RICHARD BELL joins the student hordes heading down to Fuzzy Ducks at the O2 Academy in Oxford for their Halloween themed clubnight out.

During the course of dragging ourselves around to every single clubnight this city has to offer, I’m actually rather surprised that we’ve never made it to the O2 Academy for one of Oxford’s biggest nights.

Fuzzy Ducks has been going for years and years, and I haven’t been since the venue transformed itself from the old Zodiac into the new Academy.

As many of you will know, it has its own ‘reputation’ from many years of catering to the student population every Wednesday night, and its gimmick (and a clever one at that) is that every week there’s a different costume theme.

Of course, the night we visited, it was a Halloween fiesta (no prizes for originality there), but it did mean that a wide mix of people dressed up – and turned up – in a fantastic variety of funny, sexy and downright terrifying costumes (although let’s be honest here, it seems no matter what the theme is, it’s never quite going to stop some students from covering themselves in blue paint and going as Smurfs...).

Now remember, when you’re in fancy dress you’re never quite yourself, which leads me to readily believe FHM’s quote that this is the easiest place in the country to get a kiss.

After all, everyone’s out to have a great night and they’ve all left their worries at home (together with their daytime personalities and clothes).

Consequently, this collective spirit of fun could easily be the deciding factor between pulling... and not.

The music of course is nothing to shout about, but it’s not horrendous by any means.

It simply plays the maximum amount of pop and cheese it possibly can.

You see, it doesn’t have the responsibility of breaking new music to this audience; it just needs to give the crowd a beat to dance to and a tune they all know.

As for the drinks, there’s a range of deals.

I’ll be honest, this night isn’t really for me, but then of course it isn’t meant to be.

It’s aimed wholly at the hordes of students looking for a huge night where they can really let loose in as silly a way – and costume – as possible, and for Fuzzy Ducks’ army of fans religiously returning time after time, this night is an essential part of the week.