Itchy Feet

It's modern, this world of ours. From futuristic funk to enigmatic electro, club nights across Edinburgh are so fresh that they’ve almost become stale. Raise your hand if you’ve frequently spent your Fridays with Jimmy Eat World in The Hive, select Sundays singing along to S Club in Cav or too many Tuesdays in the bowels of Cabaret Voltaire, proudly drumming drum and bass back into the heart of the Cowgate. For conoisseurs of the Edinburgh club scene, well-established club nights are quickly becoming almost monotonous. Too often do we find ourselves drinking the same promotional drinks as we dance to the same novelty music with the same likeminded crowd. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for an intervention. This modern world in which we live is embracing the innovative; we are returning to retro.

The vintage club scene is not unlike a vintage wardrobe. It takes style to pull it off, and the rare finds are usually exceptional. Of all the vintage catches in the Edinburgh nightlife, Itchy Feet fits the bill perfectly. Landing at Studio 24, the night positions itself at the crossroads where ska meets swing dance. It is rare to attend a club night that favours David Holmes over David Guetta; where dancing is an energetic art rather than a drunken homage to Flo Rida. Everywhere you look, there are couples swinging, in an entirely above board manner, with ska seducing the masses into ever more soulful moves. It's an innovation; who would have suspected that the future lies in the past? Offering a diverse mix from Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman to The Breakestra and James Brown, Itchy Feet is an antiquated club night brimming over with style. Always busy and never dull, Studio 24’s most infamous night is rarely without a packed crowd of swingers, making early arrival essential—a trip to the past waits for no man, after all.

Studio 24, in its delightful obscurity, is the pioneer of alternative club nights in Edinburgh. The Green Door Rock 'n' Roll, coming on 19 March, is branded as a club night for "hepcats and squares alike". Playing everything from classic rock to its modern strains and developments, it is yet another link in the vintage chain, typifying historical Edinburgh's wholehearted celebration of modern life in the retro vein.

It's not just The Studio embracing the art. The always diverse Electric Circus’ Blitz vintage swing night attracts a solid crowd of cool cats, while Bongo Club is home to Four Corners; a rare blend of reggae, jazz and Latin currently proving wildly popular with the eclectic masses.

When it comes to innovative club nights, Itchy Feet and its cultural companions are the forerunners in a new movement. Retro is respectable, and vintage is voracious. Ska, swing and the Studio come highly recommended, as this blast from the past is both forceful and fun. Itchy Feet is definitely an itch to scratch.