Love it or hate it, it is very likely that if you are of a certain age, you have had at least one very enjoyable night in Camden Palace (the London venue now known as KOKO) at some point in your life. I’m definitely from the “love it” camp - yes the toilets were filthy, yes there were often a lot of pikeys there, yes it was rather dirty in places…but for me that was about it. Everything else about the venue rules as far as I am concerned.

Camden Palace started life as a theatre / music hall - it was previously known as Camden Theatre, The Palace Theatre, The Camden Hippodrome, and The Music Machine. It was opened on Boxing Day 1900 (!!!). Back in the day, it played host to legendary comedy act The Goonies, and even Charlie Chaplin! It went from being used as a playhouse, to a cinema, to studios for the BBC. Later on as a concert and club venue, it was used in full effect for debauched afterparties for Prince concerts, for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and for many other world famous musicians. As a club venue, it has hosted some of the most memorable events the capital has ever seen. The long running trance, house and breaks night Peach was absolutely unbeatable in its heyday, and hard dance events from crews such as Mind Over Matter, Sunnyside Up, Sundissential, Frantic and Insomnia, will go down in history as some of the scene’s best parties in history. Add to that some of the country’s biggest and most revered garage, drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore parties like Moondance, Innovation and Son of Dance, and you start to realise what an important part of the capital’s clubbing scene it has been over the years.

In February 2004, when Camden Palace’s owners Luminar (owners of wonderful nightclub brands like Lava & Ignite and Life) sold the venue, the nation’s ravers were understandably distraught. The venue was sold on, somewhat surprisingly, to Mint Group – a company that owned several bars and a lesser known club in London, which had intentions of transforming the venue into more of an upmarket, live music kind of place. Grimey raves to middle-class rock concerts? The general public feeling was “it can’t be done”, but the team at Mint Group began their extensive refurbishment of the crumbling venue regardless. One of KOKO’s managers Martin, who has been working at the venue since October 2005 explains the reasoning. “KOKO strives to showcase all types of music, so getting to where we are now was part of that evolutionary process rather than a conscious swing in one direction.” Quite a cunning plan really. Several million pounds were spent in transforming the venue from a run-down, shadow of its former self into the resplendent, classy and stunning one that it is today. Its status as a Grade II listed building meant that there were no possibilities for changing the structure of the building at all – nor was there any need to do so – and consequently the money was spent purely on interior design, so to speak. The design echoes that of Café-de-Paris with its grandiose chandeliers and gold paint, deep red carpets, and soft orange lights here and there, and combines this elegant classical look with the more modern feel of chrome, huge mirrors, state-of-the-art plasma screens, probably the biggest mirror ball you’re ever likely to see in your entire life, and red leather sofas.

The venue re-opened in September 2005 with a new musical roster – no dance music club nights, lots of gigs, and a new NME-branded midweek clubnight. For a year-and-a-half, the venue struggled to find its feet and to establish its new identity, before it started to come into its own as one of the country’s most popular and respected venues. The experienced management team was backed up by a highly knowledgeable and accomplished set of bookers – including some of the people responsible for putting together the line-ups for Reading Festival – and their new, radical plan for the venue eventually paid off. Their dedication to supporting up-and-coming, lesser known bands has been one of their fortes – with the rise of the fickle MySpace generation having the effect that people are increasingly hungry to see the latest, hotly-tipped new band – and once Club NME was moved to a Friday night, things started to gel quite nicely. That’s not forgetting the regular appearances by some of the biggest names in music at the venue – from Madonna to Prince to Coldplay to DJ Shadow to Mylo, they’ve kept pulling in those big names alongside those marked “Ones To Watch”

The management also slowly came round to the view that it was possible to have a venue that was chiefly driven by gigs and rock music but which still hosted the occasional club night. So gradually, the likes of Frantic, HeatUK, Funkin You and Moondance were reintroduced, bringing the venue back to the nation’s clubbers - but not so frequently that these events lost a sense of occasion. Add to this a multitude of corporate parties (Associated Newspapers treated their staff to a huge Christmas bash there), and glitzy celebrity-filled affairs (like the afterparty for the premiere of Alfie and Elton John’s AIDS Charity Bash), and it becomes clear that KOKO has got all bases covered. Martin describes the secret of KOKO’s success as “taking care of our customers in beautiful surroundings, and with decent sound. Our reputation for setting ourselves apart from more basically equipped venues and listening to what our clients expect from their night has made KOKO the obvious choice for prestige events.”

Don’t just listen to us though – check the place out for yourself and experience at first hand why it is consistently voted as one of the country’s greatest venues.

Frantic’s 10th Birthday in association with Nukleuz Records’ 15th Birthday AKA 10:15 takes place at KOKO on Saturday 11th August. Click here for full details:

http://www.dontstayin.com/uk/london/koko/2007/aug/11/event-123791