Hardly a Horror Show, but there was Precious Little Passion at Pacha this Halloween

Hardly a Horror Show, but there was Precious Little Passion at Pacha this Halloween

02 November, 2009
by: Al Warwick

Despite the rather unglamorous setting of an old bus depot, Ibiza superclub Pacha's London outpost has always attracted the suited and booted for a night of dependable house, techno and trance, more often than not with a big-name DJ at the helm.

Friday's 'Halloween Special' at the London club certainly delivered on the music front – Juan Marcello and residents Shuey Aurora and Erol Arda were rightfully the highlights in an endless barrage of mainly Chicago house with a dirty underground vibe throughout.

This was the music policy of the event and in terms of delivering a promise; a success, but it could have and should have been so much more.

Firstly, although the sound was slick and sexy there was very little to truly engage the masses – not once in the six hours I was present (and still upright) did the main room really fill whilst the emotion on the dance-floors was lukewarm at times.

Furthermore when a night is described as owning 'no shortage of thrills and chills' and delivering its music in 'a totally halloween style' it would be reasonable to hope for some dark and terrifying techno stabs or even the odd horror song homage/camp Vincent Price cackle to fill the room – but alas it was not to be.

For an Halloween event the décor was a little uninspired but then it would have been wasted anyway on a crowd who made no real attempt to dress up and get into the spirit of things.

Maybe I was expecting too much of the regular clientele to ever be seen wearing some fake blood and a Frankenstein mask instead of their mandatory Friday night bling. True, it wasn't strictly Halloween yet, but on a themed night like this one with reports of a prize for the best dressed punter there should have been more of a party atmosphere.

Overall it was a decent night of course - the venue's natural strengths of solid tunes and those sofabeds always make the steep drink prices seem acceptable – but in terms of serving up a ghoulish and memorable Halloween event this didn't really deliver as it should have.

To put it another way, stumbling across £40 that some inebriated/suddenly philanthropic banker had left poking from a cash machine in Victoria station should not have been the highlight of our night.

For Pacha's November line up click here
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Follow this link for all other London house music events

Al Warwick