Fancy a Saturday Night Out in London's Soho and Beyond....? PART 2

I trust that you've forgiven me for leaving you standing outside the Rupert Street Bar, in London's Soho, at the end of the last post....but, here we are, back again and our night out on the gay scene in London (of a few years ago) continues.  As you may recall, this post results from a question posed by a friend who asked what a Saturday night out was like on the scene, when I was single, and how that differed from a night out elsewhere in London (ie on what some call the straight scene).  In PART 1 of the topic, we went for a bite to eat in Balans, Old Compton Street, Soho and then moved on for a number of drinks, and other things, to the Village Bar and then Rupert Street.  As I had a foot in each of two (sometimes quite distinct) camps, enjoying the bars and the clubs, I shall now grab your hand again (or not) and we'll head off to London's Vauxhall and the club scene...."Taxi!"

(Please Note - photos/videos are taken from public sites and assumed to be open source.  I do not hold the copyrights and, if anyone does and wishes the picture removed, just advise me and I shall take the photo down.  The use of a photo does not presume anything regarding the sexuality of the subject)

We're suitably lubricated, buoyed up by the invasive, uplifting hedonism of Soho (as well as its vibe of normality and safety) and the hours spent in the fabulous company of dear friends chatting, laughing and grazing on the eye candy of the bar scene's gay male savanna.  Now, a short taxi ride and we arrive at Action, in the Vauxhall club scene (though technically just in Lambeth).  No longer with us, Action was the fave Saturday night venue....gaining its slot with me from CRASH, though the latter would still be the occasional choice; from where a tale is related below.  Saturday night gay clubs were relatively new.  Most venues in London had only deigned to offer their event spaces to gay club promoters a few years earlier, and then only for Thursday and Sunday nights when 'normal' folk wouldn't sally forth because of work the ensuing day....and, indeed, perhaps the best club venue was still on a Sunday night, DTPM, at Fabric, Charterhouse Street (again, sadly no more).

DTPM

The club scene was harder than the bar scene.  It's clientele was slightly older, though still displaying numbers of young things (known as twinks or chickens on the scene).  They throbbed with energising, intoxicating sounds, generally House genres, and were palpably sexually charged.....hundreds, in some clubs thousands of guys all stripped to the waist, most with jeans riding low, proudly disporting physiques into which untold hours of effort had been invested and which now shimmered as the lasers and other lights played over sweaty torsos.  While everyone was there for a good time, almost everyone was also there looking to pick up.

My years in the military had shown me many things and prepared me for many things but, in those days, drug use was not really one of them; as long as we ignore, as ever we do, the fact that alcohol is a drug and the Institute of Alcohol Studies assesses up to 17 million work days (the UK Gov HSE says up to 18 million) are lost in the UK each year due to alcohol related sickness with a total loss to the economy of 7.3Bn pounds at 2009/10 prices.  In my naive state, I was surprised, perhaps shocked to find the extent of drug use within the gay community and certainly the clubbing community.  Whereas I was only used to and comfortable with booze, most others would drop an 'e' or two during the night out and many would also do lines of cocaine and/or bumps of Ketamine....while I had to build water and Red Bull into my G&T intake to stay with the fun.  These so called social or recreational drugs variously induce a sense of euphoria, of relaxation and "whole body buzz", as well as reducing the desire for food and drink; hence their attraction for the all night/morning clubbing scene and many others on the wider gay scene....but, please note, they can also cause devastating mental and physical illness and death.  I have sat by the intensive care bed of a dear, dear mate for a day and a half, waiting for his parents to arrive, having been told by the doctors he would die from drug abuse.  He had taken liquid 'G'...he knew his body could not cope with that drug, but the decision to take it came on the heels of taking Cocaine and 'K', so his decision making was shot to hell.  The "Club drugs" of the current scene, including Crystal and 'G', undermine powers of logical thought and decision making and, in the sexually charged reality of clubbing, are cited as a major cause of the increase in unprotected sex and resultant huge increase in Sexually Transmitted Infections on both the gay and straight club scenes!

BEYOND, after it moved from the Colosseum.

On the gay clubbing scene of a few years back, the prevalence of 'recreational drug' use stoked the already scalding fire under the hedonistic cauldron.  Action kicked off at about 22.00hrs (I think, no-one got there for opening time....as you know, because on our time travelling journey we are not arriving until about 23.30hrs) and went on to 03.00hrs; while DTPM, on Sundays, went to 05.00hrs.  That may all seem a touch tame, but you and I will have decamped to an 'after hours' club before Action shuts its doors.  We shall relocate to BEYOND, Vauxhall, but a minute or two walk, which opened at 03.00 and kept the buzz going until 12.00hrs Sunday.  I rarely went to clubs with friends as, apart from meeting mates on the dance floor, the intention was to make new ones.  Ploughing through the sea of gyrating torsos, whose bacchanalian bodies were being vibrated to their cores by the giant sub-woofers, the club pulsated with promise as we start to dance and cruise the flesh coloured floor covering all around us.  I was never drawn to the 'dark room' at Action, a smaller room off the huge dance floor where little of its hypnotising light and lasers show reached and where guys could get more tactile.  Each to their own.

