Would you go to a nightclub reunion? (Red Parrot Reunion 2013)

If school reunions fill you with an air of trepidation, try a nightclub reunion, and not just any nightclub, a club embodied with a ‘coolest of the cool’ tag. If you were terrified entering the club all those years ago, imagine re-entering when you’re on the other side of your use-by date. Saturdays Red Parrot Reunion, held at The Bakery, was like a school reunion on steroids, but with way better music. It was fascinating wandering amongst the huge crowd, trying to recognise people. The night left me pondering five things. 

 

Red Parrot Reunion 2013 © The Ponder Room

First was the friendly, love-in atmosphere. Previous ventures into the Parrot were all about doing your best ‘cool and disinterested’ look. Now however there were smiles aplenty. Anyone who looked your way smiled, and you smiled back, just incase you’d spent years dancing next to them and couldn’t remember. Such an amazingly friendly atmosphere, complete strangers came and chatted …very un-Parrot-like. However just like years ago, there were people from all types of music genres standing side by side, but this time it was minus the menacing undertones. Everyone was just reminiscing.

Femme Fatale © The Ponder Room

 
Then there was the hair. 

There was a decided lack of Flock of Seagull/Duran Duran/Quiff hairstyles on the men. Instead every second head was bald. This made it virtually impossible to recognise them, apart from the skinheads, although even this was difficult, given that the high chiselled cheekbones had been replaced with more rounded visages. Images of old photos were projected on the walls, but they didn’t help much either. It was at least heart-warming to see Paul still sporting a quiff, albeit a less gravity defying one. Clearly the days of sky high mohawks were over.

There was one thing that remained the same. The music.

Snuff © The Ponder Room

It was always all about the music and dancing. 
A designated dance floor area was utterly redundant. The whole room was full of people dancing … a multitude of dance styles all meshing in together. Complete strangers would smile, nod and say remember this, before inviting you to join their group in a bit of a shuffle, dip, twirl or bop … or in some cases all four. The bands were fantastic, I arrived in time to see Femme Fatale reunite after many years apart. The dancing was at its greatest when Snuff was on. How fantastic to see him again and have him fly in from Japan.

© The Ponder Room



© The Ponder Room