Discos for Grown Ups, 240 dance evenings around the country, book on Eventbrite. 4/5 stars
🙂 Live DJ
The DJ played a selection of dance hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s, to please the diverse age groups, mums and daughters, lovers and groups on mate-nights like us. The slight problem with that, according to my friend, Susan, was the 70s melodies came out sounding wishy-washy next to the drubby 90s, and the 90s felt tuneless next to the sing-along 80s. We recommend sticking to the 80s, it’s got the drub AND the melodies, and the crowd went wild every time, belting out the words and hamming up the dance moves. Or what about playing a block of 80s followed by one nod to the 70s/90s so we can get to the bar or the loo in the ‘interval’. But we’re probably a bit biassed.
🙂 Great venue
The Shepherd’s Bush O2 was a theatre. The stalls area is now the dance floor, with seating in the upper circles if you need a breather, which was perfect, because sitting through a pop/rock anything in a traditional theatre just feels insulting. Another of my friends, Debbie, was concerned about ‘the Cheese Factor’, which she encountered on another disco evening, where the venue was a bald church hall, with over-keen revellers invited on stage to dance (badly). Discos for Grown Ups has avoided these pitfalls, so Relief all round. There was dancing on stage, by professionals, but we think the disco ball headgear was unnecessary. O2 Academy Group has partnered with Discos for Grown Ups, so the venues should all be dance-friendly. The bar was beside the dance floor which was very convenient, and the pricing reasonable.
🙂 Sound system and light show
Another fear we had was cheap boomy speakers, but they were great quality, a good volume, and well positioned for surround sound. The whole place was jumping with lazers and pops of light, massive balloons and confetti showers.
🙂 The Crowd
Dressed to the Nines in sequins and glitter. It was also a lovely friendly atmosphere spanning all ages, with friends or family in huddles, couples getting sexy, and solo dancers chumming up with neighbours. I’m glad to report some chatting up going on too!
For an even better evening next time, more Management on the dance floor would have been good; it felt like a swarm of ushers on the outside and nobody on the inside. I had to go out and ask for the air-conditioning to be beefed up and the loos were pretty rank towards 10pm. Equally, dropped cups could have been picked up sooner and drink spillages mopped up quicker.
Our thanks to Simon Stanford at Upfront Uk for inviting us to his party and we wish him the very best as he continues to fill this country with dance!
