After reading a 'broader' thread on 'Modern Soul venues' on another Soul Source forum, I thought i'd narrow the discussion down to venues playing primarily 70's & Crossover. I know there are quite a few venues knocking around the country now and thought i'd be interesting to see if anyone had any thoughts on these venues, the type of tuneage played there, the type of people attending these venues, DJ's, attendance size etc etc.
Anything really, just wanted to see what most folk think of these type of venues???????
To kick it off, here's a snippet from an article i did for Shades Of Soul earlier this year..................................................................
....................................................Before we get into it (the article that is), I believe it is important to point out that there have been some interesting changes to the 'Modern' side of the Rare Soul scene over the last four or five years. Namely the emergence of a 'third scene' that is basically a throwback to the Modern scene of say 1988 but instead of the new releases of the time (i.e. Mid/Late 80's Indie & Mainstream dancers) more unknown/semi-known 70's dancers are now played! In reality, it's a place where virtually 100% of the tunes played are late 60's Crossover, early/mid 70's or late 70's/early 80's Soul dancers. The 70's Classics of the Northern & Modern scene are played here but it also opens up more scope to play lesser-known dancers that in the past haven't had their place in the sun!
In my opinion, the scene came about because many brilliant Crossover & 70's Soul dancers couldn't get a good enough look-in on the Northern scene. They also sounded too dated at most Modern nights, which were playing up-front 90's/Y2K/Nu Soul/R&B & Soulful garage. The music in effect, fell between the two stools and was in danger of being forgotten about!
The collectors and connoisseurs had been going on about this for years but now the dancers demanded the music! Shortly after the turn of the century, the calls were heeded when a third room in the shape of the (now famous) Tent started at the Fleetwood weekender (hence the term Tent Music). At the same time, venues like the sadly missed back room of The Howard & The Orwell in Wigan switched to playing virtually only Crossover & 70's Soul and the third scene was well under way. Today there are a whole host of quality venues exclusively playing this sort of stuff. Many now also use this opportunity to also play connoisseurs Northern too. The new scene itself is changing and it will be interesting to see where it goes over the next few years!.................................
OK that was written at the end of 2005 and printed in Shades Of Soul earlier this year. I personally still agree with it but I'd be very interested in what other people think?
After reading a 'broader' thread on 'Modern Soul venues' on another Soul Source forum, I thought i'd narrow the discussion down to venues playing primarily 70's & Crossover. I know there are quite a few venues knocking around the country now and thought i'd be interesting to see if anyone had any thoughts on these venues, the type of tuneage played there, the type of people attending these venues, DJ's, attendance size etc etc.
Anything really, just wanted to see what most folk think of these type of venues???????
To kick it off, here's a snippet from an article i did for Shades Of Soul earlier this year..................................................................
....................................................Before we get into it (the article that is), I believe it is important to point out that there have been some interesting changes to the 'Modern' side of the Rare Soul scene over the last four or five years. Namely the emergence of a 'third scene' that is basically a throwback to the Modern scene of say 1988 but instead of the new releases of the time (i.e. Mid/Late 80's Indie & Mainstream dancers) more unknown/semi-known 70's dancers are now played! In reality, it's a place where virtually 100% of the tunes played are late 60's Crossover, early/mid 70's or late 70's/early 80's Soul dancers. The 70's Classics of the Northern & Modern scene are played here but it also opens up more scope to play lesser-known dancers that in the past haven't had their place in the sun!
In my opinion, the scene came about because many brilliant Crossover & 70's Soul dancers couldn't get a good enough look-in on the Northern scene. They also sounded too dated at most Modern nights, which were playing up-front 90's/Y2K/Nu Soul/R&B & Soulful garage. The music in effect, fell between the two stools and was in danger of being forgotten about!
The collectors and connoisseurs had been going on about this for years but now the dancers demanded the music! Shortly after the turn of the century, the calls were heeded when a third room in the shape of the (now famous) Tent started at the Fleetwood weekender (hence the term Tent Music). At the same time, venues like the sadly missed back room of The Howard & The Orwell in Wigan switched to playing virtually only Crossover & 70's Soul and the third scene was well under way. Today there are a whole host of quality venues exclusively playing this sort of stuff. Many now also use this opportunity to also play connoisseurs Northern too. The new scene itself is changing and it will be interesting to see where it goes over the next few years!.................................
OK that was written at the end of 2005 and printed in Shades Of Soul earlier this year. I personally still agree with it but I'd be very interested in what other people think?
Cheers
Steve Plumb