SOLAR

Dance Night at the Waterfront Bar, Morecambe.
19.04.03
Solar happens monthly
reviewed by satori

A month ago I was at a gig in Lancaster that didn't warm up as we'd hoped, and someone suggested we take off for Solar - the monthly dance night at the Waterfront. I'd not been before and was keen to preen so off we went. Solar is laid on by Kalimba - aka the very omnipresent Steve Middlesborough - Steve's a major soul and retro man himself, so he's not let near the decks at Solar. He's one hell of an organiser tho, and Solar is a very cool safe warm juicy gig where you can get wild and light and sociable without getting mauled or messed with. I had a ball - someone was handing out fake wings and I kept meeting beautifully trippy fairies on the dance floor. So I came back this month for more.

The layout at the Waterfront has my full approval - the DJs are close enough to the dancers to smell the sweat - which is as it should be, and not hiding off up in some booth somewhere doin one with their impressionable groupies. The central dance area is totally fenced off from the seating - so there's no dead wood standing in it chatting or wandering through slopping beer, just juicy partyers shaking their booties. Then there's a second wider dance area for the more idiosyncratically energetic with a huge lightshow projection backdrop that you can make silhouettes against. Cool.

Another thing that's cool about Solar is the drums - between the 2 dance floors there's a set of tall hand drums (whatever they're called) on stands - there's generally no shortage of hot drummers around and they can add a live layer to the music that's fresh and personal.

Entry to Solar is £5 - which is low enough to be affordable - and reasonable enough for a comfortable venue licensed until 2am - and high enough to keep out the rough. They ask you to scoop out the contents of your pockets/bags on entry and have a quick pat-down by one of the door crew - (a woman does the female customers). They're relaxed and pleasant about it and not overly intrusive - mainly checking for contraband bottles and cans which they will take care of for you until you leave. This is handy if you are going on to a party after, less so I guess if you were hoping to consume on site. They don't let anyone in after 12 midnight. Security have special T-shirts instead of those crummy suits they wear at chainstore venues that make bouncers look like the Cray bros.

Extra-specially this time, not only were the night's DJs all female, but also the women from Kinematograph were there with their computers, doing radical projections onto the big screen. None of my photos of these came out so good tho, so you'll have to take my word for it, or better still, catch them at their next gig.

By the time I finally managed to get my gang all up and running it was 11.30pm before we rolled into Solar and the place was jumping. Pandora was on the decks (see above) - doing a bit of a Princess Grace - all blonde and cool and focussed in the middle of wild, multi-layered dance beats. The dance floor was well into its stride and a couple of girls who must have ordered their kit from the Anne Summers catalogue were dancing on the stairs. Later in the ladies I was priviliged to see Ms Mini modelling her lacy french kecks for her honestly impressed mates. Not a saucy show, just very educational. And fantastically sexy IMHO. (And I'm pretty sure it must have beaten the crap out anything they might have been screening in the gents bogs at Toast (spit)!) Real is real is great and love is all and funny is boss.

Tragically I missed Naomi who was on earlier - but I was lucky enough to catch Tray C who laid on the final set. She makes it look easy but the way she strokes that vinyl is something interesting. The beats were breaking into each other in a very juicy way and the place was, to say the least, very very cheerful and full of friendly bouncy energy. Lots of mixing and some very radiant dancers. Tray will be playing at the Fight Club at Korners, Lancaster on May 9 vs her longtime oppo Ash, just FYI.

What more can I tell you - I had a great time and I'll be back because Solar is a special night (lets face it, how often can I be roused to do a review) - a really good energy, friendly, and great dancing sounds that do the job. But don't take my word for it. As you can see from my pic - here's Sally of the Family dance nights at the Crypt (next is 31 May) clearly feeling no pain whatsoever and I noticed many more of the usual suspects on the party circuit bouncing out of their sox and checking each other out (with considerable enthusiasm in some cases).

Solar is in. Check it out. Next Solar is 24 May.