Let’s do this together

I did something that I have never done before in my life – I went out clubbing on my own at a Northern Soul night.

The truth is I can’t find any friends who enjoy Northern Soul music as much as me to go all the way to London for a night of dancing, so I thought: “Sod it, I’ll go on my lonesome. After all, I’ll be dancing and too out of breath to talk to anyone!”

My local Concorde Club in Eastleigh, Hants, often has soul nights but it’s mainly a live gig venue for tribute bands. Every now and then they manage to defrost a cryogenically frozen old soul dude from America who hobbles around the stage, but what I really wanted to see was the current Northern Soul scene in London.

I waited till The Dark Lord was staying with a friend one Friday night, and I put on my retro Puma trainers and Fred Perry shirt and took several trains and a bus to a Deptford Northern Soul night in Stoke Newington, North London.

Trouble is, I got there a bit early and made the terrible mistake of having a full Turkish dinner before the club opened, which basically meant I spent the night burping garlic sauce at everyone.

It was 10pm when I finally went inside, but it was still a bit early and there were just a few old mods in parkas on the dance floor.

Eventually it filled up with mostly Gen Z in their best Northern Soul-core – mixing mullets with trash ‘taches and tank tops. They looked great, but you could tell it was more about the “aesthetic” than the music.

By midnight, the older DJ had handed over to a youngster, and the sounds got a bit heavy for me – and even quite confusing for the kids who stood around wondering what to do next.

I had a last 1.05am train to catch, so I pushed in the massive long queue full of newly arrived clubbers waiting for the cloakroom.

“Make way, make way, old person coming through,” I said, and got my coat quickly.

After all, there’s got to be some compensation for living long enough to remember the music the first time around…

■ Have you done something for the first time? Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.