The Juice Box

We rang in 2009 across the pond in London this year, and boy was it a great time.

New Year’s Eve started with a visit to the RVT (Royal Vauxhall Tavern) to ring in the New Year with the Dame Edna Experience and music by DJ’s Simon Le Vans and Andy Almighty. A large group of us, 14 in all, representing San Francisco, New York and London, gathered and walked over to the RVT. The party was a great success, with a lot of typical tavern silly fun, a great show for the S.L.A.G.S (South London Action Girls Society), and the sing along audience participation you can only find at the RVT. We stayed at the RVT until about 1:30AM, at which point we gathered forces, and the group split for the next destination. With the energy, friends, fun and crowd, I give this event a 4.5 out of 5 bottles of water, simply because no club can deliver what the RVT has.

Our next stop on the New Year bus schedule was Love Muscle at the Fridge, an amazing club space in Brixton. The music was loud and pumping when we arrived and the party was in full swing already. The club space is an old theater and had that old theater smell to it, but the light show, pyrotechnics and flame throwers were quite a visual diversion. I had flash backs at times of being at an Opulent Temple party at Burning Man or at being at the Pleasure Dome of years gone by. The crowd was mixed and eclectic, which added to the variety of night. A live stage show at around 3AM with porn stars strutting around in bikini style swim suits turned into a full frontal nudity show and was a rather interesting twist to the “Love Muscle” theme. Overall, the party was a blast, the music about average, the crowd, visuals, toys, and energy were worth the attendance. I give this event 3.5 out of 5 bottles of water.

The next day we had to pry ourselves out of bed and catch the Eurostar to Brussels, Belgium. We arrived and met friends, grabbed some food and prepared ourselves for the next big event, La Demence. WOW is where I start. First off, I really had no idea what to expect. La Demence is called out as one of Europe’s largest circuit parties and it certainly lived up the expectations. About 4000 people attend this event catching planes, trains and buses from all over the continent to arrive in Brussels. The venue is a multi-level space with a main dance floor with a large bar and lots of space to dance (until the crowd really piles in). The second floor is a black room with black light and a moderate sized dance floor with seating and dancing on riser levels as well. There is a smaller space for a dark room that seemed pretty busy as well. All of these spaces were tied together with lots of stairwells that took you from level to level. I jumped on the main dance floor and loved the music being provided by a range of DJs from all over Europe, with that beautiful, trance like, driving sound, that makes you want to move your body and really get a little dirty on the floor. The crowd was HOT – HOT – HOT. This is clearly the place where all of the hot men in Europe go, and amazingly, this crowd is friendly, fun and likes to be silly on the dance floor. Guys were dressed in everything from designer jeans and t-shirts, full leather, underwear, kilts, and all combinations. Everywhere you turned you were greeted by smiles and warmth and it was hard not to find yourself engaged by some hunk just for a little dirty dancing time. I finally had to peel myself out of the party at 7AM in order to get a little rest, shower and hop back on the Eurostar to return to London, but it was hard to leave. There was not a time where I wanted to get off the dance floor as the music continually pulled you along for a great party. One thing to note, water is served in glass bottles (as are soda drinks) and that means you get a bottle with no cap, which is hard if you want to hang on to a bottle and drink it slowly. However, the bar staff was friendly and fast to serve you so it was easy to grab a bottle, drink and go. The one thing I did notice is that through the night many of these bottles break on the floor and it becomes a bit hard to walk after a while and if you are not wearing thick soled shoes you could find yourself with some glass to deal with. This party gets 4.5 out of 5 bottles of water easily for the music, the crowd, the space. If you find yourself in Europe, check out one of the monthly La Demence parties or better yet plan your New Year’s Day to be at this party.

All New Year’s parties can be fun, but more than anything, it was the opportunity to be with my friends and have the time to party together during this celebration. I certainly can see a call to come back to London and Brussels to ring in 2010.