Blue Angel

...just stumbled drunkenly into the Blue Angel, 108 Seel Street, Liverpool. More commonly (and fondly) known as "The Raz", this is the best place for cheesy music, cheap drinks, to soak up the atmosphere, and dance the night away.

And what an atmosphere it is! I would probably call it 'Miasma'. I've heard it said that you can't walk into "The Raz" sober as the wave of foul stench hits you on the stairs down into the ...
...her "I'm at the famous Blue Angel." Inside it was completely deserted. There was just me, my now ex and the bar attendants. We went downstairs to half-dimmed lights. It wasn't a grotty bat-cave. My first experience of it was like 'The Cavern', the old nightclub where the Beatles performed, while my ex was drunk and fell down the stairs, but I'm not going to mention that again.

"Do you like the Beatles?" said the ... more

Imagine you're in a cave. The walls are damp and slimy with stalactitey-gooey stuff. There is the occasional drip of slime from the mottled ceiling. It's dark, dingy, and your feet keep sticking to the floor. Packed against you is a throng of moving bodies... all moving to the steady booming rhythm. And then there's the heat and stench of people, lots of people close together, mixed with spilt beer, sweat and...

Oh, I've just realised, we're not in a cave at all. We've just stumbled drunkenly into the Blue Angel, 108 Seel Street, Liverpool. More commonly (and fondly) known as "The Raz", this is the best place for cheesy music, cheap drinks, to soak up the atmosphere, and dance the night away.

And what an atmosphere it is! I would probably call it 'Miasma'. I've heard it said that you can't walk into "The Raz" sober as the wave of foul stench hits you on the stairs down into the bat-cave, and you can only bear it if you're drunk. I've never had this problem as I always tend to sober up once I've arrived. Anyway, I find you either love or hate "The Raz", whether you've actually been or have only heard rumours about what a dump it is.

My experience of the Raz is coloured slightly by the fact that:
1). I usually go on a Thursday (one of the most popular nights)
2). I get really nostalgic about weird things (namely Liverpool history) and what a history the Raz has!
3). I'm a medical student (and this is the L'pool medics traditional Thursday night haunt)

All will become clear as this review goes on...

FIRST "RAZ" EXPERIENCE
*******************************
Before coming to Liverpool University, before meeting my first medical students, before even knowing that I'd got a place to spend the next five years of my life here, I found out about "The Raz" from an article in the medic's magazine "Sphincter". It described, as I have done for you, the horribleness of it all... and of course I fell in love with it.

A few weeks had gone by since the start of my first term and nobody had taken me to "The Raz" yet. My first time there was after a cocktail party at about 10pm. On the way in my sister phoned me, and I practically yelled down the phone at her "I'm at the famous Blue Angel." Inside it was completely deserted. There was just me, my now ex and the bar attendants. We went downstairs to half-dimmed lights. It wasn't a grotty bat-cave. My first experience of it was like 'The Cavern', the old nightclub where the Beatles performed, while my ex was drunk and fell down the stairs, but I'm not going to mention that again.

"Do you like the Beatles?" said the bar-guy heading over to the DJ decks. Now, that's one question you have to answer very carefully in Liverpool. "I love them!" I say without hesitation. And they put on "When I saw her standing there" and we danced with the whole floor to ourselves. Well, I danced. The ex just fell over.

"RAZ" HISTORY
*******************
"The Raz" celebrates a long and varied history from what I can tell. From what I've gathered from various places, the Blue Angel gets its nickname from its former name "The Razamataz" which must have stuck.

Apparently it is also the birthplace of Doctor Duncan, the first medical Officer for Health, who played a big part in Public Health in this country a few centuries ago. Several pubs in Liverpool are named after Doctor Duncan and this is why.

Apparently, "The Raz" also holds close ties with the Beatles. Allan Williams, original manager of the Beatles, gave them their first audition there for Larry Parnes. Originally opening as a social club in 1939, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones played at "The Raz" in the 1960s… at least, according to some websites I found on Google. Wikipedia also adds that Allan Williams reputedly ejected Judy Garland after the local premiere of their first movie 'A Hard Day's Night' in 1964.

History and legend aside, it's a really good night out,

A BRIEF TOUR
******************
There is often a queue into "The Raz" but the bouncers keep you company. Queues vary depending on what night and time it is. You often get ID-ed, they're quite good at that, and at keeping the order. You walk into a little entrance that leads to a lady behind a desk with a till on your left. This is where you pay the entrance fee. The first thing you see is a mass of people surrounding the first of "The Raz's" four or five bars… I loose count. You don't really look for that when you're in there… you just look around and there's a bar!

The level you walk into first is the middle level. There is also a staircase in the centre of this room that goes up to the upper level. This is especially useful for girls, with one set of female toilets… two rather grotty cubicles, with no locks, lots of graffiti and a nice communal atmosphere, with lots of friends going into one cubical together (and I spotted a couple making out once). There is also a REALLY cheap cloakroom that charges 20p per item stored there in exchange for a raffle ticket that you use to redeem your item at the end of the night. Staff are quite friendly and very understanding if you loose your ticket which happens to me quite often because I'm clumsy when drunk. Compare this to 50p or £1 an item in some clubs! Extortionate!

