- Not many clubs could afford to book Lee Foss and manage to tuck him, almost secretly, away in their backroom. But The Arena in Middlesbrough did, courtesy of local promoters Re_volt. A major player in the town's club scene since it reopened four years ago, the 1,000-person capacity venue is spread across three floors. With a choice of four varying rooms, depending on gig size and atmosphere, it's an important port of call for the town's electronic music fans, catering to student nights, along with commercial house, dubstep and indie.
Underground house was the flavour of the latest Re_volt evening, which is the genre that The Arena has really excelled in of late, bringing big names to this small, unassuming town. Their back room is perfect for such nights, as it's dark, dingy and almost cramped. The problem with The Arena, and Middlesbrough in general, however, is that most people south of Leeds struggle to tell you where the town is, let alone what nights there are. With another popular venue, The Medicine Bar, also feeding the town's underground house scene, the same local faces keep these nights going so good nights can often be let down by small crowd levels.
On walking into The Arena, we quickly bypassed the commercial-sounding first room to catch the closing 30 minutes of local lad Joe Blackett's set. There was a definite spark in the sweaty, clammy air, with almost a hint of nervousness from the work hard, play hard promoters responsible for the night. Blackett worked the crowd up nicely, dropping a heavy re-edit of Alexander O'Neal's "Criticize."
When it was time for Foss to take the wheel, he lived up to his growing reputation. Singing and grooving along to almost every track, he seemed completely focused on the task at hand, so much so that even the bevy of beautiful ladies grouping around the DJ box could not put him off. Vocal hints of "Big Fun" by Inner City around the halfway mark picked the crowd up, as, by this time, the flock had thinned and the bemused punters who had made their way into the room solely to see what the fuss was about had disappeared.
By the time Lee's set had come to an end, the numbers were distinctly lacking, which was a shame, because another local talent, Sturdy, took on the huge task of following on from a simply excellent couple of hours, and managed to prove himself in the process. Nights like this explain why small towns should not be sniffed at, and will hopefully give The Arena the credibility they deserve. As for Lee Foss, something tells me it won't be long before a Middlesbrough return is nigh.