I know – I’m getting adventurous in my middle age. Not content with Disco 2000ing in the evenings every few months, I’ve now taken to over 30s daytime clubbing at Scala. Wild times indeed.
And in that spirit, we started the afternoon with a nice margarita from Sons and Daughters in Granary Square. In case you hadn’t worked it out by now, this was a childfree excursion. My kids might be ageing rapidly but last I checked neither of them were quite in the over 30s bracket yet. So we started almost as we meant to go on – I must admit, getting trapped on the wrong side of a cycle race wasn’t in the plan.
But we found a way out via a kind of footbridge over the track and we were free to go party.
I haven’t been to Scala in years. The last time may have been in 2002 when Bob and I were promoting Scooby Doo the move there. I know a photo exists but sadly I can’t find it anywhere. I also remember going to see Gorillaz there in 2001ish and both times I thought it was a huge space. When we walked in yesterday, all of us thought it seemed tiny compared to what we remembered but maybe we’ve just grown.
It being 3PM, the dancefloor took a little while to get going but when they played “Crash” by the Primitives I decided I might as well go for it. It’s not like I’m a stranger to starting a dancefloor. And seeing as the playlist promised “Pop” and “Cheese”, I wasn’t sure how many danceable songs there would be.
Turns out, quite a few. We were on the dancefloor solidly all afternoon, with only the necessary bar and toilet breaks. Some of the music did fall into an indie girl’s nightmare playlist – the kind of songs that were used to torture me in the student union at the turn of the century. I couldn’t quite bring myself to dance to Steps, Ricky Martin or the Spice Girls but the full-on cheese of the decade before that is just fine by me. So we wailed along to Bonnie Tyler and quick stepped to Footloose with no shame at all. And there were plenty of songs that were in the rock and indie genre too. Bob remarked that Kurt Cobain would not be overly happy to be classed as “cheese” but I guess he doesn’t get an opinion.
But no one goes to Club de Fromage for the groundbreaking playlist. It’s all the extras – confetti cannons, balloons, limbo competitions – that make it a fun night. Or afternoon, in this case. And the four Club de Fromage dancers were what kept the party moving. Whether they were dressed as grannies doing the splits, football fans tossing out giant balls into the crowd or rock chicks with mullets and inflatable guitars they did everything with a grin on their faces and a sense of fun that was pretty infectious. My favourite was the one in the wedding dress, who constantly looked like she was living her best life.
So yes, three middle-aged mothers survived an afternoon’s clubbing with only a small amount of backache to show for it. Staggering out into the slightly jarring sunlight, we took refuge in the nearby Pizza Union for dinner and some frozen mojitos. Rock and roll, indeed!
If you want to see what it was all about, have a look at my video on YouTube here:
No disclaimer needed cause I paid for this one but for more info, click here
