Most club nights these days tend to be very focussed on music policy  and styles that they play. Although most clubs will have a chill out area or a second room playing another type of music I don’t think many clubs can rival passion for the quality of music they provide in both rooms!!!!!

We left a rainy and cold Coventry about 7 o’clock for the half an hour journey to Coalville and the Emporium nightclub.  Having never been there before I did not know what to expect apart from get there early because the queues get very long very quickly.

Heading off with 6 friends who were into both styles of music passion has to offer and with some like me a “Passion Virgin”, there was a sense of  anticipation and a need to get stuck into what passion had to offer.

Passion is a very well laid out club with plenty of  nooks and crannies to get yourself lost in the music. Basically it consists of two music rooms and a two-floor chill out area which has a bar and Sega Dreamcast games consules for the more spaced out to play on. The “Blue Room” is by far the biggest being on two levels and is the first you come to when coming in the main entrance. Judging by the Guest DJ’s due to play in here ( Ferry Corsten and John Kelly) the music in here was only ever really gonna be hard electronic and played to a sea of glowsticks being waved by a more than up for it crowd. With a quality sound system, fantastic laser and lighting effects and a live drummer the atmosphere soon picked up, although passion is only open until 3 a.m. on a normal Saturday ( they have allnighters once a month) this is not necessarily a bad thing. As soon as you enter you get straight onto the dance floor and the crowd within half an hour of opening have already selected their podium of choice for the evening.

The “Red Room”, smaller but still fairly large for a second room, plays a more funky Stateside House flavour. But passion does not let the fact that it is not the main room affect the quality of DJ’s they get in as guests. Tonight it was to be 2 hours of Harry “choo choo” Romero one of the legendary American house DJ’s over here on a tour with his record label Subliminal. But then with the Red Room you do not feel like a second class citizen when dancing in there.  The room again is well laid out and the sound system is ear piercingly good. Add to that choo choo Romero and you have a very difficult room to leave. Playing a cross section of current chart house like Spiller and Modjo to subliminal classics like DJ Zcr and Brazil over Zurich but each mixed and played in Harry’s only sublime style teasing the crowd with solid basslines and the long use of acapellas and vocal sections he really whipped the crowd up creating a magical atmosphere. But not all the credit can go to the DJ as the crowd has to be up for it too! And the crowd at passion were definitely up for it! Including the young lady who stole my bottle of water only to balance it on her head and proceed to dance about the night club with it still there 5 spins later.

It would be quite easy to forget about the main room but John Kelly was due on stage as Ferry Corsten had cancelled due to being at a Finnish wedding!!! By the time John Kelly had stepped behind the decks the Blue room was absolutely rammed packed and finding a place to stand still without being barged out of the way let alone actually dance seemed a reality left behind at the cloakroom. Passion is popular, really popular and the majority of the young crowd are there for the hard house which leads to not a lot of room to pull a few fancy moves as my friend Lee found out. But with the music being as good as it was you can see why passion has a loyal following from all over the midlands and north. John Kelly played a set consisting of exactly what the crowd wanted, Zombie Nation and Delerium Silence were bound to be played at least once and John did not let anyone down. Playing a hard set of trance and house accompanied by the drummer made for a perfect end to a night that could be described as the closest to perfection I have been to for a long time.

If I had to be negative about Passion the only way I can think of is that the queues start up to an hour before the doors actually open and the picker and door staff have a slightly funny idea of what is acceptable in the way of dress. Turning one of my friends away for wearing trainers forcing her to make a £60 taxi trip back to Coventry to get some shoes was made even more annoying when you walk into the club and you see a few people walking around in trainers. But once into the club there are no problems at all. The crowd is really friendly apart from one individual who I met who was drunk and unsavoury, everyone else was there to have fun and believe me Passion is definitely the right place to do that. What makes it even more pleasing is that the Emporium is reasonably priced as well at just £1-50 for a bottle of water and £4 for a packet of ciggies its as close to pub prices as you will get in a club on a Saturday night.

My thanks go out to Sparkle for being a brilliant host; Spooky for trying to teach me how to dance; Caz for having the biggest smile in the place and for having a massive chat with me about classic tunes afterwards; Lee for showing me how to use glowsticks “properly” and the other Lee for lending me his so I could make an idiot out of myself.

Lets hope we can all make it to the next all nighter!

Passion are contactable on 01530 815278 and www.passion-online.co.uk

They also have a membership scheme which give priority entry and discounts, well worth joining at just £3 a year.