QUIET VENUES - A SIGN OF THE TIMES

[Frankie M]

I know a that there are still venues "packing em in " but there are more and more struggling despite playing great tunes  and recruiting excellent guests .There is no magic here but we could lose many venues in 2018 where the owners just are not taking money over the bars etc to be viable and we all know costs have skyrocketed putting nights and days on "notice " . Have the good old days gone or has it always been this way ?

 

[Becket]

Too many "do's" on every Fri & Sat night - scene is swamped with Events.
More DJ's or budding DJ's than paying punters.
Depending on your music tastes - four peeps can get in a taxi to a local do and drink all night.
If you need bespoke music then you will prob be prepared to travel to "where it's at".

I'm not adding anything new here - this is what I have read here on SS for the past decade really.
And seen it with my own eyes.
Maybe needs a clear out of multiple events and back to a handful of them at the weekend ?
 

Cheers.....................   Tom.
 

[Len]

So many events, I personally don't bother looking anymore as it just makes the mind boggle scrolling down loads both on a Friday & Saturday.

I'm sure one day (pretty soon actually) all of a sudden there will be hardly any events. Hopefully this will be a good thing, but depends what events are still standing when this happens.

keep enjoying where you can though!

All the best,

Len 

[Guest]

Many just decide to run their own soul night.  It's so easy now with the internet!

Get 200 or more people doing this, and you can see what's gonna happen! Lots of dull/poor atmosphere soulnights!

Knock on effect, means no one will travel to large central allnighters anymore!

Edited July 17, 2018 by Guest

[Woodbutcher]

Too many Mickey Mouse soul nights about at the moment , but enough quality all-niters about to satisfy .

Back in the 90's the Manifesto Events guide ran to two pages , listing every soul night and niter covering two months ... and included a map showing locations , the core of the scene were at pretty much every nighter on the guide and a lot of the evening dos too .

Today's offerings amount to 20+ soul nights every Friday and Saturday , problem is most are catering for the "DJ" and his mates that never venture out of their own area , most churning out the same old thing week in and week out , and almost none who actually stay up beyond midnight thanks to the copious amounts of beer swilled .

Thankfully there are still enough classy nighters out there to cater for the core so in that sense the 'real scene' is just as 'exclusive as it was twenty years ago , there are just hundreds of tiny events that probably attract about 15 punters and these are easy enough to weed out from the good'uns.

[Tomangoes]

I'm not sure things are any different now than they were 40 years ago.

A successful promoter can make a good living. Wanting to be one, and actually being one, are poles apart. 

In this neck of the woods, I've seen the Lord Conyers pub being packed to the rafters, and just a handful in. Stop start, different promoters, different policies. Rare, handbag, and everything in between.

I imagine it's the same in every town.

The strong do survive...

100 club, Whitby, Prestatyn, SITS, chill out Donny, etc.

Ed

 

[Chalky]

27 events within 30 miles of Sheffield this weekend....the scene is doing its very best to fcuk itself up.  Selfish promoters and selfish so called Djs who have nothing to offer that isn’t already there.  

They don’t care about any potential damage they may be doing to the scene, the bigger picture isn’t a worry for them. There is only a finite number of people to go round with less and less travelling or not even bothering much these days. 

Edited July 10, 2018 by chalky

[Chalky]

I also think weekenders are having a major say.....

since the beginning of June we have had weekenders at....

Cleethorpes, Skegness, Blackpool, Bridlington, Liverpool, St Ives, Whitby & Manchester.

EIGHT in six weeks. The last three all on the same weekend, barmy.

There are still more to come this summer plus all the European ones that are now popular with Brits  

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by chalky

[Mickey Finn]

Weekenders also bring in a few from Europe! 

...but enough to make up for the attrition? Probably not.

[Chalky]

3 minutes ago, Mickey Finn said:

Weekenders also bring in a few from Europe! 

...but enough to make up for the attrition? Probably not.

But one a week, surely over kill? Surely onlyna handful from Europe?

I’ve seen the odd videos, some had very healthy numbers, Liverpool for instance, others not so healthy looking  

A couple of years ago I went through the calendar, there was two a month then, must be a lot more crowded now. 

[Mickey Finn]

Liverpool and Bridlington also clashed, but perhaps being on different coasts helps. Brid was certainly packed, with a 2500 capacity sellout. If the attrition is having an effect it's most likely on the smaller events. 

