Everything old is new again: the disco revival is finding its way into more and more venues. With Garry Todd back from overseas and coordinating Fridays (as well as Saturdays) at Ladylux, the scene is now served by a proper weekly club night. Of course, this is a venue with a distinct history since it replaced the (ahem) spartan Frontier club some time back. And before you think that might make the crowd and ambience less than bearable, it’s actually a surprisingly comfortable melange of music heads, random clubbers and the traditionally glammed up ‘Lux clientele of recent years (although the door staff remain a bit impenetrable).

So how would this mix of punters react to rotating promoters Picnic bringing out stalwarts of the scene Thomas Bullock (he of New York’s genre-benders Rub’n’Tug) along with London legend Felix Dickenson? And, up against Future Music Festival and the resultant empty Cross, would the event pull enough aficionados to make it work?

When we arrived, Kali and Spruce Lee were laying down a mix of laidback slo-mo disco to a largely deserted club. As the time ticked towards midnight they upped the tempo with classic material like Central Line’s Walking Into Sunshine and Gepy & Gepy’s “Dancing in Africa”. They were followed by Vi, who moved into darker, synth-pop-esque territory, pulling dancers onto the floor before he concluded with the euphoric Days Like These by Downtown Party Network and (cheekily) House of House’s Rushing To Paradise.

It was then man-of-few-words Thomas’ turn and he delivered to the swelling dancefloor with a deft mixture of uptempo old-school disco with Thelma Houston, psyche-rock, modern post-disco with Bostro Pesopeo’s Communquis, Chicago stomper No Way Back and electronic Italo obscurities with Hipnosis’ Droid. Often daring enough to fade out and change tempo, he held the floor in a groove while never collapsing into obvious crowdpleasers.

When Felix hit the decks it was music of the same high quality but delivered in a continuous mix with a distinct acid house sensibility. From up-to-the-minute remixes by the likes of Richard Sen, to classics like Underwater and more soulful tackle by acts like Sister Power and Evidence.

Thomas returned to centre stage before 4am and took us in more vocal-laden directions, like Esther Williams’ I’ll Be Your Pleasure and a fine discoid effort utilising Beth Ditto’s unique vocals. But by now the dancefloor was thinning and beauty sleep called.

Nevertheless, the high-quality music and relaxed vibe had united to overcome the possible obstacles. As my friend, over from London for a visit, commented: this night had the same feel as the burgeoning disco scene in the UK. Let’s hope that from little things big things continue to grow.