First night on the town – disco fever Easter 2000

One recent Saturday evening I was driving towards Athlone and noticed some classic tunes were pumping through the speakers of the car. The volume dial was turned to the max as Today FM’s Dec Pierce and his “Block Rockin Beats’” pumped adrenaline into my veins and sent my mind into a nostalgic overload and recall my very first night on the town. (click on the link below to recall your disco days at the River Island Night Club in Castlerea)

DJ Tosh who spun the decks most weekends in our local River Island Night Club, Castlerea sent me one of his old playlists from that very moment in time backed up with a video, which shows buoyant exuberant chaos on the dance floors on New Year’s Eve in the final seconds of 1998. It all combined to give me that unique nervous/excited feeling that only the youthful anticipation of a Saturday night on the town can create. It’s amazing how some music can transport you and make you feel like you are in a certain moment in time.

My very first proper night on the town occurred on Easter Saturday in the year 2000. As music played loudly on the “ghetto blaster” in my bedroom I prepared for the big night by putting too much Dax wax in my hair and spraying a bottle of the potent fragrance Brut over my shiny shirt, which I bought from the DJ named above during his day job. I’m sure many will find it hard to believe but I was never into youth discos or socialising in general apart from sport, so it felt like a very big deal at the time.

The cardinal rule of getting into the nightclub was to ditch the runners and wear a pair of black shoes. I had a pair from a wedding, which were about two sizes too big for me and more resembled two canoes on the River Nile, but these bad boys were going to be my preferred mode of transport to sail into River Island.

As my father dropped me into town, he threw money over on to my lap and told me to enjoy myself. Honestly, I think it gave him a flashback to his own renegade days and that he was jealous of what lay ahead for me! I know this because he told me he was!

It was in stark contrast to the worried look of my mother hugging me and saying to “enjoy yourself but to be careful” as I walked out the door.

Driving through the town it felt a whole lot different compared to during the day as the light from River Island Night Club beamed across the sky while the streets were alive with a vibrant presence of revellers and outsiders of the town.

Hell’s Kitchen was the destination for me to meet with the crew. Having spent a lot of my life growing up about 20 yards from its front door and knowing the owner Sean Browne since childhood I guess it was appropriate.

Opening the side door of Hell’s brought a blast of heat and noise as if I was entering the depths of Hell itself. Walking nervously up to the counter I ordered my first pint from Sean which was a pint of Heineken and one he didn't charge me for. Isn’t a local connection absolutely mighty! It was the first taste of alcohol I ever had, and I didn’t know what to make of it. The nerves eased and enjoyment of the night started when the year 2000 crew all sat around in the train in Hell’s Kitchen laughing, slagging and joking while DJ Trevor King blasted out some chart toppers at the corner of the bar. When closing time hit it resulted in a mass exodus to “go down below” to River Island to experience laser lights, pyrotechnics, messages on big screens, smoke machines and of course to listen to classics such as Darude- Sandstorm, Chemical Brothers- Hey Boy, Hey Girl and many more, which DJ Tosh has pictured below.

Walking past the bridge in Castlerea a long queue was clearly visible outside River as bouncers checked ID’s. “Where were you tonight? “ “Hell’s Kitchen” I replied. “How many pints did you have?” “Two” I said nervously as the bouncer smirked and said “go on”. It probably helped that the manager at the time was a family friend and gave the bouncer the wink, as even though I was of age, I still looked like I was just after making my First Holy Communion.

At the entrance door you could feel the vibrations from the music inside and my strides now got longer, faster, and more confident as I turned the corner past the stained-glass windows and CCTV screen to get a glimpse at what a proper night out looked like.

Once any of the beats DJ Tosh has pictured were sent through the speaker system, both the unique circular maple dance floors of River Island were instantly filled with young and old dancing, jumping, leaping, and just letting off steam on a Saturday night as someone blew into a whistle in background every so often as if they approved of the whole situation. I never found the source of that whistle, but I often heard it. When “doing a lap” of the disco to check out to see what friends made it inside, the neon lights flashed in tandem to the beat of the bass as familiar faces could be recognised every so often on the journey throughout the Nightclub.

Every town, village and group had their own usual corners, but the dance floors united all……most of the time anyway!

At the end of the night when the National Anthem played and the bright lights were switched on it revealed those who over indulged, those in new late-night romances, those who were still on the lookout and those who just loved the craic and simply didn’t care.

The best part of it all is I didn’t need a high-resolution state of the art camera phone, selfie stick or social media account to capture this moment in time. I lived in the moment and didn’t waste time capturing it. Late nights. Great friends. Sweet memories. Incredible craic. All I needed was Dec Pierce and DJ Tosh to hit the play button which brought me back.

Were we wild? Probably a bit, but we had great manners about it and even better loyalty to each other, plus I prefer the term 'rale characters".

Not a bad first night on the town, and believe me, there were plenty more including Friday nights in Rockfords to follow. (Don't forget to click on the video link below to take a trip down memory lane)

Happy Easter everyone.