This November the grand old tradition of British clubbing, the soul weekender, went ballistic as a swarm of clubbers trooped from the Southport Weekender, to the South Coast Weekender to the Bugged Out! Weekender. None of which would have been quite so mad were it not the wetest November since records began 300 years ago. While England flooded, we partied. Well someone had to. Read our Bugged Out! round-up below.
Bugged Out! Weekender 17-19 November 2000 Pontin's Prestatyn N. Wales.
Welsh jokes went straight out of the window at this huge party celebrating 6 fine years of being Bugged Out!
Other than insipid 'Leeky, leeky, leeky' banter at the bar when Underworld took stage and the odd random idea belonging to one Roni Size that 'Cars are cheaper in Wales!' and obviously the Welsh rarebit /rabbit/ sheep/ toast conundrums- it could be time to re-brand Wales, or at least Welsh weekenders, as the future of British clubbing.
Of course, weekenders are not a new thing and those of the 'out all weekend' mindset are hardly the new renaissance but the line-up at this northerly location was one of supreme delectation and most new-school in epithet.
Two massive arenas supplied everything from nu-boogie to old bungle, breaks to deep house. The bar never shut, the fruit machines kept on whirring, the canteen had a DJ or two playing over the sprouts and there was enough entertainment to not even have to leave camp.
A pub called the Queen Vic became home to a melange of sonic subtleties from mod to rock, punk to hip-hop. Upstairs Grand Central Records hosted a groovy affair on the Saturday which proved more hip than saying 'Hi Di Hi!'. Without VIP areas the stars sidled with ravers and all carried on regardless. Chalets became playgroups for silliness and by Sunday bonding had occurred and no-one had been killed driving home too early.
Dan Kahuna, of Big Kahuna fame, christened the place alongside Christophe Micronaut on the Friday evening. As the floor began to fill with people, Felix Da Housecat ibiza-ed it up in preparation for what was a killer live show from Underworld who brought the classics belting out whilst remaining forever the kings of snake-hipped wiggles.
The other major performance came from Roni Size and Reprazent who totally rocked it. Roni never stopped smiling due to his deep love affair with Prestatyn which began in the late 80s when he and his afro first visited for a soul weekender. The crew were magnetic doing everything from 'Heroes' to the more recent hits. We were also treated to a magnificent DJ show from the Chemical Brothers who improved on the riffs of everyone from Parliament to Sylvester, an educational and exclusive set.
Roger Sanchez played an early set on the Saturday to about 60 people who were either still up or had managed a few cheeky winks after the previous night. Lottie (the only female DJ there, other than Sara Cox who wasn't playing) pulled in a beauty, sadly same problem as there had been with Sanchez in the fact that there weren't quite enough people there losing it on the podium. Jon Carter and Jacques Le Cont (Les Rythmes Digitales) took us to the pleasure dome on the Saturday, of course Jacques Le Cont did it in the Frankie Goes to Hollywood sense of the word.
The Alpine Stars did a great live set, definitely worth looking out for in the future. Tim 'Love' Lee wrapped it up like a pro by home time on Sunday. Bugged Out!, we have been informed there's gonna be another one but in the meantime, at least buy the album.