Back downstairs is one set of guys toilets, right next to the bar that you pass when walking in… hmm…handy. There is also a tiny private room where you can sit and chat or other things. You may also notice a set of double doors at the back of the ground level. This is sometimes opened, especially at hotter times of the year, to let customers congregate in a sort of yard, open-air and giving some much needed fresh air from the stuffiness inside.

There are three ways of getting down to the cave-like bottom level, either from this yard, another opening near at the back near the double doors, or by the second bar to the right of this level. Either way, you will find a narrow stony staircase down into the darkness. The bottom level has two bars joined together, big pillars of stony stuff holding up the roof, and another set of male and female toilets. The DJ decks are on the opposite side of the cave. If this seems claustrophobic, and it often can, there are lots of openings and doorways that allow fresh air in. The music is cheesy and wonderful, everything from Pussycat Dolls to Sugar Babes and the Bay Watch theme tune.

ENTRANCE PRICES, DRINKS PRICES AND MEMBERSHIP
********************************************************************
Entrance price depends on what day it is, and whether or not you have a "Raz" membership card. Membership is free to girls (for obvious reasons… they want more women in there to keep the guys happy), embarrassingly I never managed to find out how much guys have to pay because I'm not one. I will find out and update this review in due course. Either way, by showing your membership card, you get 50p off the entrance fee so it's worthwhile in the long-run.

Monday to Thursday, the entrance fee is £1.50 (£1 for members). While Fridays and Saturdays it is £2.50 (£2 for members).

In general the entrance price and price of drinks are a lot cheaper than other night clubs. I went into some other Liverpool nightclubs after getting used to "The Raz" and was shocked by how much I had to pay to get in and for the cloakroom in comparison! OK, so "The Raz" aint that nice, but it's definitely worth what you pay.

So drinks are cheap. For examples… two fat frogs (3 alcopops at £1.20 each) costs £3.60. There are loads of special promotions each week. Unfortunately I don't pay much attention to prices, either from other people buying me drinks, or just the general cheapness of it all in comparison to even the majority of student bars!

THURSDAYS AND MEDICAL STUDENTS
***********************************************
The reason why I like "The Raz" is because of the atmosphere on a Thursday. Yes, lots of medics go there, and on the whole they are a friendly and rather rowdy bunch of people. A few of them may have a bit of a complex, but they're in the minority. Lots of other people stop by at some point on a Thursday night as well, so if you're a student you may feel like you know half the room. People are on the whole really friendly, as are the bouncers unless they're provoked. However, I also found that there are a few people who are a little too friendly. It's good if you're in a group because you can watch out for each other. Sometimes it takes more than one person to deter the nice, but dim, and very inebriated lad who decides to hang around your circle of girls. I don't really know what problems the guys have, but very rarely fights do break out, although I've never witnessed one. In general, it's a brilliant, hassle-free, cheap and cheery night out, with great music, great people and a love-it or hate-it atmosphere. Your feet really do stick to the floor.

10 THINGS YOU'VE GOT TO TRY:
*************************************
1). Fat Frogs x2
~Fat frogs come in twos, three bottles of alcopops poured equally into two plastic cups to give a weird green, surprisingly tasty drink…
2). Raz Wine
~Still haven't tried it yet, but it comes highly recommended as something you've got to try at least once!
3). Buy yourself a pair of "Raz Boots" then see how much gunk you can accumulate after a year of "Razzing" in them.
~Yep, did that, now I just gotta find another pair of boots to replace them. Flat ones work really well cos heals kill! Any other girls find that??
4). Get yourself chucked out by the bouncers for sneaking into the Staff part of the bar
~OK, not highly recommended, but I've seen it happen to a friend of mine.
5). Reach up and touch the ceiling. You'll never want to go in again!
~Yeah, dare your friends… ewwww…
6). Watching someone drink their pint when you've seen a big gloop of "Raz Juice" drip into it from the ceiling
~Happens frequently.
7). Go into "The Raz" sober
~Hmmm… usually you go to "The Raz" after a night of heavy drinking cos it's cheap.
8). Go into the "Raz" on a night that isn't Thursday... weird
~Tuesdays are apparently John Moores Uni's night there, so quite busy, while Fridays you can actually hear yourself think!
9). Go into the "Raz" when it's completely deserted at about 10pm
~Yep, my first experience there… it may never happen again.
10). Get to know the bouncers... they're really nice guys, and after a few years of going every week, you may get certain privileges, like being let in without queuing.
~Give it a few more years, and I might get up to that point… but I've witnessed a few people older than me get treated very well indeed.

There you go, a guide to my favourite night club. So hopefully I've persuaded you to at least think about having a look in at the Blue Angel if you're ever in the Liverpool area. Lots of people will tell you about the good bits, the bad rumours of horribleness, and it'll be completely different for the locals compared to students like me. We kind of take over the place at times, but in general I think we get on all right. If you ever visit on a Thursday I may bump into you!  

...less