Lowton 20th Anniversary Special

fantastic night at lowton just like old times dance floor busy all night all djs superb delegates of soul brilliant thanks to gary for the lift cheers  mark Lancaster soul club

LOWTON 20th Anniversary – THIS IS NORTHERN SOUL!
So said the massive banner adorning the front of the stage. Well it certainly is!! After many years since my last visit, I decided to let my Sat Nav do the work on the way there – big mistake as I ended up down some country lane in the middle of nowhere. Once I reverted to old-fashioned means of navigation I was soon there (asking for directions – anyone remember doing that?). It’s not like it’s hard to find – just off the A580 East Lancs Road. I arrived at around 8:15pm. A great location for soulies from all directions of the compass.
The room was steadily filling up and the silky soul voice of Clydene Jackson was soon coming from the superb sound system. But no! Wait! The sound system got even better after a highly skilled and professional switch to some replacement speakers – the clarity and volume was amazing. The huge wooden dance floor was already too much of an attraction to miss for many very, very good dancers of both sexes who were doing their stuff.

You can always tell when a venue has been promoted properly – it does exactly what it says on the tin and the copious amounts of PR leading up to the night proved to be absolutely authentic. The dance hall was dressed perfectly, with medieval banquet style banners hanging from the walls proudly displaying venues and logos from the halcyon days of the rare soul scene. Hearing Rita Da Costa took me back to Station Road for a while. The stage and DJ area was simply prepared with a blackout surround and only a small amount of light on the DJ’s – clearly the emphasis is on the dance floor and the patrons – exactly as it should be.
By 9:45pm the place was rammed with literally hundreds of real soulies and all tables taken in the dance hall and the floor packed with a very knowledgeable and appreciative crowd. Something for everyone was the order of play from the DJ’s – some R&B, some underplayed Top 500, Classic Wigan sounds (how good did Frank Dell sound?), underplayed & mid tempo Staffordesque 60’s, Crossover and 70’s. It all fitted in and kept the floor full. I don’t want to review individual DJ’s but suffice to say they were all superb and all on the same page.

I spent a long time in the record bar near the door so I could get the full experience (and flog a few 45's). Vinyl sales were going well with the larger dealers busy all night. I met some great new soul friends and had some really refreshing conversations. You can always gauge a soul night in the record bar where you can have audible conversations away from the coal face action of the dance hall. If I have one criticism it's the quality of the beer but some things never change at soul nights and if that's all there is to worry about then losing the plot comes to mind. Nearly everyone I spoke with was of the same opinion – great venue, great crowd, great music = a truly great experience!
I left at 12:15am and unlike a lot of venues only a tiny number of people drifting away (probably had to be up at daft o'clock like me) the place was still rammed with a packed dance floor.

If you haven't been yet make sure you visit next time - you wont be disappointed! This is Northern Soul.

As Arnie says – I’ll be back!

We travelled up from wolverhampton and had a brilliant night, quality music and great friendly atmosphere thanks 

Had another brilliant night at Lowton. Chuffed to see the place so busy celebrating 20 years of top soul sounds. The dance floor was busy from the off and still full at 2pm. Well done to all the Djs; who as always played what we love. Let's hope those who came last night remember what a great night it was and return for more in April.

Thanks baz for last night just keep on doing what your doing as last night was a belting night,if people who travelled from Workington for a soul night shows it a great event. Lancaster and Morecambe crowd all left happy.great cd as well.