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Thread: TWISTED the aftermath

  1. #21
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    The Colosseum is an excellent venue.

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by robd View Post
    The Colosseum is an excellent venue.


    I agree the venue is excellent and I would like to see more events there. I like the tables surrounding the dance floor which make it easier to be social and sit out tracks if you want to watch or rest.

    The room with the food was good too and suprisingly quiet from the music. Chips were great too.

    The night was interesting. It was funny dancing with favourite Utopian dancers and then postponing the second dance until after midnight.

    Some of the music before midnight was great. I love dancing to Low and also Give it 2 me by Madonna. However, some of the music was not to my liking and I would prefer some changes.

    Music after mignight was typically Utopia. Great as usual.

    In all I would hurry back and look forward to another.

    Steve

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    I've just been in hysterics on the phone.. I was chatting to a friend of mine, who also went to TWISTED on Sat.

    We were talking about the concept of the music fast before midnight and Slow after and he pointed out that, a lot of the people he'd spoken to wouldn't have dared to come to a 'full on' UTOPIA and had pre-planned that they would leave at 12!!

    They had the impression that, at the stoke of midnight, we'd all strip off and do nothing but UCP grinding moves... like a huge orgy!

    The thing is, the Colosseum is a very big venue and they'd have taken a huge risk, purely trying to fill it on the first night, with just the usual UTOPIANS.

    Maybe as time goes on and more people get exposed and comfortable with the slower stuff, the team will do what others have suggested and gradually start to introduce some of the smoother stuff before Midnight, so that people don't get scared and do the 'Cinderella act' and grab their coats, as the bells chime
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    Registered User Zebra Woman's Avatar
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    I had a great night at Twisted!

    Good bits

    -Fab venue, and easy to get to.
    -Beautiful decor, I loved the the drapes - they even looked 'twisted'!
    -The lighting was amazing, especially after midnight, when it turned, the whole room looked really sumptuous.
    -Coolness. I don't know what kind of air con it was but I would say it was the BEST EVER. After two hours of almost non-stop dancing to uptempo music - I didn't get sweaty or dance with anyone who was. There were fans too, but they were a bonus.
    -Music. I liked most of the uptempo music and had a ball dancing to it, but, deep inside, I think I'm the kind of person who would love the 'Twisted' bit to be a twist into even slower than the usual stuff...Big to Rocky and SilverFox for pushing the boundaries here.
    - Bar was very reasonably priced, and where else can you get chips and cup of tea at 1AM, how cool is that!


    Bad bit

    -Hearing Rocky play my favourite track when I was getting my chips :-(


    I would love to see more events at this venue!

    ZW

  5. #25
    Commercial Operator Rocky's Avatar
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Thanks to everyone for their feedback. I think most people understand that this was a learning experience for us and I do think we have created a good foundation to build on.

    The whole concept was to encourage more people who only like main room music to try the full, slower UTOPIA experience - and likewise we also hoped to give a more varied evening to our usual UTOPIANs, many of whom I know still love to shake it a little.

    I'm sure you can imagine that with all that to bear in mind the DJ logistics were a nightmare! Vince, Val and me spent over 2 weeks going backwards and forwards with tracks and concepts; should we play mostly known freestyle tracks, or should we try to encompass a much broader concept? Should we remain all up-tempo for the first section, or should we go for more light and shade? In the UTOPIA section, should we lighten the difficulty of tracks so that we don't frighten newbies we've been aiming to encourage too much, or should we throw them in at the deep end?

    And then as regards structure; we were uncertain about start times for both the workshop and the freestyle, we were uncertain about whether to include a class or not, and we were also uncertain about the length of each section within the TWISTED format. We made decisons on all of these and now we have experienced an actual event, like many of you, we can see that it all needs tweaking a little.

    We'll be meeting this week and hopefully by the end of the week will be able to tell you about all the changes we will be making.

    Just in the meantime: As regards the next event at The Colosseum in Dec, it is currently undecided on whether it will be a full UTOPIA Xmas night or still have some element of TWISTED - but we will let everyone know the decision very soon. Also, the NYE event will not be run by UTOPIA, but will be run by the same team who gave you The Black & White Ball and is, in effect, the Ashtons replacement (I don't know where the cost of £40 a ticket came from as a price hasn't been decided yet).

    Thanks again, and we're glad so many of you enjoyed it and enjoyed the new venue. The venue managers are fantastic and as everyone said the bar was great and so was the food.

    Just as a final point: We all felt it was important to announce the change at midnight and to explain about what was going to happen to anyone who had never been to one of our events. The announcement was also a logistical segue to allow all the lights to change over, as some weren't on the DMX panel. The announcement was made over a small piece of atmospheric music before the first track began, and not over the track itself, and lasted precisely 56 secs. Given that, I do think this comment is a little harsh.. 'The woman I was dancing with said something like "Play the *** music!!"

