Lightbox
ABBA: Disco Wonderland
6a South Lambeth Place, SW8 1SP
£5 - £12
The arrival of "Mama Mia Here We Go Again" brought with it the resurgence of famous Swedish pop group ABBA for the second time around. Due to the hype, some clubs saw a gap in the market and decided to put on an “ABBA Disco Wonderland”: for both avid fans and Dancing Queen’s.
It was, however, only right that this subject was broached in the girls group chat, and therefore only right for us to all book tickets for a long overdue gals night out. Ticket prices started at a very reasonable £5, and went up to a comfortable £12. Originally, the night was to be held at Camden institution Koko – a club I have never been to but heard good things about for its no-nonsense, cheesy and fun loving nights. However, due to unforeseen circumstances with some building work, we each received a text and email that day informing us of the evenings relocation to Lightbox in Vauxhall.
I had never been to Lightbox either, but was instantly pleased at the move south of the river and the fact that a long tube journey had transformed into an easy bus ride (with the likelihood of a cheap uber home too). When we arrived at around midnight, there was a super long queue, but this went really quickly and I wouldn’t say we were waiting for any longer than 10-15 minutes. The bouncers were nice, and after a quick search of the bag and friendly look up and down we were ready to go in.
The club itself is big, but laid out in a way where it feels small. There are around 3 rooms from what I could tell, all housed in the old railways arches, hence slightly low ceilings and curved corners. There were two bigger spaces with bars, and a smaller room to the very left, which seemed to be the place for you to go if you were bored of ABBA, as they were playing exclusively alternative disco bangers. Drinks weren’t cheap, at £7 for a single spirit and mixer, and the bar queue was a bit of a mission too, but I guess that’s only expected at a sold-out ABBA party…
Positives were the fun lazer lights which illuminated the ceiling of one of the rooms in the club. Also the smoking area, which was covered (handy as it was pissing it down all night), had booths, pub benches and I think I remember even AstroTurf. Toilets were also nice and never too much of a long wait. The vibe of the club itself was nice, however, what I still can’t get my head around is why people are so damn angry at pop disco nights. I remember the same of my Uni’s classic union Saturday night, called ‘Pop Tarts’, which was an overload of voddy’s and coke, cramped conditions, and surprisingly bad vibes. The same was true of ABBA, with pushing and shoving left right and centre, and nasty glares from underage boys and girls with clutch bags. A shame really, as the club itself was decent.
Overall, the venue is good and I think ranks higher than the surprisingly scathing reviews on Trip Advisor. Unfortunately, however, the event itself had a few too many people taking themselves seriously which caused us to be ‘over it’ before the nights end. ABBA Disco Wonderland was fun for a few hours, but understandably the novelty wore off…
OVERALL RATING: **** (rated as a venue alone)
http://lightboxlondon.net/
