Tuesday 8 April 2014

Goodbye To The Lash

In life, consistency is key. Regardless of whether it's your eggs, your sporting performance or your club nights, if something isn't consistently good you tend to look upon it less favourably. There's a reason everyone knows that Abba sung Waterloo, but practically no one has heard of Carl Douglas (who penned the classic 'Kung Fu Fighting').

For me The Lash is like Abba. No one can remember exactly what makes it so great (thanks mainly to the copious quantities of alcohol drunk) but as a Cardiff student, it's hammered into you pretty early on that The Lash is not just the place to be on a Wednesday night but a weekly highlight. For some it may be a guilty pleasure, for others they actively profess to loving it but very few people I've met here actively dislike this weekly pilgrimage to the home of seriously cheap drinks, big tunes and messy times.

Tommorow, we say goodbye to with the Varsity Lash and to the old Solus itself, which is undergoing a multimillion pound refurbishment this Summer. While I'm sure that the refurbishment will make Solus a more useable space, the decision to get rid of The Lash in favour of a new night caused uproar amongst the student community.

The Lash has been a regular feature of my life in Cardiff during my life at University, from the first time I went as a bright eyed, eager faced and quickly drunk fresher to the many equally crazy nights out with CUSC during my past two years. I've laughed, danced, pulled, sweated away under the strobes and smoke machines of Solus, often in bizarre fancy dress and loved it every time. I've slow danced at 5 minutes to 3 to the entirety of Don't You Worry Child  I've being smothered in ridiculous foam cannons, seen (and often partaken in) some of the strangest dancing moves known to man and it's all been amazing.

Within the many sports clubs its developed an almost mythological respect, that desire to leave that Taf at just before 11 to still get in for free, heading straight to the bar for double vodkas and out into the throng of people, of which the front left is our personal favourite. The DJ's, if they have a style of music at all, play what can only be accurately described as 'tunes' leaping from house and dance into RnB, Hip Hop, Drum & Bass and whatever else takes their fancy. It's the only place you can go from Jay-Z to Skrillex to Nirvana to Rage Against The Machine to Calvin Harris in a number of minutes and see people dancing, chanting and bopping along quite so enthusiastically. It's the only place it's not merely socially acceptable but actively encouraged to see quite how many Jager (previously Zwack) bombs you can fit in your hands and finish quickly.


This last hurrah, following the Varsity rugby will be crazy, crowded and very good fun, but also for many of us a trip down memory lane. This will be, for many of us, not just our last Lash but our last night out in the Union as a student. For those seeing the beginning of the end of their university careers, this will be a homage to everything that has made Cardiff and it's nights out great. Whatever they pick to replace it on a Wednesday will probably be alright, but I doubt that it'll hold the same appeal that The Lash did.

I'd love to end this with a profound and nostalgic quote about the effect the Lash has had, but as many  well know, a good Lash left you feeling utterly wrecked the next day! But it also left us wanting to do it all again the week after! See you all at front left tommorow.


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