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    I've got mixed opinions about this event. But overall I enjoyed it.
    It was great to see so many familiar faces and then meeting lots of new ones.

    I loved the idea but I think the execution was lacking in some key respects: music and floor

    The music for the first half was the very usual Freestyle type stuff and most of it was ok. Some of it was very bland and occasional excellent tracks appeared. The last half hour before it Twisted was very dull and I ended up looking forward to the blues section with relief rather than excitement.
    We can do without the DJ introduction to the blues section. Just dip the lights, drop the tempo, tweak the bass a little and off we go.

    I agree with others that the music wasn't very blues-ey. Not many layers to the music, and tracks lacking accents or breaks to play with. (maybe I need to listen harder)


    I also found the floor to be slow, too slow in my opinion and I couldn't find any sneaky talc corners.

    Loved the food counter and having a coffee and Tunnocks was very welcome.

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Zebra Woman Baby you was eating a portion of chips sat at my table near the stage and I was dancing right in front of you.

    The smell of chips came wafting over to me and I remember thinking to myself...

    "I am going over to her in a minute and shove me tongue down her throat, and in the ensuing slapping I would receive. I may be able to get away with a handfull of her chips. At the very least I will get a tongue full of salt and vinegar."

    Alas you finished the chips before the track I was dancing to finished.

    Forget naked and with beer.

    A cup of tea and a bowl of chips around about midnight and I am your's baby.
    Last edited by dave the scaffolder; 22nd-September-2008 at 01:32 PM.

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post
    Thanks to everyone for their feedback. I think most people understand that this was a learning experience for us and I do think we have created a good foundation to build on.

    The whole concept was to encourage more people who only like main room music to try the full, slower UTOPIA experience - and likewise we also hoped to give a more varied evening to our usual UTOPIANs, many of whom I know still love to shake it a little.

    I'm sure you can imagine that with all that to bear in mind the DJ logistics were a nightmare! Vince, Val and me spent over 2 weeks going backwards and forwards with tracks and concepts; should we play mostly known freestyle tracks, or should we try to encompass a much broader concept? Should we remain all up-tempo for the first section, or should we go for more light and shade? In the UTOPIA section, should we lighten the difficulty of tracks so that we don't frighten newbies we've been aiming to encourage too much, or should we throw them in at the deep end?

    And then as regards structure; we were uncertain about start times for both the workshop and the freestyle, we were uncertain about whether to include a class or not, and we were also uncertain about the length of each section within the TWISTED format. We made decisons on all of these and now we have experienced an actual event, like many of you, we can see that it all needs tweaking a little.

    We'll be meeting this week and hopefully by the end of the week will be able to tell you about all the changes we will be making.

    Just in the meantime: As regards the next event at The Colosseum in Dec, it is currently undecided on whether it will be a full UTOPIA Xmas night or still have some element of TWISTED - but we will let everyone know the decision very soon. Also, the NYE event will not be run by UTOPIA, but will be run by the same team who gave you The Black & White Ball and is, in effect, the Ashtons replacement (I don't know where the cost of £40 a ticket came from as a price hasn't been decided yet).

    Thanks again, and we're glad so many of you enjoyed it and enjoyed the new venue. The venue managers are fantastic and as everyone said the bar was great and so was the food.

    Just as a final point: We all felt it was important to announce the change at midnight and to explain about what was going to happen to anyone who had never been to one of our events. The announcement was also a logistical segue to allow all the lights to change over, as some weren't on the DMX panel. The announcement was made over a small piece of atmospheric music before the first track began, and not over the track itself, and lasted precisely 56 secs. Given that, I do think this comment is a little harsh.. 'The woman I was dancing with said something like "Play the *** music!!"
    A couple of points Rocky:

    1. The £40 referred to the Luton event. The (convoluted) sentence in my post had 3 sets of parentheses - and I missed one closing bracket in the clause about Luton. Apologies for any confusion caused.

    2. I like your riposte on the announcement. Of course 56 secs is not much. Still it is perhaps a good aim to go for a more seamless segue in the future, to keep the momentum. My post regarding the comment, was reportage - and should be seen as a gift: feedback is precious: embrace, enjoy, taste it, revel in it. No need to defend anything: TWISTED works!

    And I am sure with the Twisted tweaks 'twill be even better.

    (PS More real Blues please).

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    Re: Was last night amazing for you too?

    [quote=Bibi;501417]DTS - I was looking forward to meeting you - I'll have to ask JayJay, Maxine, to introduce us next time.