[Timbo58]

It smacks of arrogance when there are so very many clashes. Even here in the south established events with booked and properly advertised* events up to a year in advance are finding themselves with a clash no more than a dozen or so miles away.

When we first set up the club nights we are now running I was absolutely determined not to clash with anyone within 60 miles, but I am afraid some of those are no longer on my 'don't clash with XX' list simply because they've taken no heed of our nights on and booked months before they bothered.

 

 

*i.e. on SS and FB pages for all to see.

[Soulfool]

I have not been to an event for a good few years due to the facts that there are too many events and too little quality, like every person with a record collection thinks they are DJ's, they put on soul nights to allow themselves to play.  I travelled south most weekends from Edinburgh, mostly by train and on my own, as that was becoming too expensive I wanted so much to go to events closer to home, that's when it all went downhill, now I have no desire to travel anywhere for an event and as much as I miss them I don't feel I am missing out...shame that.

 

[BabyBoyAndMyLass]

14 minutes ago, Soulfool said:

I have not been to an event for a good few years due to the facts that there are too many events and too little quality, like every person with a record collection thinks they are DJ's, they put on soul nights to allow themselves to play.  I travelled south most weekends from Edinburgh, mostly by train and on my own, as that was becoming too expensive I wanted so much to go to events closer to home, that's when it all went downhill, now I have no desire to travel anywhere for an event and as much as I miss them I don't feel I am missing out...shame that.

 

I believe that Aberdeen soul club events are quality, people I know have been and said fantastic!

 

[Leicester Boy]

On 10/07/2018 at 18:34, chalky said:

I also think weekenders are having a major say.....

since the beginning of June we have had weekenders at....

Cleethorpes, Skegness, Blackpool, Bridlington, Liverpool, St Ives, Whitby & Manchester.

EIGHT in six weeks. The last three all on the same weekend, barmy.

There are still more to come this summer plus all the European ones that are now popular with Brits  

 

St Ives and Whitby sold out not sure about Manchester but surely no demand then they don't happen.plenty of good places to go st Ives being one if the weekend is pants surely it will die a death.??

[Timbo58]

St Ives sold out 1/3rd of it's tickets in the first week after the previous one this year, I really don't think you'll get a better vote of confidence than that.

Be careful with some of the southern European ones though -dancing on tiles to laptop jockeys isn't everyones cuppa.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2018 by timbo58

[Woodbutcher]

51 minutes ago, Soulfool said:

I have not been to an event for a good few years due to the facts that there are too many events and too little quality, like every person with a record collection thinks they are DJ's, they put on soul nights to allow themselves to play.  I travelled south most weekends from Edinburgh, mostly by train and on my own, as that was becoming too expensive I wanted so much to go to events closer to home, that's when it all went downhill, now I have no desire to travel anywhere for an event and as much as I miss them I don't feel I am missing out...shame that.

 

For a real quality event near you look no further than the True Soul Weekender in September ... 

https://www.truesoul.co.uk/event/true-soul-weekender-september-2018/

[BabyBoyAndMyLass]

35 minutes ago, Leicester boy said:

St Ives and Whitby sold out not sure about Manchester but surely no demand then they don't happen.plenty of good places to go st Ives being one if the weekend is pants surely it will die a death.??

Good to meet you at the St Ives weekend, your crowd did Lee proud!

 

[Nz Soul]

lost 2 of the best nighters in last few years bidds and lifeline  

think a lot of nights is just a cash cow 

[Philt]

We run 3 times a year max, have a solid set of residents who’ve all been at it for donkeys years and who can play pretty much anything you want. We try and book quality guests, have invested thousands in sound gear and just about break even each time. 

The reality these days is that you can try to do it right and advertise as far in advance as you like but there are still those who seem not to give a monkeys as long as they’re doing their thing.

Makes you wonder wether it’s worth bothering your arse and, to be honest, I’m increasingly less inclined to these days.

I rarely venture out as a punter anymore. Used to go out at least once and often twice every week and had done for years. 

Most of what’s on seems to add absolutely nothing to what I’ve always thought of as the ‘proper’scene. 

Sometimes less is so much more.

 

[Leicester Boy]

7 hours ago, BabyBoyAndMyLass said:

Good to meet you at the St Ives weekend, your crowd did Lee proud!

