floor earlier than usual and stayed there all night. Great sets from the residents Ken and Jeff, while Shane Cheesebrough entertained us all with a delightful smorgasbord of varying styles. 

We even got to reacquaint ourselves with one of the old crowd from the early 80s and it turns out that she lives down the road from us all, so the car could be getting fuller soon on our regular jaunts out.

This is a cracking club and well worth checking out. Special thanks to Jeff for putting this on x

All the best

The Waddesdon Contingent

Popped in for a couple of hours, as we were in the area and have heard great things about this event (a very good friend has played here recently).

Lovely venue, great prices at the bar and the warmest welcome from the hostess, Helen, we could have hoped for. A friendly crowd with no pretence - there to have a good time and a dance (although the floor could do with being bigger; I believe there are plans for this).

Musically, nothing that will surprise you - just good, solid sounds that get you up. No obvious OVO policy, so probably not one for the purists, but a great night out for anyone who enjoys the classics.

The Waddesdon Contingent will be back again, hopefully for longer next time. 

I’ll keep this short n sweet.

This is the best NS club in the area. If you live locally and haven’t been yet, get yer arses in gear.

I’ve reviewed this club before and mentioned that it can be a “hit and miss”, depending on how obscure a couple of the DJs decide to go. Last night was a huge hit. All 4 lads played superb, varied sets that catered for all tastes. We danced to the 60s, we sat and enjoyed the 70s and (on one occasion) 80s. We even had the pleasure of watching half a dozen people line dancing. I kid you not - all that was missing was the stetsons!

The crowd here are great fun and love a dance. It’s not an overtly “northern” crowd, they just get up and do there own thing, creating a unique vibe in the local area.

The lads running it are very knowledgeable and good company.

Overall, well-worth a check out.

Popped along for a couple of hours as we were in the area and ended up staying longer than intended / ended up late where we were meant to be.

First time at this venue and initial reaction was what a great setting they have here - bar at the back, stage at the front, chairs around the superb dance floor. Just how we like it.

Being Southerners, we were wondering if the music would differ greatly from our local clubs. The opening set was a thoroughly enjoyable selection of lesser known records. The 2nd set was pure classic oldies and had the dance floor buzzing from the word go. (And a word to the locals here - you’ve got some great dancers at this Club. Really enjoyed watching some of the steps).

We had to leave early into the 3rd set, which we were enjoying, and it was a pity we could not stay longer.

We live over 100 miles from this wonderful venue. Testimony to how good a time we had is that we plan to return, hopefully with some of our crowd.

Not been here since COVID and was delighted to see that it has lost none of its friendliness and keen ear for very decent tunes. Jimmy and Malc are very welcoming, as are the whole crowd, the venue has ample seating and the bar is cheap. Dance floor is good.

We’ll be making the near 2-hour trip again for this event (our daughter lives in Bristol, so two birds with one stone and all that) and I would highly recommend it to anyone living in the vicinity who have yet to try it out.

Traditionally this is always the first event of a new year we attend, with history suggesting that it will be a cracker. Tradition and history upheld their part of the bargain and another great evening was delivered.

The club itself is very dark (which lends it a unique ambience amongst the clubs in our local vicinity). Drink prices are decent and there is plenty of seating.

Music policy for the evening is predominantly oldies (as it is every January event; later events will probably see a more adventurous playlist from a couple of the DJs). The floor was busy throughout the evening and all the dancers seemed to be enjoying themselves.

A very enjoyable evening and the Aylesbury Contingent left happy (and, ridiculously, 2 songs from the end - apologies to the lad playing at the time, as it was a great set).

A new venue for a club we’ve been going to for a few years now. Very easy to find, with more than ample parking. Bar is at the far end from the DJs and prices are great (£3.60 for a large wine, £4.50 for a g&t; saved me a few bob, as Mrs MLC was on it last night). Decent outside areas both sides of the venue to cool down.

The dance floor is ok, main issue being that the tables are so close to it that we had one group standing alongside the floor (and actually on it), like a geriatric scene from West Side Story.

Musically, this was as good as it gets for a local event. Each DJ played a range of tunes, with many hitting the spot. The dance floor was busy all night and we left right near the end hot and sweaty messes. Must have been good, as even Pete from MK was raving about it and he is a notoriously difficult man to please 😀. Special shout out to Kev Such - some great r n b (and some disturbing references to dirty prison sex; must be a Kettering thing).

One area for improvement would be the sound system and/or decks. A couple of times the sound went dodgy, so would be good to see that resolved for future events. A harsher critic might mark the event down for this; we had such a great night it would be churlish to do so.

The Aylesbury Contingent will be back for more next time round and are looking forward to it already.

This was the first night of another new “local” club. First impressions were that parking is a pain. Harpenden is a lovely town that was not designed for cars stopping there. The best bet is to simply head to the leisure centre a 5 minute walk away (10 minutes back, as Mrs MLC had drunk one wine too many and kept walking into cars or me 😀).

The venue itself is superb, with a terrific dance floor and tables laid to the sides and along the bar at the back of the hall. Drinks are pub prices.

The music policy is pure vinyl, aiming for OVO. There was a good mixture of DJs, from the brilliantly eccentric Derek Smiley (top man with a collection of oldies and lesser known, and still superb, discs to die for), a great modern set from Graham Howard, and then a smorgasbord of 60s soul from the house DJs. 

