NEWS
EVENTS
“New Year's East” at The Book Club - Review
Monday 7th January 2013 | Sophie
Me? What did I do for New Year? Oh, nothing much, just a spot of pocket-picking, apple-bobbing, cockney rhyming madness at The Book Club. It was riotous, quirky and just plain fun with an 'all things East London' theme. Pearly kings and queens, Kray brothers and Pat Butchers mingled with the usual Shoreditch hipster crowd for a good old fashioned new year's knees up.
The Book Club has earned a bit of a reputation for hosting imaginative, slightly unusual events; life drawing classes, ping-pong nights and that's just the start. And this end of year party didn't disappoint. It might seem a bit narcissistic for an East London club to host an event celebrating East London, but then again why not, in a year where the Olympics introduced a vibrant, historically rich and unusual area of London to the world?
The night kicked off with pie and mash and a sing-a-long on the old Joanna (piano, if your rhyming slang is a bit rusty). The long list of mini-events happening throughout the night included an Oliver Twist-esque pickpocket competition, apple and pear bobbing and pin the fag on Dot Cotton. It really suited a venue such as The Book Club, where the two floors and lots of separated rooms and spaces, all with a different feel and a different event going on, make the night feel slightly carnivalesque. The atmosphere was jolly and everyone seemed to be having a blast.
Musical highlights included jazz oddballs The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band, who lit up the dance floor with their raucous foot stomping tunes and bizarre kazoo solos. Later in the night, a few of The Book Club's excellent tasting, inventively named cocktails down the line, Essex-born legend Jon Carter was on the decks (for those of you who don't know, he's worked with The Prodigy, Massive Attack, Roni Size, U2, The Beach Boys). As musically diverse as it was event packed, “New Years East” was The Book Club at its best, and throughly enjoyable. Plus, right from 8pm up to 4am, the queue for the bar was never longer than 10 minutes. All in all a great night and a great place to get Brahms and Liszt! (I'll let you figure that one out yourself).
By Daniel Douglas