    Well sweetie you cant miss me I am the no hair and no ar*e man giving it large and sweating like Michael jackson on a school bus.

    Looking down all of the busty babe's tops. Bless em all.

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath


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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Jive Lad you is again the Master.

    Scary thing is, is that it actually looks like me.

  12. #32
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    I thought the venue was superb, the Utopia tem had obviously put a lot of effort into the night and it showed - I would especially like to mention the lady on the door who was checking everyone had put their £1 in the meter for car parking as there could have been some very unhappy campers without her.

    I thought 'Twisted' was a very clever idea to get some more people into blues dancing and to expose them to some slower music; it's sad, therefore, to see and hear that many people left at 12 and didn't stay for the second half of the evening - talk about missing the point! Similarly many people who are not so keen on the faster tracks could have turned up really late, but the numbers before midnight suggest that they didn't do this and instead participated in the whole evening which is great.

    It is nice to see that aswell as trying new things, the Utopia team consider their venues 'works in progress' and that constructive criticisms given by their patrons are listened to and welcomed.

    I only wish I had been feeling a little sunnier to have enjoyed the evening more - I apologise for sitting out so much, there are many more people I would have liked to dance with, but I was not well. Be warned, I will catch you next time!

    Oh and Foxylady

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    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by Sparkles View Post
    there are many more people I would have liked to dance with, but I was not well. Be warned, I will catch you next time!
    At least 'I' had two fabby dances with you but I think I may have caught your bug.. I'm feeling a bit shivery today
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Correct me if I am wrong but it would appear that:

    1. There was an event.

    2. A number of those who attended the said event made comments about it.

    3. One of the organisers of the said event read the comments, thanked everyone for them and gave a reasoned, informative and above all totally reasonable response .

    4. No one was insulted, there was no huge argument, such criticism as there was appeared constructive and no one got in a huff about anything .

    Surely there must be something wrong? Can't anyone have a go at someone about something.......... just for old times sake?

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by Lost Leader View Post
    Correct me if I am wrong but it would appear that:

    1. There was an event.

    2. A number of those who attended the said event made comments about it.

    3. One of the organisers of the said event read the comments, thanked everyone for them and gave a reasoned, informative and above all totally reasonable response .

    4. No one was insulted, there was no huge argument, such criticism as there was appeared constructive and no one got in a huff about anything .

    Surely there must be something wrong? Can't anyone have a go at someone about something.......... just for old times sake?


    great post.

    (ok - well, actually I had a go about some of the music (but that is de rigeur)

    - and also the voice over DJ'ing.....only recommended if you are Tony Blackburn, pop pickers. And as someone mentioned, the toilets did smell of very rich and pungent urine - but I guess you can't expect the Ceroc crew to fix everything.............or?).
    Last edited by JiveLad; 22nd-September-2008 at 07:41 PM.

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Grrr I just typed this once and then managed to delete it before I posted it!

    Ok here goes attempt 2!

    This is the first chance I have had to post since Twisted but I am glad that I didn't get to post earlier as my opinion of the evening has some what changed. Initially I came away from the evening not convinced by the whole concept and feeling like I hadn't had a particularly good night, however having had time to think I realised that actually I had a great night, just not the night I had expected.

    Like many Utopians, I went with the Utopia mindset and I really think this prevented me from enjoying the evening as much as I could. I was so looking forward to the Utopia style music that I ended up wishing the first half of the night away so didn't make the most of it even though I do like the faster music!

    I would definitely give Utopia Twisted another go, and would adjust my mindset to make sure I made the most of both parts of the evening. I am looking forward to hearing what changes will be made and hope that the Dave, Val and Vince will take on board what has been said.

    I will admit that not all of the faster music was to my liking, whereas I did enjoy nearly every single track played during the Utopia sets, but that is down to personal preference. It would have been nice to hear some more 'familiar' tracks during the first half of the night.

    I personally would have preferred the transistion to be done a little differently, for me I feel that it would have worked better if the tempo had been gradually reduced say over a half hour period from 11.30 till 12. This would have been much smoother and made the evening feel like one whole rather than two halves. I also think this would have helped ease the non-utopians into the slower music. Looking around me as the changed happened there were a number of scared and lost faces not sure what to do!

    That said, this was a first attempt and I know that the Ceroc Utopia have a great eye for detail and they will refine this model until they have it working perfectly.

  17. #37
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    At least 'I' had two fabby dances with you but I think I may have caught your bug.. I'm feeling a bit shivery today
    If you caught a bug it's nothing to do with me. I ate something dodgy for lunch and feel just fine again, I didn't have a bug. Someone else must have infected you

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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by Georgious dancer View Post
    I personally would have preferred the transistion to be done a little differently, for me I feel that it would have worked better if the tempo had been gradually reduced say over a half hour period from 11.30 till 12. This would have been much smoother and made the evening feel like one whole rather than two halves. I also think this would have helped ease the non-utopians into the slower music. Looking around me as the changed happened there were a number of scared and lost faces not sure what to do!

