Midnight Dancer

Local types will know the painful tale of Edinburgh’s best club venue, The Liquid Room, and the massive fire that shut  it down for the 18 months. They might also be familiar with one of Edinburgh’s longest running club nights, Taste, which used to be resident at the venue. On Sunday, reuniting two local legends in one event had the potential to make a wild and memorable night.

As a venue the newly reopened Liquid Room is a beauty. Half way down Victoria Street and below the fire-starter Kushis restaurant, the Liquid Rooms is one of the few underground venues in town to have more than 10 inches of ceiling height. Whilst the lighting and sound rigs are massively improved, the essence of the place is still the same, with a large open space and upstairs balcony for people watchers. Rumour has it that excavations will soon reveal an additional 300 capacity dance floor underneath the main club too.

As a middle finger up to Monday mornings, Taste ran every Sunday night for about 14 years. Whilst less frequent these days, Sunday’s outing was a celebration of 16 years of struggling through Mondays (and sometimes Tuesdays). The club is famed for its relaxed gay-friendly atmosphere, summed up by its tagline “For Extroverts and Perverts”. There was a disappointing lack of perverts on the dancefloor but this was made up for by the music and relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere.

Underground dance music was provided by Taste founders Fisher and Price, ably assisted by their more recent home-grown talent Miss Chris. With an eye on the future, the DJs also chucked in some classic tunes to keep the crowd, some of whom were probably there on the first night 16 years ago, very happy indeed. The Midnight Dancer had a cracking night, proved by a 4.30am finish and a complete lack of a Monday.