Benjamin Goode and photographer Jack Mealing check out all things weird and wonderful down south at Plan B.
I was a sad sight last week, a single and lonely man roaming the streets of Brixton, looking for love on the eve of St Valentine's. I wondered why it is that in my life in general there is an abundance of swarthy, much taller, muscular men and a corresponding lack of the fairer sex? Such bleak prospects, being small pot bellied and broke, can depress a man. So just as I was considering giving it all up and joining the vagrants in a rain-sodden binge-drinking session and smoking reclaimed butts until death do us part, I happened across Plan B.
It was night outside, and inside Plan B in Brixton there was Dâm Funk sporting sunglasses, the kind which you can only get away with in LA. He did not look even a mite stupid; just incredibly cool. He was excellent. I have never seen a DJ turn up to do a set with backing dancers, a Korg synthesiser and a microphone, which he used to improvise incredible vocals and soaring keyboard solos over seemingly interminable electro future boogie funk (or whatever it is called nowadays) instrumentals.
He played some incredible songs – forgotten classics – and cycled through the annals of disco, funk, boogie, some garage and a lot of music that I have never heard before and probably will not again. It really was music to feel loved to, and was a rather wonderful musical exploration executed with a showman's flair and impeccable taste. And then just like that, he was gone. Probably, with keyboard in hand, to nice up the vibe somewhere in a galaxy far, far away.
Benji B, Mr Wonderful and Alex Nut kept people dancing until the lights came up, at which point things stopped making sense. With nights like these Plan B's renaissance as a venue continues apace. Its new sound system and newly renovated DJ booth, which opens up the interaction between crowd and DJ like an infinity pool of dance, makes it one of the most accessible and amicable venues that I have ever been to. Their past and forthcoming line-ups will set in stone their already burgeoning reputation as one of the best venues in South London.
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