A BRIEF HISTORY OF MATINEE IN LONDON

Matinee first came to London in 2006. Then it was promoted by Wayne Shires & Rod Lay at the newly built club AREA.

At the time, the London gay scene was going through a period we called' generic clubbing'. Same DJs playing the same music at the same clubs, ideas being copied, ripped off and replicated...politics was tearing the scene apart.

Matinee bought passion, Latin flavour and something new and different to the scene. It raised the bar and challenged the 'generic' clubs to stand up and be counted. This was the start of what was called the 'Spanish Armada' that lead the way for Space and SuperMartXe in coming to London.

At the end of 2006 Matinee had become so popular it won the Seen Queen Club poll with nearly 25% of the vote, Matinee winning the Best Event Award of 2006.

Matinee continued to be held at AREA experiencing ups and downs until the start of 2007, when Matinee was taken away from AREA and was promoted as a New Year Day party by All Things Orange at the Fridge. The party was successful but failed to reach the popularity that was expected. On going plans in the background saw Matinee only lasting one event with All Things Orange before being handed over to DJ Oliver Mohns who was to take Matinee into the new year and be the promoter for the next 2 years.

Matinee launched at FABRIC as a Sunday night in 2008 club to a huge fanfare. It was celebrating 10 years of Matinee as a brand. Various other parties followed embracing different themes, however, Sunday night clubbing was proving to be difficult to sustain as the clubbing landscape had changed. With lavish productions giving way to falling numbers, Oliver moved Matinee to the Coliseum as a Saturday night event. This saw Matinee experience a renaissance of popularity, and by the start of 2009, Matinee remained London's most popular club winning the Seen Queen Club Poll of 2008 as Best Club.

Matinee continued to evolve a few times becoming a t'dance at The KOKO Club and also an after hours at the Club Coliseum.

Oliver wanted to keep the Matinee brand fresh and progressive...after two and a half years, this meant that Matinee had to be reinvented. This opportunity came up with the opening of Cable in London Bridge. Matinee could finally move out the Coliseum to a modern, slick and new venue.

The opening of the the new Matinee at Cable was called Evolution Revolution, ironic considering the current developments.

Matinee experienced great success at the new venue, attracting a stylish and gAylist crowd that was an observable improvement on the type of people Matinee attracted at the Coliseum. However, feelings about Cable were divided. Although it reminded many of a mini 'Fabric', the first home of Matinee after Oliver M took control, the Matinee experience became more and more difficult to replicate. Entering 2010, Matinee became an after hour but failed to capture the publics imagination. By now big players like Beyond and SuperMartXe were becoming stiff competition for the brand that was now in it's fourth year in London.

It was on this New Years Day that Matinee announced that Oliver M would no longer be the London promoter and instead the brand was handed over to SuperMartXe promoter Logan.

Logan has had incredible success with SuperMartXe, the brand becoming one of the biggest in the capital. Recognised for it's lavish productions and shows, it has slowly grown to dominate the London clubbing scene. Whereas before under different promoters Matinee & SuperMartXe were fierce competitors, now under the guiding hand of Logan both of the Spanish club brands can now take on London as a united Spanish Armada.

Watch this space for the next chapter in the epic story that is Matinee London.

AN INTERVIEW WITH LOGAN

We first noticed it on FaceBook...DJ & promoter of Matinee London Oliver Mohn distancing himself from the London arm of the Spanish brand Matinee. Something was up in London club land and it seemed Matinee was in the centre of it all...again.

Then OLIVER M announced on FaceBook the following statement...

"Important MATINEE LONDON announcement !!!! Would like to inform everyone that Rob , Myself and the Evolved Events team are no longer associated with the Matinee Group !!!!! I'm looking forward into 2010 and into concentrating on my international dj carrier and truly NEW and EXITING concepts and brands of which some will be London born and which will show the diversity of this brilliant city plus some creative International concepts.!!!! " Happy 2010 and thank you all for your support throughout the last 3 fantastic years!!!

This caused a rush of speculation and theorizing about exactly what was going on. The 'Face Book' slagging off had started, some of which speculated that a lot of backstabbing had been going on. Not interested in gossip or rumour we contacted Logan to find what exactly happened. From his general press statement we had the following interview:

SQ: Why has the Matinee London franchise given to you?

LOGAN: "Matinee approached us and asked us to take on the parties as they were concerned that the parties were losing some of the brand’s identity here in London"

SQ: Will Matinee maintain the same format or are you planning on making changes?

LOGAN:".. .our aim is to improve on the current format rather than completely change it..."

SQ: With you being the promoter of both Matinee & SuperMartxe, is there a ‘danger’ of the two clubs becoming too similar?

LOGAN: "We will still be promoting SuperMartXe in London… if anything, SuperMartXe will be bigger in 2010 than it was last year. The fantastic reception to Alice in Wonderland at Brixton Academy means we’ll be continuing to pull out all the stops for these parties, and the first one will be on February 20/27th. The new Matinee London will not simply be a rebranded SuperMartXe, - the two parties will have very different identities.

We would like to make it clear that Logan Presents is not owned, run, financed or sponsored in any way by the Orange Group. We have a good relationship with the team in Vauxhall and try to link up on events such as Beyond after parties so that we can offer our customers a great all-round night, but the two promotions are completely separate.

The first “Logan Presents… Matinee London” event will be on Saturday 6th February… more details to be announced very soon!