Press & Reviews

Our weekend started with one of the most amazing cabarets we've ever seen: the Vaudeville Rave at the Jazz Club.

The venue, underneath the railway arches, had been transformed into an exuberant exotic venue, transporting us back to an era of burlesque so we could soak up the atmosphere and jive to the music.

The Vaudeville Rave is all about taking the wonderful sounds and acts of the late 19th and early 20th century and revamping them for the 21st century.

In the queue, we were warmed up by an amazing fire-lit hula hoop display and some magic tricks, getting us in the mood for a night of fun.

It should come as no surprise that more than 1,000 people, from all over the country, were queueing to get in.

As the night was fancy dress, anyone not in costume looked out of place. Luckily for us Angels we had spent the day grooming our wings and polishing our halos.

As the night wore on, we were wowed by snake charmers, sword swallowing, fire eating and fabulous burlesque dancers.

And if that wasn't enough, we were in for a line-up of fantastic entertainment, including the one and only Corrospondants, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer who amused us with his witty verse, Don Von Drop It, MisCreation + Bass Instinct, My Pet Sonic Monster and Toilet Boy.

Abbie Bicknell, who came all the way from Redhill, told us Angels that she was enjoying the night.

"The cabaret was very entertaining, especially Sedek's performance which included fire eating and sword swallowing, and The Corrospondants were a unique, lively act not to be missed."

Melanie Cranford told us that she was "having a truly fantastic night with so many colourful people making so making so much effort".

We were teased by the spectacular projections of nostalgic black and white movie clips of show girls on the walls and arches of the club by Starramanga Visuals, which enhanced the already flamboyant atmosphere.
To finish up a fantastically, fabulous evening we jived into the early hours of the morning before realising it was time for us angels to float back up with our heads in the clouds…
- The Angels, Get Reading, 19 Feb 2009

The most amazing club night to hit Reading in a long time! I knew this was going to be an amazing event from the hype that grew on facebook in the runup to it.

The 1st Vaudeville Rave which was held on the 13th February was an amazing display of decadence and flare with a stunning show of style and creativity in the outfits of nearly all the thousand-odd people who turned up to the three hundred capacity venue. We had everything from bearded ladies to pencil moustaches, corsets, hats, braces, spats, original swing era glitz with an injection of modern day rave!

The quality of the acts was superb with the likes of Kwalilox and the (REAL,LIVE!!) snakes in her hair, Sedek and his fantastic sword-swallowing, fire-eating striptease and bellydancing from Allura and Kitty Kohl being the highlights of the cabaret performers. A real mix of music was offered up by some fantastic emerging artists and DJ's putting a whole new spin on swing and jive often intertwined with the sounds and rhythms of drum and bass and hard dance. Most notable were The Correspondents with their suave, sophisticated, utterly danceable swing'n'bass. There was Mr B. the Gentleman Rhymer with the original chaphop, MisCreation and BassInstinct delivered a unique mix of electro, swing and spoken word and Don Von Drop It dropped it with a bunch of the finest lindy hop favourites. Throughout the night host Bass6 entertained and amazed the crowd with his beat-boxing skills and genrally entertaining presence.

The idea behind the event, which was born from the depths of the terrifying mind of Michael Rack who has been promoting club nights in the south of England for a while, was that those of us party-goers who wanted something like this to happen should all get together and tell him exactly what we wanted.

If 500 people joined the group he would put together an event in Reading, 1000 members and we'd all be off to London. Well, the group had a thousand members before the Reading night had even happened so Lonodon's up next. The facebook group ÔAll Those in Favour of a Vaudeville Rave Say AI!!' is the place to go to find out what's happening for the next one, in London!

I'm not sure if I should tell you this yet, but I got the inside word from Michael and venues are being scouted in Paris and further afield for upcoming Vaudeville Rave events. Want to see it happen? Join the Facebook group and get involved!

Rating: 10
- River Rat, Review Stream.com, 19 Feb 2009