Get into the 80s groove at Desdemona Plays Pop

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One of the funniest things I've ever witnessed was scores ofgood-looking twenty- and thirtysomethings singing their hearts outto the Dallas theme tune while propping up a bar in one of the trendiest partsof London .
In fact, anyone walking past Barrio North, a slick new DJ bar onEssex Road, Islington , would be forgiven for thinking they were hearing things. But it'sa tune locals should learn to get familiar with now Desdemona PlaysPop are in charge on the last Thursday of every month.
The DJ-ing duo - aka Ruth Boit and Ed McHatton - have brought theirnight of pop nostalgia across London, having already proved afavourite with the pop pickers who frequent Kensington HighStreet's Archangel on every second Thursday of the month.
Ruth and Ed mix classic Eighties pop with Seventies floor-fillersand Nineties club tracks, taking us back to our schooldays andmemories of tuning into the singles charts on a Sunday evening. Andthey are steadily building up a following of London clubbers tiredof DJs who are more concerned with being cool than giving thepeople what they want.
But this is no School Disco-esque night with drunken revellers intight blazers and painted-on freckles. There are no loud, raucoushen do gangs. Ruth and Ed like to play in glamorous and glitzysurroundings - like Archangel, and Punk in Soho before that - butwithout the attitude or aggro.
And this is why Barrio North is an ideal venue. With no entrancefee, friendly bouncers and a lively, vibrant clientele, revellerscan have a drink, a flirt and a bop without anyone takingthemselves too seriously. It was exactly the sort of nostalgicnight out that my friends and I needed.
Appropriately, the Queen of Pop - Her Madgeness is currentlykick-starting her latest tour at Cardiff 's Millennium Stadium over 100 miles away - got us Into The Groovefor our first song of the night. Eighties chart classics made upthe bulk of the playlist, and Ruth and Ed went on to seamlesslylink Bananarama , Duran Duran , The Pet Shop Boys and Kylie.
What also helps make Barrio North a bit of a different night out isits extensive menu of cocktails, with recipes, collated from aroundthe world, that customers have found on their travels and sharedwith the staff. We felt it our duty to sample three of the mostpopular ones, my favourite being the Malibu Stacey - lime juice, fresh passionfruit and rum over ice (