If you believe it's possible to have too much fun,
Feeling Gloomy is the club night for you. Featuring melancholic music from the likes of Bowie, Joy Division, The Cure and (obviously) The Smiths, it's guaranteed to have heartbeats barely trundling.
Feeling Gloomy takes place every Saturday at
Islington's O2 Academy, and attracts a crowd that consists mostly of recent graduates and slightly less recent graduates. It's a student night for people who have jobs but wish they didn't, and the music does nothing to lift the mood. Though that doesn't mean it's not great fun.
The night is hosted by Cliff Gloom and his pal Len, a pair of bespectacled geeks who are about as cool as a glowing toaster element. They prowl the club DJing, taking photos and subjecting the crowds to their original style of bopping. They also organise the singing of happy birthday to anyone who feels like saying it's their birthday – go along often enough and you'll notice a hardcore element who celebrate another year every week.
If this all sounds a bit depressing, don't despair. Feeling Gloomy has a sister night,
Club de Fromage, which is also at the Academy on Saturdays in the cavernous downstairs dancefloor. As the name suggests, it plays all the cheese tracks that you hate but love to dance to. You get a discount if you buy a wristband for both rooms – it works out at around a tenner – so doing both isn't going to break the bank.
Make sure you make it back into Gloomy for the end of the night though. Every time I've been there they've played Mr Brightside at about 2.30am, and after a night of listening to Morrissey whining everyone goes mental!
