 | Sometimes you go to an event on the scene where everything seems to click, and you know its one of those nights that people will talk about over weeks and months, and years to come… conversations will begin with ‘Did you go to that party at Xtasia… was it a blinding night or what?’ And they would not be exaggerating. Saturday night at Xtasia will surely pass into the memoirs as a night of legend for all those who attended. It was quite simply put, superb and that description can be fairly attributed to the club as well.
This was our first visit to Xtasia in some years, and the first since the new owners, Paul and Flirt took it over nearly a year ago. As a couple they have been on the scene for a long time and have a good handle on what people want and what works and what doesn’t for their target market, people who like to dance and have sex under the same roof. They’re also really nice personable people something that you either have in you’re nature or you don’t, and there’s probably about four or five couples that run clubs on the scene who really stand out in this way and Paul and Flirt would be another couple to add to that list.
So we will prefix this review with a couple of things. Firstly, this event was not typical for the venue, and secondly the event we went to was organised by an outside unit – PHUKT, we are still not sure what it stands for, but we are sure that after this review that information will not be long in coming. Many people got in the swinging scene through the rave era of the 1990s, it was the dancing days of decadence, before hard core criminals took control of the rave culture and the name Leah Betts became forever etched in the minds of many. Saturday night was an attempt to recreate that feeling of love and wonder that often led to sexual experimentation, so this event, run at Xtasia, the perfect venue for it, was aimed at the crowd who came to swinging via that route or just for those who love music and dancing as part of their sexual ingredients for a good night. On that it cannot be faulted. It was well organised, the staff were great and the owners and organisers clearly working well together to make for a great night out. We hope and firmly believe that this is a relationship that should continue, and look forward to more nights like this one and let’s hope, like so many clubs that have done these things in the past, there are no fall outs and everyone can see the benefits of working in tandem on an event like this, rather than just the club doing it alone. So the event was a big success, there was well over 200 people there. I did a head count at one point in the main room and got lost after 150, with more people still coming in and probably another 30 or so in the smoking area, these figures are a pretty safe bet. The appeal of this event was obvious because we bumped into people from all over the UK who had made the trip to be there. Several old regulars from Skinnydippers were present and the nature of the event obviously appealed to them, so those people who think music isn’t an important part of the scene, might wish to remember that for many, it is part of what they want. There were swingers at this event that we hadn’t seen for over 6 or 7 years. The dance floor was almost never empty from the start and the DJs, famous and otherwise were all first rate! Even though this was a mixed event, the single guys present weren’t too many and were, from what we saw, all well behaved but for future events of this kind, we think a bigger couples only area would be a good thing. Something to consider.
The club itself, well, wow, what a difference from our last visit here. Gone were the crap plastic tree’s, better use was made of the downstairs areas, divided up into four lockable rooms, a dungeon and a couples room. We thought the couples room should allow more privacy, it was too open to gawkers, but we liked the idea of the mirrors on the ceiling corridors that partially spilled into a room, so you could fuck where people could see you, or not, you’re choice. What was the old upstairs dark area, is now a chill out room for conversation and a second bar, a great idea. The toilets have all had a major spruce up and no longer have that awful 1970s Armitage Shanks feel to them and there was a lot of thought and planning gone into to everything that you saw. When you arrive at the club, you can dispense with coats and bags in the main reception area, however lockers are also available to you, so you don’t have to keep leaving the main club. They’re located on the basement level, which now has showers, an 8 man Jacuzzi, sauna and a cinema room for playing. So there is a wet area for those that like that kind of thing, but most people will not come to Xtasia for that. The club was very clean, in fact they must have had a team of cleaners working throughout the night, because it always seemed to be clean all night. What was the god awful loft space has now been converted in a dogging style room, where two front bumpers of cars have been placed for you to make out on (we felt a road test was in order, its actually quite comfortable, we bet that took a bit of trail and error to work out!)
Xtasia has really now come into its own as a vibrant club to be reckoned with and while its clear there is more to be done, and the owners are still bringing a number of toys to the party they have more than made an excellent start here. Three couples on our review team were there on the night and they all gave it 5 out of 5, which doesn’t surprise us, as the atmosphere of the event made the place jump into the heavens.
Xtasia’s biggest enemy, will be its size. It has a lot of space, and with the three levels, and all the other nooks and crannies all over the place, you will need a few good numbers through the door to create the likes of what we saw on Bank Holiday, but by not overplaying these key events and doing those that are most popular three or four times a year, it means there will be other nights like this to come. We had a fantastic time, and as we said, this will be a night that will go down in swinging history as one to remember for sure. Excellent all round.
Date: 26 August 2013
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