One of the true luxuries we have during this time of taking a break is being able to do some stuff we might not have if we were in full-time employment.
We’d already taken a couple of nights out to enjoy Ibiza Orchestra in Winchester (and Fou had her second bout of vertigo). Undeterred, and because we already booked the tickets, we were headed to Brighton between sits…more on that in a bit.
In the meantime, my eternal optimism pushed us forward. This sometimes verges on impractical. We wanted to head to London as our ‘framily’ from the US were in town for one day before heading to Portugal. Another bout of vertigo the day before our planned trip, but now, feeling somewhat expert in rectifying through the Epley Manoeuvre we managed to fix Fou. Our first London trip since our return to the UK in May! Our brief lunch and visit to The Natural History Museum was good, but I have to say, the blue whale in the main hall is a damp squib vs. Dippy of my childhood memories. In any case, a jetlagged 8-year-old seemed happy enough with the dinosaur skeletons and T-rex on offer. We were reminded of how multicultural and generally amazing London is from the observations of our friends from the Pacific Northwest.
So, having been able to scratch the itch of our capital with a whistle-stop visit, we’re looking forward to making a day of it ahead of seeing Iliza Shlesinger in December. But, for now, it awakened my energetic side. Just in time for our well-coordinated drive from one house sit near Hythe, to Brighton for the night, and then back to another house sit eighteen minutes away from the first. All of this involved a lot of logistics. We even had to work out how we made sure our nomadic fridge and freezer items remained chilled, and our arsenal of equipment, was out of sight to prevent our car from being broken into in a busy city.
Music Matters!
So, to the evening (that turned into morning) in Brighton. When Fou and I first met, we discovered that we were both into Faithless (a dance group formed in the 90’s - as per Fou’s call out in ‘Fantasies’). To me, they were huge, but my university friends had no idea who they were. So, when I met Fou, who not only knew who they were, but also had the double disc, special edition that completed my collection of double disc special editions, it was like everything clicked into place. Faithless were our band. We’ve bought the solo albums of the 3 mainstay members. And then the vocalist passed away just before Christmas. We’d never got around to seeing any of them, and now one person was gone. So, when in July, we hadn’t got any housesits booked, and a gig came up as a DJ set in Brighton, we jumped on the opportunity. And jump we did. I booked the tickets quick as a flash, added the date to our calendar, downloaded the app, booked a hotel night in Brighton and then waited in eager anticipation.
Come September, the gig is at the end of the month. We have sits booked for either side. As we start working out our timing for pet parents, and how we maximize our time in Brighton we look deeper into the specific details, and it says the doors open at 11 pm. Doors….OPEN…at…11 pm? Ha ha, OK, I get it Sister Bliss (our kickass Faithless DJ member) is going to be on at 11pm, right? What time do the doors open to get in and secure a good spot? There’s obviously a typo. So, I emailed the venue, and receive swift confirmation. Yes, the doors open at 11pm!!
Initially, we had a dinner reservation for 6.30pm. Upon arriving in Brighton (well Hove, actually) and remembering there is SO much to do there, we cancel and head for coffee at 5 pm. Totally unlike us. I have a cut-off of midday, and Fou’s even earlier, but we needed reinforcements as this was going to be late.
We took a long walk from Hove to Brighton centre. Went past Fou’s old house, reminisced about our early days together, found somewhere for dinner, and then decided we had enough time for a decadent chocolate pudding before making our way to the waterfront venue. Killing time by eating isn’t necessarily what I would recommend, so we elected to walk the mile and a half to our final destination.
As we approach, the thumping is clear to hear. My heart rate rises with excited anticipation. Fou turns to me (the time now is 11:20) and says “What if she’s already started?”, “Well, it’s only 20 past, and the doors opened at 11, so she can’t have started straight away. If she is already on, we won’t have missed much”.
I laugh at myself as I am writing this - we can be so naive. The support act (a duo who played some pretty mainstream stuff, mixing together well enough) was underway as we enter. Knowing what I know now, the audience was probably around a third of what it would become. Still, the wait at the bar is short and we get a decent spot. Midnight rolls by, and we’re still on the support act. 12:30, and they’re still in full flow. We send a message to family letting my mother know that all is safe in the world - we’re dancing by the emergency exit. More of a happy accident then by design, but hey, it was a great spot, especially when the security guy decided to open the door for a while to let everyone breathe.
Finally at 1 am, Sister Bliss, with her distinctive, uber-straight, blonde hair comes on stage. The last track from the support act is mixed out as Blissy takes us into her first track. Immediately the expertise oozes from her seamless melding of tracks, overlaying samples from elsewhere, making the whole set a totally unique experience. It’s also so personalised. It’s not just, "here’s the Marco Lys Remix,' it’s that at its base, but like a great chef, it has a twist that is all Blissy.
The five Faithless tracks she chooses to include all come with Maxi Jazz vocals - a reminder of how poetic his lyrics were. The crowd goes mad for each of these. In particular, I love the less obvious choice of ‘Music Matters’. This peaked at 38 on the UK chart (bearing in mind they had seven top 10 hits, and plenty of other singles ranking higher), this track felt particularly poignant. It’s a slower track for them, and yet it is one of their most beautiful and poignant.
The energy Sister Bliss brought to the whole set and mastery for the decks is truly a sight to behold. As she rounds out and welcomes the next DJ to the decks (I wish the venue had published the names of the supporting acts), I feel sad and tired. Still, the next DJ kicks us off with the Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’, a version that actually makes you feel like it’s cool to like manufactured pop. I think that’s part of what being British is. The comfort of the familiar, but openness to it being improved. Our Paris Hilton look-a-like in a leopard-print dress is spinning some great tunes, and yet, it’s way past Blissy’s finish at 3 am. Fou looks at her watch, turns to me and says “I think we accidentally went clubbing”. I couldn’t have summed it up any better. Perfect though, since the idea of actively going clubbing outside of a New Year’s Eve party would be a flat ‘no’ these days. We finally get to bed at 4:40 am.
The next morning, somehow we manage to go out for breakfast, check out by 11am, do the almost 3-hour drive, and land in the next dog sit, with three energetic pooches. It’s a hard day, but oh so worth it. In the words of Faithless:
For all those who stood up and were counted
For all those for whom money was no motive
For all those for whom music was a message
I want to thank you
For making me
A little more sure
A little more wise
And courageous
You taught me to look much further
You taught me to want much more
You taught me that music matters
One of the best nights out in a long time, and will live on in our memories as 'the night we accidentally went clubbing'.
