2009 Launch Party - hit or miss?

Previous launch parties were held at Bennets, a huge pub, seemingly perfectly suited to a large comic loving crowd. It was always packed and great fun.

This years launch was at the Panama Bar, on entering the establishment(no "guest" list etc), we were absorbed by the pink lighting and intense dance beats, drowning all attempts at conversation(maybe I'm getting old). We arrived late in Birmingham, delays on the M25 etc so took a taxi to the party and got there before 10, and the place was pretty empty. Wandered through, paused, we all looked at each other, in unison, "lets go somewhere else". Passing a group out the back, who must have been the comic contingent, we headed back to town.

We went to see if the usual crowd had gathered at Bennets, no, it was also pretty much empty with booming music also, so headed up to old faithful The Old Joint and Stock around the corner for a few pints of Red Fox.

All in, a disappointing launch party this year.

Turtle.

i agree tbh

i arrived there at about 8ish so i got to see the place fill up a bit. the music was dated and too loud, drinks were a bit warm

it felt like my old school discos which is a real shame

ive never been to a launch party before this one, but i had an image in my head of some sort of jaz bar, or pub with nice seating and a musical undertone in the background

about an hour in we decided to leve which is unfortunate but it was a disapointment

i know it sounds un grateful but it wasnt too good

The post could have been from ourselves, also we wandered around looking where everybody is and shouted at each other, trying to hear what we were saying . Took us 5 minutes and we wandered off. A pity

Hi Folks,

Thought I'd post about the launch party as the venue really messed up , and I want to appologise to anyone who didn't have a great night. (Although the food was amazing I have to say, not to mention FREE!)

First of all, the event was actually held at Bobby Brown's and not the Panama Bar. This was an error on the website which led folks to the wrong venue, so appologies for that.

Secondly, we did not order a hardcore dance DJ. We ordered an alternative Indy/ Rock DJ to play backgorund music only so that folks could enjoy the chatting and enjoy the atmosphere.
We are putting in a serious complaint to the venue about this.

Finally we were not informed about the bottled only beer until it was too late for us to change venues.
This meant folks had to go downstairs to the Panama Bar for draft beers etc.

We will not be using this venue for future launch parties, so rest assured normal service will resume for BICS 2010.

All the best
Shane
www.thecomicsshow.co.uk