    I think this is a good point.
    I think it was important to explain the difference between the two halves of the night, but I do also wonder whether it was something that made people who are less comfortable with the slower bluesier music think 'OK that's our bit of the night over then, let's go home'.
    Maybe if there had been a gradual transition in music, and a gradual change in lighting (which, by the way I thought was very effective) it might have convinced more people to carry on dancing and to experiment more with the difficult music - not that I would be that sneaky of course .

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    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    Quote Originally Posted by Sparkles View Post
    I think it was important to explain the difference between the two halves of the night, but I do also wonder whether it was something that made people who are less comfortable with the slower bluesier music think 'OK that's our bit of the night over then, let's go home'.
    Yep, saw that happen at a freestyle once, slowed things down in the last hour but announced it - and lots of people left. Even though they were mostly tracks they already knew and had danced to before they just thought 'I can't do slower, time to go home'.

    I do think the concept of a mixed night to introduce people to more chilled music is a good one.

  20. #40
    Commercial Operator Rocky's Avatar
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    Re: TWISTED the aftermath

    OK, so here is what we are proposing as amendments.

    1.) The Xmas party on the 20th will be in the TWISTED format, but the format for this event, and future TWISTED events, will change slightly.

    2.) We plan to extend the roped off entry area to further into the venue itself, so that in busy periods people should not be queueing outside.

    3.) If there is going to be a workshop on the day (still undecided for 20th) the workshop will have a later start and finish time so that attendees can finish the workshop, go for a bite to eat and then come on to the freestyle with less time inbetween. The workshop was early this time to give us maximum time to prepare the venue for the first time once the workshop finished. Now we know the scedule of set up we can get to the venue much earlier and complete the set up before the workshop starts.

    4.) Opening time will come forward to 7.45pm with the class (if applicable) starting at 8pm prompt and finishing at 8.30pm prompt - or, alternatively if there is no class, freestyle starting at 8pm.

    5.) Uptempo freestyle, including a little more light and shade in tempo and style, in the main room will run until Midnight, as before, in the main room with a changeover to a slightly slower version of the usual UTOPIA format commencing at that time until the 2am close.

    6.) Whilst the uptempo freestyle is taking place in the main room we are proposing to close the main bar in the side room and to instead utilize the ancillary small bar to the side. This gives over the main bar and seating area, with incorporated wooden floors, to be used as a Blues Lounge with possible guest DJ from say 9pm to Midnight. During this time the food service area will be closed.

    7.) After Midnight everything will revert to the main UTOPIA room and the food service area will be open for business for food and hot drinks.

    8.) For special events, like the Xmas party area we are also planning to open the upstairs gallery area for people to go up, chill out and relax watching the dancing if they wish.

    Just to mention, points 5-7 are proposed only at this stage and we are currently in negotiations with the venue and the independent caterer to obtain agreements for this. We will let you know the outcome in due course.

    We believe that with the extended opening times and the additional areas and rooms, people will have an improved experience at future TWISTED events. For those just coming for the uptempo freestyle they get more, whilst also having the ability to venture into the Blues Lounge if they wish. For those hardened UTOPIANs, they get more slower music and a greater choice within that, and again the ability to crossover into the main room as they wish. All in all with think this offers greater value for money and also uses more of what everyone agrees is a fantastic venue.

    As regards music, I would just like to say this. The main room TWISTED is not, in our opinion, supposed to be like a normal MJ freestyle. We worked very hard to ensure that we didn't play music that you would normally here at most MJ venues. Our view is that you can hear that sort of 'boom boom' music anywhere and we wanted to push the envelope a little. At times this will include some familiar tunes and tunes you can sing along to (I think that's called 'cheesy' tracks..) but mostly it will include tunes that we believe offer greater variety of music for you to dance to. At times the musicality within these tracks may not be obviously apparent, but it is there! There will always be some tracks that you don't like but that is just a function of stretching the boundaries. As we've always said, the concept of limiting any musical genre to no more than a max of 2-3 songs at a time should mean that overall more people are happier with the music than at many other freestyles where a smaller cross section of musical styles predominate.

    Essentially we will be doing exactly what we did in creating UTOPIA in the first place - moving from the mainstream and breaking new music as well as uncovering some overlooked gems. It does take time, and I know that music is such a subjective thing, that we will not be able to please everyone - but we are trying really, really hard!

    Thanks again for all your feedback.

    David

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