Dispatches from the North: And Bingo was its Name-o

I have known for a couple of weeks now that I wanted to write a post about social clubs, but I am having a difficult time describing the atmosphere of a social club because there is just nothing like it in the US. A social club is like a marriage of an American Legion club and your local dive bar. The drinks are cheap, the clientele are mostly regulars who have their usual spot, and there is always and I mean ALWAYS bingo. Social clubs are not dark and dingy like a regular bar, the lights are usually blazing and everyone sits around low tables that are just large enough to hold your drink and scratch off your bingo card. 

I went with some friends a few weeks ago to go see a “club band” at a local social club. I was fully expecting the band to be mediocre and for most people to just casually listen while carrying on with their talking because that is what I am used to when I go see a band at a bar. This cover band was actually fantastic and very professonal, the lead singer could sing like Steve Perry and the guitarist looked like Bret Michaels and they had a great sound system. It was like going to a regular rock concert, expect everyone was quietly sitting around their tables and watching like it was any other night in the social club.

The thing that struck me is that the people in the social club looked like they could be going anywhere. In the US it seems like if you go to a concert, the audience is usually dressed like the band. If you go to a country concert the crowd will be a sea of cowboy hats and belt buckles. If you go to a hard rock concert there is going to be a high concentration of leather. But here in the social club, even though the band sounded and dressed like hardcore rockers, the audience looked like they could have been the patrons of any casual dive bar. 

Then the first act ended and they turned up the lights for a game of bingo. I tried to imagine this happening in the US, I tried to visualize going to see a hard rocking band and then breaking up and turning the lights on for a game of bingo and it is absolutely unimaginable. I think someone would be chased out of the bar for even suggesting bingo.

I was utterly confused and feeling out of my element, I was loving the music but the whole environment was just throwing me off. As everyone around us enjoyed their game of bingo I explained some of my thoughts to my friend and told her I found it strange that everyone just sat around and sang along but nobody got up to enjoy the music. Then she explained to me that nobody is allowed to get up and dance during the first half. I have since heard many different reasons as to why this is, but it seems that the social club is only licensed for people to get up and dance during the second half and it would be too expensive to meet health and safety regulations to allow dancing during the whole show. It has just become an understood rule now that you only dance during the second half. Then sure enough after the game of bingo was over, the band started again and immediately the dance floor filled. I was flabbergasted, I just couldn’t imagine going to see a good band and enjoying the music and only getting up to dance for the second half. 

There are so many things about social clubs that fascinate, puzzle and delight me. Its a great alternative to the regular “night out” here in Hartlepool where every night club is playing the same dance and pop music and you keep seeing the same people in the same clothes and never get a chance to sit and actually enjoy time with your friends. Now if only I could just get more into bingo…