100 Club Allnighter

Cheers for the play list Geoff. Remember Ady playing The Entertainer,  cracking tune and I ain't never eard it before being relatively new to the scene. Just got a copy of discogs for a tenner, result!! This is why I love the 6ts so much it don't have to be a £1000 tune to light your night but is always an education. Keep doing that voodoo that you do so well. 

Nick. 

This was the fourth time my wife and I have attended this allnighter and if all is well no way will it be the last. We only go to around four allnighters a year due to our work and family comitments which keeps it fresh this is certainly one we always try and make sure we can attend, as ever well worth the time and effort to attend long may it continue.

I did wonder what the turnout for last night's 100 Club would be as the previous month had been comparatively quiet. However last night was busy I'm happy to report. Whether it was to support the three regular attendees who were doing guest DJ sets I don't know, quite a few faces down there that I'd not seen before.

I'd planned to pop in the Blue Post first but my travel plans went awry and I arrived outside the club just gone 11 pm. I must have an honest face because the bouncers didn't check my bag, accepted my assurance that I had no talc and let me in. Rolly and Garry were a bit late due to transport difficulties so Faye was doing the honours taking the money, selling the anniversary tickets and even stamping the backs of our hands.

Then down the stairs, past the cloakroom and into the club. Very dark with Ady on the decks. Time to dump my bag and change my shoes as my friends began to arrive. Emma was there before me but was followed by Suzy, Paul and Bev, Craig, etc.

At about 11.30 Ady handed over to Tomas McGrath. By that time there were several people dancing and my first foray on to the floor was to the Natural Four's I Thought You Were Mine, not sure if it was Ady's last play or Tomas's first. He played a mainly Northern set including What Is This by Curtis Liggins, but also a couple of Latin tunes. A good mix to get things going.

At midnight the first guest Colin Innocenti took over. His set was mainly 60s and he soon had me back on the dance floor to one of my favourite oldies Love Is The Only Answer by Kelly Garrett, yes it's a bit poppy but a great dance tune. He kept the tempo up, Two People's Leave My Heart Alone, great record but a bit fast for me these days.

Butch followed Colin and got me out again with his Chuck Jackson cover up and followed it with the Precisions' My Sense Of Direction Is Blown. As usual Butch kept the pace up and the floor busy. One I'd not heard before was by Ann Peebles but I didn't catch the title, a dancey track. He also played Kiss Me Girl On Your Way Out, don't know who sings it, firsts heard it at Cleethorpes.

As is often the case Ady followed Butch and included some current and some old favourites. For example What's That On Your Finger, Your Little Sister, and more recent ones such as I'm Not Afraid, Voodoo Mademoiselle, Can't Shake It, I Wanna Be Good To You, thanks for playing that one, Holly Maxwell acetate Three Strikes And You're Out, and many others. The floor was full.

Next up was another regular Lee “Buey” Buers hitting the decks. He played a mixed set that kept the dancers happy. Nice to hear Tony Fox with Love, Let Love And Be Loved, haven't heard that out for a long time, also Movin' With A Groove and Date With The Rain. Lee ended his set with my favourite 60s Marvin Gaye song, When I Had Your Love.

Time for the second set from Tomas who started off in the 60s but later moved into more Modern territory. For the former he included Celeste Hardy's You're Gone which has recently sold for quite a large amount, well out of my range then. He went into a sort of disco mode with I Love Music which had me on my feet and followed with other Modern Soul tracks, nicely mixed I must add.

Butch was on for his second set after Tomas, started off with a few sides that I didn't know at all or didn't know title, artiste, etc. However later I recognised What's Your Game, Eye For An Eye, Just Can't Please You, the Shades' Hit It. My favourite of his set was the penultimate one, a Brenda Holloway acetate, think it's called You Succeeded. A great medium tempo song, only heard it once before when he played it at Spirit.

Then it was the final guest regular, Garry Cotterell, who'd had a rather difficult journey due to his train being full and impossible to board, so he and Rolly had to drive to London. Well worth it though. Garry mixed the sounds, got me out for Teacher Man, Bull's Bygones, the Debonaires' How's Your New Love Treating You and ended with the lovely I Need Your Love by Ella Woods.

The final 45 minutes were as usual handled by Ady himself. A nice mix of oldies were played, What Shall I Do (with the spoken intro), One In A Million (think it was a different take), Kissing Her And Crying For You, etc. Then a slight slowing down of the tempo with Don't Tear Me Down, This Is The Thanks I Get, Lonely Girl and finally for the “3 before 6”: Tony Clarke's The Entertainer (one of my old Mod favourites from my youth), Marva Josie's Don't (grown on me this one) and of course Baby I Need Your Loving, still a fantastic record after all those years.

To the sound of That's What Mama Say it was time to pack up and say farewell after Tony Smith had taken the usual 6 am photo. I rushed off then to get to Oxford Circus for a tube to get a connection at Finsbury Park. I got indoors at 7,30 which is pretty good.

One of the nice things about the 100 Club is the people who attend, so many of my friends there. I guess that really we're a very small minority on the soul scene and there were quite a few I'd seen the previous weekend at Boomerang: Carms and Nige, Jackie Jackson, Jules, etc; plus loads of other 100 Club regulars too numerous to mention. You help make the night complementing the music.

I really should have sat down and noted the records on my phone but I was having too good a time chatting and dancing, incidentally the floor was really good, didn't get sticky and nice and slidey. So thanks to the staff of the club. And of course a massive thanks to Ady and all the DJs who entertained us so well, particularly Colin, Lee and Garry, well done guys.

Next month is the 38^th Anniversary, that is something. Hopefully see you all there.