Saturday geek fever: the Gleeful clubs we can't get enough of

But this is not news to Alex Gilbert, who runs Ultimate Power — a night at the Scala in King's Cross that invites some 1,200 people to come along and listen to (or, as usually occurs, scream along to) power ballad after power ballad, from 9pm to 3am. "If you ask anybody whether they would rather listen to Heart's These Dreams or N-Dubz, they would choose These Dreams. If anybody tells me otherwise, they're a liar," says Gilbert, who despite also being head of A&R at Warner Brothers doesn't mind revealing (repeatedly) that "my favourite song of all time is Meat Loaf's Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are."

In fact, Gilbert runs the night along with four others, who also work "with talent in the music industry" and he claims that one of the reasons they started the night was "because we've lived in this supposed cool world' for so long and we needed to find an outlet."

Clearly, he's not the only one, since Friday night's Ultimate Power event sold out four weeks in advance and the ripple of these geek nights is spreading across London. Also drawing in the crowds is Soundtracks at The Monarch in Chalk Farm. It's billed as: "The best movies ever — without the talky bits" and guests do away with their sense of pride and sing and dance shamelessly to movie soundtracks (while munching popcorn).

At We Are The Pigs, a Britpop night at The Purple Turtle in Camden, you won't hear a single track from the past 10 years (and can freely admit that you don't want to), and at White Wedding you can indulge in an evening of flouncy dresses, cravats, finger food and pop classics that would usually be heard at the naffest of wedding parties — except played by "name" DJs such as Kissy Sell Out and Annie Mac.

"White Wedding is a great leveller," says one of the three co-founders, Becky Houghton. "No one can be too cool when they're dressed like a randy uncle, dodgy bridesmaid or a vicar — it's about having fun and being silly. People are sick of anonymous mega-dance clubs — they want to feel like they're a part of the night and contribute to it in some way."

"We have some insanely cool friends," says Gilbert, "who finally came to Ultimate Power after a lot of persuasion and said: "I hate you for this", because although they wanted to be too cool for it, they couldn't help but love it."

This is probably why, while London's largest remaining club SEOne closed in February (because, according to the club's premises supervisor, Marcus Kay "filling the Fridays and Thursdays became harder and harder. The overheads could not be met"), White Wedding is having to move in September from its current home at Camden's The Monarch to a bigger venue to meet the demand for tickets, and promoters are also cashing in by opening up new geek nights — such as Pump Up the Volume, a Nineties themed night of house classics which, come August, will launch at Visions in Dalston.

Amazing what a TV show like Glee can do to us all, you might think, if that line up has awakened your inner geek. "On the contrary," jokes Gilbert. "I think it's our night that has helped the popularity of Glee."

Additional reporting:
Alice Philipson