Cruising is basically nothing more than checking a guy (or guys) out, looking him/them over....but there are certain 'sort of' unwritten protocols.  For example, as I walked into Old Compton Street from Charing Cross Road, on the way to meet you at Balans Restaurant (in the last post), if I had seen a guy walking in the other direction on the other side of the street and liked what I saw, also noticing that he was cruising me and making eye contact, I would have walked past him three or four paces, losing eye contact, then turn round to look at him once more, almost walking backwards and, if he had done the same double take....well, our night out would probably not have happened.

Photo from Standard

Luckily, that didn't happen (on this occasion) so we have had our night on the Soho scene and are now settling into the all consuming club atmosphere, semi-naked bodies pressed against bodies, hugging a guy to you to shout in his ear (or he wouldn't hear you) cruising for signs of mutual attraction.  That said, you rather hoped that you wouldn't hook anything too early, as the club was there to be enjoyed in all its magnetic and hugely affirming sights and sounds.  In fact, as we're here together, we'll see Action through until about 02.30hrs and then head to join the queue (line, for my US friends) to get into BEYOND as it opens at 03.00hrs; I knew a couple of the security guys at BEYOND so was usually able to walk directly in.  BEYOND was a fabulous venue.  Different dance floors, bars and sit out/chill out areas.  The music was often more mellow, more chilled, and we can take the opportunity to soak up the sounds, peruse the human decor in a less frenetic atmosphere and, perhaps, lock eyes with a fine specimen who had drawn our attention in Action, previously, and exchange smiles.  So, how would one hook up or pick someone up?

Such an outcome might result from us having moved closer and closer on the dance floor and then, de facto, begun dancing together or within a group, but both knowing what the shared eye contact and smiles meant, or, it might be a crash pick up (a cold pitch, as some old work colleagues would understand).

CRASH, more Tribal House and earthy

Example of the 'crash pick up/cold pitch'.  You are standing in the short queue to recover your jacket from the cloakroom in CRASH, at the Vauxhall Arches (for the sake of argument), when a voice behind you says, "I was sad to see you put your shirt back on.  You're looking damned good.  You leaving?" to which you reply, "Yep, heading home", and then we have it, "Mind if I come with you?".  Bingo.  Yep, that's it all it might take.  You need to recall that this is man 'sans' woman and I repeat the Billy Crystal attributed quote, "Women need a reason for sex, men just need a place".  As the foundation of this Blog is openness and hoping, to some small degree, to increase understanding, I will acknowledge that amongst almost every one of my then friends (on the bar and club scenes) the progression was the reverse of what is reported to be the case in 'polite' straight society and sex preceded dating; though no-one really dated, as such, even if the relationship began to cement (and I know that this is necessarily different for those not living on/socialising on the scene).  So, the intention was not to return home alone after our Saturday night/Sunday morning out together....and, sorry, that means I shall probably leave you to your own devices at some point while in BEYOND.  If, however, things don't click, 12.00hrs Sunday lunch time arrives and neither of us has picked up, well, it's warm and sunny outside and a walk/tube ride back to Soho will mean brunch at Balans and some cocktails.  Indeed, if really in the mood, a 'disco nap' when finally back home might recharge the batteries sufficiently for me to drag on the glad rags again, Sunday night, and head for DTPM at Fabric, Charterhouse Street.  What it was to be a lady of leisure!

So, all rather rushed, but that's us done for the Saturday night/Sunday morning out on the gay scene....in fact, straddling the Soho bar scene and then the clubbing scene.  On concluding PART 1 to this subject, the last post, I summarised what I saw as some of the most obvious differences between a night out on our scene and the straight scene.  That was easy, as I have visited many a straight pub over the years.  My experience does not qualify me to compare gay and straight club scenes, however.  That said, one difference stands out.  It is the obvious one with which I kicked of the comparison in the previous post but it bears repetition as it is, after all, at the heart of it all....these were gay clubs packed with semi-naked gay guys looking to pick up other guys.  It bears repetition because this simple, but core fact speaks to the crucial role of the bars and clubs to gay life irrespective of the acceptance of LGBT folk in the broader community (once again, however, I stress that I do know this is different for guys living off the scene, away from gay communities); though this is now being whittled away by the increasing reliance on gay dating (hook up) sites where one can find sex but need never publicly identify as gay.  As far as I understand, the almost single focus overt sexuality of the clubs may be more intense on our scene, but is mirrored to significant degree in straight dance clubs, as is the use of "club drugs"; to a lesser degree, though, I am told.  Do, please, correct me on any misunderstanding of the straight venues in comments to this post.

Guests at our home Club opening

Right, that's me done in.  While we do have our own dance club to the rear of the house and act as a sort of 'micro-scene' (as there is no scene in our City of half a million), I am out of the habit of a full Saturday/Sunday session....but thanks a million for your company.  Hugely appreciated as there's no night out and no Blog without your participation; sending e-hugs or manly embraces as appropriate.  The next Post, Thu or Fri of next week, will discuss "Coming Out, Why, When, How....and What Next?"; in response to another question asked of me over email by a reader.  Have a fabulous, hedonistic, self indulgent weekend and I do hope you'll pop back next week.