 

Pleasure to meet you as well my friend. We love the weekend anyway but this year we wanted to honour our mate.the last 2 hours especially were very emotional for us.

[Chalky]

12 hours ago, Leicester boy said:

St Ives and Whitby sold out not sure about Manchester but surely no demand then they don't happen.plenty of good places to go st Ives being one if the weekend is pants surely it will die a death.??

That maybe true but if you do a weekend that may well be your budget for the month, maybe two?  That will have a detrimental effect on what has been the lifeblood of the scene, all-nighters and to a certain extent your quality soul nights, the ones that make you want to travel not your average night in the back room of the dog and duck or the local flea pit. 

Edited July 17, 2018 by chalky

[Leicester Boy]

9 minutes ago, chalky said:

That maybe true but if you do a weekend that may well be your budget for the month, maybe two?  That will have a detrimental effect on what has been the lifeblood of the scene, all-nighters and to a certain extent your quality soul nights, the ones that make you want to travel not your average night in the back room of the dog and duck or the local flea pit. 

That point I agree with. Weekenders are a social event for soul lovers and certainly have a different feel to an All nighter but again horses for courses with the age and social interests of many on the scene they are perfect.each to their own.

[BabyBoyAndMyLass]

I think with allniters a lot of it is to do with age, I think it likely that a lot simply haven't the energy for them at the age that most veterans are now, and of course gear, personally for me, take the gear out of the equation and to me an allniter is a test of endurance/boredom threshold. I've always thought of allniters as a bit 'doing it to death' as well, very obsessive bunch the soulies, allniters week in week out, as is common knowledge for me it was almost a job, being part of the 'gear machine'.

Very similar to the live bands scene, some people treat it as a job while others just can't get enough of playing, like some kind of demented puppy wagging it's tail wanting to play all the time.

Recently we talked about it being a 'Youth culture' I have to agree, staying up all night dancing is a teenage thing, I think as we all age niters will die off as just too physically demanding for the clientele.

I love the music but for me nowadays it's all about taking my lass out so she can have a good time, I enjoy the social side, to be honest I've always spent most of my time outside the events. I think that nowadays the alldayer is the most popular option. One thing with me is, I drive my lass so she can have a drink, she's earned it, therefore I spend most events dry and straight, which does colour my view somewhat as you can imagine.

[Mark S]

Ever since the failed attempt of a soul weekender at the Norbreck Castle Blackpool in the early seventies never fancied a weekender .

Cant speak about nighters not been to one since 1977 . 

Dont get out often work and family commitments the nights that I go to are predictable I enjoy myself but wonder is it worth the effort ?

Every now and then I will hear a DJ that plays a load of new to my ears stuff and that restores my faith . 

DJs need to innovate and punters need to reciprocate make some effort to get up and dance to new stuff its not difficult we all know where a Northern tune is going cant be doing with all the nostalgia and reliveing our youth shite if you didnt do it at the time its too late now in your dotage .

The music policy is not good enough or diverse enough to satisfy at most soul nights in my experience .

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by Mark S

[Leicester Boy]

48 minutes ago, BabyBoyAndMyLass said:

I think with allniters a lot of it is to do with age, I think it likely that a lot simply haven't the energy for them at the age that most veterans are now, and of course gear, personally for me, take the gear out of the equation and to me an allniter is a test of endurance/boredom threshold. I've always thought of allniters as a bit 'doing it to death' as well, very obsessive bunch the soulies, allniters week in week out, as is common knowledge for me it was almost a job, being part of the 'gear machine'.

Very similar to the live bands scene, some people treat it as a job while others just can't get enough of playing, like some kind of demented puppy wagging it's tail wanting to play all the time.

Recently we talked about it being a 'Youth culture' I have to agree, staying up all night dancing is a teenage thing, I think as we all age niters will die off as just too physically demanding for the clientele.

I love the music but for me nowadays it's all about taking my lass out so she can have a good time, I enjoy the social side, to be honest I've always spent most of my time outside the events. I think that nowadays the alldayer is the most popular option. One thing with me is, I drive my lass so she can have a drink, she's earned it, therefore I spend most events dry and straight, which does colour my view somewhat as you can imagine.

Couldn't agree more. Eventually your body let's you know what your mind has been aware of for ages a few beers and bed beats gear and staying awake. Sad but life.