Today started quite well, I got myself out of bed just after 8am, got myself down the gym for 8.38am and left at 9.38am. (I struggled with the shoulder press but more on that in another post). I got home, changed and then headed for my piano lesson in Thame. Towards the end of my lesson I noticed bright blotches in my vision. I was getting a headache. I left and turned down the option of lunch and drove home. I called Ricki on the way but it was a brief conversation. I got home and went straight to sleep. It was about 1.15pm and I did not get up again until 6pm. After some food, I went back to sleep and got up at 8pm in time to watch Top Gear. A wasted Sunday afternoon which I am trying to make up for. Last night at Egg was fantastic! It was perhaps a milestone in my clubbing experience, so I thought it would be an ideal moment to look back at my clubbing history. Particularly as the majority of the early days (1999-2002) are PB (pre-blogging days). My clubbing life seems to start with Pav. Back in 1999 we would go to Level One. A dingy club built into a car park to the west of the town centre. I went there three or four times but it was never anything special. We then moved up a level to Utopia, which was outside the town centre and actually just off Junction 12 off the M4. (It has recently reopened as J12). This was my first experience of a quality venue. The dance floor was massive and we got big group of us together and my Dad even hired a minibus for a few trips. One memorable trip was in Christmas 1999. I just remember as the club closed, to get everyone out the DJ played The Hamster Dance. I can remember quite well, the lights coming on soon after the song blasting out of the speakers and everyone darting for the exit. Oh the memories, in any case, that was one of handful of visits to Utopia. In September 2000, the move up to Leicester meant many things but also a change in direction. While I still enjoyed going to the commercial dance venues, the new friends I made were into a different music scene. An urban and more street based music style. I got introduced to Garage for the first time and went to some amazing gigs. I remember Garage Nation at Zanzibar which was a sellout and absolutely crazy. I also recall my birthday night out in Mosquito Coast (what a fantastic name for a club) which was headlined by DJ Luck & MC Neat in November 2000. I am trying to remember the names of some of the clubs but many have been refurbished and changed (during and after) my time at university in the city. I refer to these as the lost years because I was completely lost touch with Pav. He was back at Henley College (re-sits) during my first year and then in Birmingham studying Engineering before dropping out to get a job in the real world. We got back in touch in 2005 and I remember some of his first messages to me. He was ‘really’ into his dance music but also did some DJing from time to time. I was quite shocked. (This was the guy that had really liked Alice Deejay like me but perhaps he did not want me to post that admission on my blog). I remember the first few early mixes he had send me during the later days at college. He mixed A-ha Take On Me, with Lenny Kravitz – Fly Away. I might even have the mp3 file lying around on a archive CD somewhere. In three short years I have been introduced to a whole range of music and amazing venues. The super clubs across London and some more local venues such as Phatz Bar in Maidenhead. I also went to two music festivals and plan to go to many more. Kev picked me up around 9.30pm and we headed down the M40 to London. There were road works just before Park Royal with the three lanes converging into two, so it was about half a mile tail back. Plenty of time for Pav’s set, he was not due to take over the decks from Stevens until 11.30pm. We turned left after Kings Cross and dumped the car in the fist available spot and then worked up York Way. We noted that the number near by was thirty something and we had to get to two hundred. As we crossed the road, we saw two minibuses pull up. The free courtesy Egg taxi but we opted to walk rather than jump in. (We were under the illusion that the club was right the corner when it was about a mile (or at least three quarters of a mile away). We continued walking but the rows of shops and houses changed into industrial park land with their high silver gates. We were started to lose hope but Pav then noticed the bright sign up at the top of the hill (I saw it a few moments later). The Egg logo on a white lit board. We were here. Outside there were more staff than actual customers. In fact we were the first customers and told to queue up in the paid queue. We then were let through, I had to empty my pockets and go through the scanner and we were in. The interior corridor was plush, all in white with an exotic almost Continental feel. I was looking forward to the night out. Kev misplaced his mobile phone, so went back to the car with his girlfriend Deun. (They caught the Egg shuttle bus to the car and then parked the car right outside the club. I went to check the place out. Walking through you went into the garden area which was under a marquee. Through the door and to the right you were in the basement, the Crescendo area with Paul already on the decks. I then got some drinks in and the evening could start (once Kev & Duen had got back by then). It was a great night, just took a while to get going. The place was practically empty when we arrived but by midnight the place was banging and Pav (using his new name for the first time (Breezy has official been dropped but I think the web site remains). A great night but after a while I went to explore, there were two rooms upstairs (the second I discovered later with Pav). They were playing more commercial / vocal based dance tunes and it was rammed! We stayed here for a while before heading back downstairs for the end of Pav’s set and the beginning of Russell’s. They had the ceiling lights on and there was a great atmosphere on the dance floor. Here are a few of my favourite pictures, (all courtesy of Pav, I opted to leave my camera in the car!)

You can view the rest over on FlickR. We left around 2.30am, and I remember getting home just before 3.30am, still buzzing from the fantastic night. I am looking forward to the next Crescendo night, whenever it may be. Plus I had missed the last event a few weeks back at Pascha so enjoyed being back out on a Saturday night having a good time (for a change).