would have spent the majority of the of the night getting dizzy driving around in circles!!!! Would my parking tribulations be ultimately worth it, well the only way to find out was to get in the Mint Lounge & find out!!!
The pavement outside of Mint was its usual busy self with punter’s trying to blag their way in and a posse of smokers straining the living daylights out of their cigs in the hope that the quick overdose of nicotine would suffice for an extended period of time and mean fewer trips outside to satisfy their collective cravings!!! I quickly negotiated my way through the throng and greeted DJ Mike Stephens who was the acting ‘Tax Collector in Chief’ on the door!!! Mike explained that he was just covering the door for a few minutes whilst the lady who normally collects the pounds of flesh on behalf of Soul Out Mint Lounge was surprise-surprise…… outside singeing her lungs with the rest of the tobacco sinners!!! Aah, the rights or wrongs of the smoking ban eh!!!!
I expected the Mint Lounge to be quieter than normal and on entering the main arena I was spot on, BUT not as spot on as I would have thought!!! There was definitely a workable crowd in attendance and considering the time of the year and the mitigating factors outlined above that also may have affected the attendance, I was quietly impressed with what I saw!!!! Now for the important part of the night: There were enough people to make a party of it in Mint, but could the DJ’s on the bill take full advantage and deliver us a good night of entertainment?
DJ Alex Badass was on the wheels of steel when I came in and the majority of the crowd were happily dancing away. As always there was an amiable atmosphere in the Mint Lounge and those who were not dancing were busy enjoying themselves socialising. All in all, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Anyway me and my mate Fuji-Finepix set to work to try and capture the mood of the venue and to say hello to friends we met along the way.
Talking about friends, there’s a few I’ve got to mention before I go any further so here goes: I’ve got to give a massive shout to Mr and Mrs Paul ‘The Mad and deluded Red’ Salmon (no pun intended), Wadey ‘just plain mad’, Sue, Maxine and Samantha who seemed to derive sadistic pleasure from pecking my head over foolishness for a good portion of the night!!! *LOL* :-)
But the star of the night though had to be the Ultra Mad ‘Yo watcha nu, me a bad-man from Kingston’ Yardie Dude, (gold teeth, Sean John suit, Clarke shoes the lot – you know the deal), who must have got lost on his way to the Western Pub in Moss Side!!! My ‘Yardie’ compatriot looked about as hard as a boiled dumplin’ and he couldn’t quite figure out why everyone seemed so amused by his ‘in a world of his own’ Passa Passa dance routine to Soul Out’s quality Soul beats, but watching him was certainly worth the admission fee on its own!!!
I don’t know if it was just me……actually now I come to think of it, it wasn’t just me because other people mentioned it - but the music seemed to be repeating itself throughout the night. It didn’t perturb me in any way because my memory for things like music being repeated is famously shit, so I just thought it was a further sign that I was losing my marbles, but a few other people also mentioned it as if they were being cheated in some way!!!! All-in-all I wouldn’t say the music on offer was anything to write home about, but I’ve certainly heard a lot worse and to be honest with you, the DJ’s held the dance-floor for the vast majority of the night!!!
Soul Control Verdict:
Soul Out Mint Lounge was way better than I would have expected at this time of the year and I think that this is testament to the strength of the brand where the Mint Lounge events are concerned. Although there were intermittent complaints about certain tracks being repeated throughout the night, I think for the fact it was a City Centre event on a weekend for the admission price of £6, I for one wasn’t going to complain. I look forward to, and enjoy the Soul nights at Mint and would seriously recommend it as a value for money night out, where parking apart, you won’t be disappointed!!!
Soul Control Rating:
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