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| L’America |
Date:
Saturday 5th April 2003
Address: Emporium, St Marys St, Cardiff
Occurrence: Monthly /
Saturdays
Hours: 10pm - 4am
Ticket Price: £15
Non Members / £12 Members
Dress Code: Smart Clubwear
Genre: Funky, soulful
US house & garage & deep grooves
Capacity: 850 |
Main
Room: CJ MACKINTOSH, Craig Bartlett, Gareth
Hopkins, Woody & Zeb
Bar Room: Neil Young,
Darren Stewart & Guests
The Loft: Dave Jones,
Matt Meehan, Owain K, Leon Lewis , Gez O Neill |
One Saturday, I went
to L’America. I’ll admit to initially
being a bit amused by a club night called L’America.
For some obscure reason, the thought of it almost
had me dancing down the street singing…
“I
like to be in L’America!
O.K. by me in L’America!
Ev'rything free in L’America
For a small fee in L’Americaaaaaaaaaa!”
Well, Cardiff wasn’t quite the Big Apple and
things certainly weren’t cheap on this night
out, but at least part of Bernstein’s West
Side Story lyrics held true on my trip to Wales’
Big Smoke. Cardiff: city of dreams, friendly faces
and La la la la la L’America!
I was in a great mood for my trip to Cardiff. The
sun was shining, I had not a care in the world,
and the thought of seeing CJ Mackintosh (the original
Mack Daddy) made me brim over with girlish excitement.
Infact, I was that close to bursting out into my
own personal rendition of ‘I Feel Pretty’,
but that would have been taking things bit far!
L’America’s venue for this evening,
The Emporium, stands hidden from the bright lights
and garish fronts of many of the other bars and
clubs on Cardiff’s St Mary’s Street,
distinguished only with a small black awning and
a large bald bouncer guy. There was nobody else
around when we turned up and, due to the nondescript
grunt and shifty nod the doorman gave us on entering,
I was almost expecting to be mugged by a few 1950s
American gangsters before I had a chance to make
it up the stairs. Appearances can be misleading
though and, once behind those little black doors,
The Emporium boasts a cosy, compact, underground
feel, somewhere between a small Scottish castle
and a New York basement. Having been quite recently
refurbished, the club now boasts three rooms, four
at a push, although two of these are pretty much
the same area, cordoned off with a sheet. The club
is all wooden floors and stone DJ booths. Topped
with white curtains, a variety of snug chillout
areas and the odd stone column, there are also plenty
of nooks and crannies to go awandering in. And go
awandering is exactly what I did!!
First stop was the bar, where, after recovering
from a near premature heart attack, I bought myself
a coke. Okay, so it was a whole can of Coca Cola
coke and I was also equipped with a plastic cup
and a spoon full of ice (all served with a smile),
but £2 for a can of coke?!!! Even that doesn’t
happen in America!! Second stop: the ladies. No
queue, plenty of soft loo roll (thumbs up there!),
good mirrors, but no hand dryer. My night was getting
slightly better (although I’d almost finished
my coke!). Third stop: main dance floor. Ah ha!!
This is where it was all happening. It was pretty
early but already there were plenty of people getting
down to the sweet soulful sounds of one if the L’America
residents. I’ve been to L’America before,
but not for nearly two years and I was really surprised
to see a good few familiar faces from days gone
by. Not many clubs seem to have crowds that mature
with the night. People get older and move on, to
be replaced by newer, fresher faces. The original
L’America crowd though are still here and
growing in number, undoubtedly having gotten hooked
on the sound. It’s clear to see why, as the
great atmosphere, fantastic music and excited, up-for-it
crowd all let you know that this is what real house
music is all about!!
Next stop was upstairs in the loft and this was
where it was all at for me. Deep, tech housey stuff
with an extra funky edge. Difficult to describe,
but easy to dance to! To be perfectly frank, this
is where I spent the rest of my night. Happily positioned
between the bar (well…water and ice are free!!)
and a very nice young man called Rob. Somehow, grooving
away up there, I managed to completely miss CJ Mackintosh’s
set and didn’t realise it was all over until
the lights came on and we were being ushered outside
by the bouncers. But hey, he’s the Mack….he’ll
be back! And so will I! There’s no time to
let my feet rest though - I have some singing to
go with that dancing!
“Foreigner goes to L’America,
Many hellos in L’America;
Nobody knows in L’America
Now I have friends in L’ Americaaaaa!” |
Venue: 9
Music: 9
Crowd: 9
Sound System: 8
Total: 35 / 40
Rating: Gold Award |
| Review written by:
Pammy T |
pammy@uk-cl.co.uk |
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