One would think it’s quite hard to convey the magic and chaos of nightlife, let alone the infamous noughties, onto the page, but Jodie Harsh truly succeeds. In her memoir, You Had To Be There: An Odyssey Through Noughties London, One Night at a Time, we are granted the privilege to relive a decade of her life as a renowned drag queen and DJ, at our own peril.
What’s it about?
This memoir is the ultimate gallivant through London’s nightlife in the naughty noughties, back when phones were not yet smart and looked like relics pre-Apple iPhone takeover, when life was too messy and raucous to document online (much to the relief of many, I’m sure).
Jodie Harsh arrived in London aged 15 in 2002, heading straight off the train from Canterbury to her first club night at the Astoria. Immediately drawn to the taste of a life in queue jumps and dazzling music and strobes, partying would shape her life for the next decade, falling in and out of social circles that opened new doors, and closed others, lifting the veil on London’s nightlight universe pre-internet scrutiny, in all its gore and glory.
Pulse-raising stories of sneaking in and getting kicked out of the likes of G-A-Y when it took place at the Astoria, and the infamous queuing experiences at Heaven, this is the MySpace era. You can feel the stick of alcohol on the carpeted club floor as you prise your heel off it to dance to The Klaxons or GOSSIP. It’s celebrity spotting with the likes of Lily Allen and Kelly Osborne and hanging out with Amy Winehouse to the backdrop of newly released music that would become iconic to us nostalgics today. Harsh sketches out for us a map of clubland that she grew to reign over, becoming the iconic, boundary-breaking DJ and drag queen, from drugs and dingy dark corners to free entries and transient friends, and the euphoric sense of humanity often found in a sea of misfits on the dance floor, raving in unison to something deeper and more profound than meets the eye (or is that the party favours talking?)
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Harsh takes us on our very own immersive tour through these decadent years, from the Astoria to The Cross, the Soho Revue Bar to Mahiki, Boombox to The End, and even walks us into the after parties and rollovers of her famous friends’ houses; in a time characterised by freedom and hedonism, without quite so much scrutiny the next day. We’re invited to bear witness to this special decade, and Jodie Harsh is at the helm, in the cockpit-like DJ booth.
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This eclectic memoir also sheds light on the gentrification of London’s nightlife as corporate companies and developers took over the city’s favourite hedonistic spots, a blueprint to the landscape of club and queer space closures we see today, when the queer community danced its way through strife and redemption before corporations got their mitts on it.
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What stands out?
But there’s more to the story than just parties and hobnobbing with celebs. Harsh also recounts a childhood full of love yet bursting with a need to express oneself, both mentally and physically, and the friction this caused with relationships in her life, such as her father. So came the journey of developing a drag character that could embody so much more than the limitations of the bodies (and hair volume) that hold us, and what that means for us spiritually. From Canterbury to Charing Cross, traversing Old Compton Street and beyond, this is a queer pilgrimage about self-discovery, told in full: no holds barred.
Perhaps the most challenging element of the memoir is Harsh’s brutal honesty in addressing her journey towards sobriety and the consequences of a life in the constant throes of partying and intoxication. The crux of the story is that of a queer teenager who grows up to become lost in the strobe lights, but finds their way to a truer, healthier sense of self, with an undoubtedly wild and reckless – and iconic – adventure along the way.
Our verdict
This is a nostalgic fever dream of an escapade through a decade that perhaps everyone wishes they could have seen up close. There is no doubt that Jodie Harsh was at the heart of it all, breaking boundaries and creating magic in the contemporary nightlife scene of London. If you wish you’d been there, you’ll love every page.
An extract from ‘You Had to Be There’
“Something special happened in this era. Scenes collided, exploded, were reborn and reshaped, all across town, at rapid speed. New music, new fashion, new art… it all came together in a mad, heady rush before a huge crash. Every corner of the city was a messy, beating, slick and sordid stew of adventure.”
Star rating
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Nonchalant x