The really pleasing aspect of the night was the turnout -  over 100 people, the majority of whom are not regulars on the local scene. They kept the bar and the dance floor busy in equal numbers and created a lovely atmosphere.

All in all, a superb night and we look forward to the next one. Only downside was going home hungry; it appears that Harpenden deems itself too posh to have a kebab shop  😢.

I was really looking forward to this opening night of a new local club and was not disappointed by a terrific evening. (For purposes of full transparency, the promoter is a mate and a really lovely bloke, so there is the threat of bias to this review).

Once the initial issues with the sound were resolved, the DJs delivered some excellent sounds - mainly classics, with the occasional decent underplayed or more modern number. Special commendations for Kerry and Steve for standout sets. Also, a personal request to that bloke Ted who played a load of very old records - can you please try to play a duff track once in a while? It was impossible to leave the floor during your set and I ended up my usual hot, sweaty mess by the end of your hour.

Was great to see old faces (esp. Ian H) meet some new ones. Hopefully this is the start of a great Club and I would heartily recommend that you check it out on June 17th.

The Aylesbury Contingent had a great time and thank Ian J. for an excellent evening.

What a superb evening this was. 4 great djs playing a great mixture of across the board (with a leaning towards classics/60s) and a very decent dance floor, which was busy most of the evening. Great to see so many faces from the now defunct Bicester event on the floor.

The venue is very dark, which I feel lends to a great atmosphere. 
Our carload was buzzing heading home. Looking forward to the next one already.

“First visit to this event and the two of us had a really good night. Easy to find if you use sat nav (less so , if like me, you just turn up and expect it to magically appear; thanks to Mrs MLC for taking control of navigation 😀).

Plenty of on-site parking, bar separated from the dance hall (with pub prices, not the subsidised prices we are used to at working men’s clubs).

Once in the hall, the venue is excellent. It’s dark, with a huge dance floor surrounded on 3 sides by tables n chairs. The far side also has tables alongside the stage; as long as you are ok sharing, there’s enough room for all to sit. I estimate there was 100+ there, many of whom can be spotted on the dance floors of Olney, Stewartby and various venues in Northamptonshire.

Music policy is very much aimed at classics. We got there at 8.20 and walked into a great set including Tony Galla, Ritchie Adams, Cajun Hart, Jimmy Fraser. If these were all originals, I would question why the double-decking DJs were put on this early. Regardless, it was a great set and had a lot of people up before 9 (never easy when playing south of Northampton).

Hammie then did a 45-minute set which went down well, as always, followed by Martin Stanford. You always know what you will get with Martin i.e. a good set and a mention of the fact that Chapter 5 came from Barrow-in-Furness. The night was finished off by Jon Copland (I think), playing a mixture of Motown and classics.

The only reason I have not given this 5-stars is due to the technical difficulties that took place at one part of the evening, when the sound became distorted. This was not a biggie for us and did not detract too much from what was otherwise a highly enjoyable evening. Not one for the “soul connoisseurs” (as my mate Sunderland Keith would say), a great night out for anyone who loves to dance the night away to classics on a superb floor.

This was our first visit to this event for our crowd of 6 and hopefully it won’t be our last. We managed to catch all of the DJs, with not one playing a set that didn’t have at least half of us up dancing.

Music was a mixture of classics and underplayed (I particularly enjoyed being introduced to Bonny St Claire’s “I surrender”), dance floor was spacious and the regulars very welcoming. 

Apparently numbers were down on usual; to us newbies, they seemed decent enough and this did not detract from the evening.

Special thanks to Mick Taylor for finding my wallet and getting it back to me so quickly. I owe you a drink, fella 👍.
 

A really great evening.

Numbers we’re down, with the new COVID variant putting some off, and the resident DJ Ken failing a late fitness test. Despite this, some quality music was played by Alan, Ian, substitute Andy and Jeff. Everyone there got on the dance floor at some point and I went home wishing I had brought a spare t-shirt. (We can’t all be as cool as Mr Jackson).

Music policy was mainly 60s (Mr Burse did venture dangerously into modern at the start of his set 😀), which appealed to the vast majority of the audience.

Thanks to Jeff and Jean for another lovely evening and look forward to seeing you at the all-dayer next month.

What a superb evening. Arrived at 8.15 to a queue at the bar and people already on the dance floor. Had a bit of difficulty getting a seat, until Jean from Chesham sorted us out.

Jeff Piggott delivered the best set I have ever seen him play, keeping the dance floor full for almost the entire set. A mixture of classics and a couple of new ones that I hope to hear again. (Sorry - can’t remember the names). Tom from Banbury then played a great set, with a slight leaning to 70s and then more classics.

Tony n Kev then saw the night through to a sweaty conclusion.
 

We were initially planning to leave early, as we are off to the Stourport all-dayer today, yet ended up staying to the end, so good a time was being had by all.

This is a great venue, with a great dance floor, lovely bunch of ladies on the door and a friendly crowd. If you’re looking for a night of rare soul, this will not be for you. If you fancy a night listening to mainly classics and a good smattering of underplayed (and decent) sounds, you could do a lot worse than pop along.