By Kirstin Piening
Although Ronnie Scott’s is known for its red-shaded lights and pricey drinks list, the upstairs bar has a decidedly different feel to the main venue at the Soho institution (but sadly the same, pricey drinks list). It’s smaller, slightly grimier and, in place of booth seating in front of the stage, there’s a dance floor with absolutely no reserved head-bobbing in sight.
Rare FM descended en masse there on a Thursday evening for the Backbeat Sessions. The night started out with the house band, who have day jobs as session musicians for the likes of Jessie J, Rizzle Kicks, and Wretch 32, churning out an eclectic mix of jazz and funk, which got the audience dancin’ and groovin’ and otherwise very merry. After several hours this gave way to a jam session, where interested members of the audience could get up on stage and show the crowd what they’ve got. Now, I am instantly cynical when I hear the word ‘jam’- it brings to mind four 15 year old boys sitting in a dingy bedroom playing ‘Wonderwall’ (or any Bob Marley tune depending on how stoned they are). But this was anything but.
First up was a singer from New Orleans, who did an incredibly jazzy rendition of 4 Non Blondes’ ‘What’s Up’ (a song I never thought I could have enjoyed without being accompanied by He-man on loop). Then the real ‘jamming’ began. Various audience members took the stage, and all greatly exceeded my admittedly low expectations, bar one who was quietly told to ‘shh’ during his stint on stage. Despite the minor hiccup of a truly terrible guitarist, the various jam combinations went down well - a true testament to talent seeing as no one in the audience (mostly students and young folk) seemed to be able to afford drinks.
The upstairs bar at Ronnie Scott’s (just called Ronnie’s bar, by those in the know), plays host to the Backbeat Sessions every third Thursday of the month, and for £5 entry, you really can’t get a better night out in London, unless of course, you actually enjoy going to Sportsnite and Piccadilly Institute.
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