Review of Roar Nightclub in Bilston Last Nite

Heres the full story, big thanks to Dave for passing on Last night was the first promotion at Roar Nightclub in Bilston. And what a good night it turned out to be. This venue is going to establish itself very quickly as the top two room event in the Midlands. Upstairs was the Modern room, and although I didnt spend much time in there I pop up a couple of times to see how it was going on.

Music was provided by John Pugh, Blue Max, Jordi, Gary Holyman, and the irrepressible Gavin Page (Who greeted me over the mic the first time I went up by saying "Rimmer, youre in the wrong room, piss off !"). Trouble is, the bloke does have such immaculate taste in Soul music. Numbers in the Modern room varied all night, as they did in the Sixties room with people going from one room to the other and back. Because of that its going to be hard to put a figure on how many there were through the door, but Id guess at over 150. Downstairs, my territory (Its where the bar was, and a pint of bitter was only £1.40, in a nightclub for Gods sake !).

Des Parker started procedings off with a well thought out set of unknowns, rarities and cheapies whilst people started to come in, get drinks, and find seats. Kenny Onions was next up, and Ken went straight for the jugular with a set of storming Oldies mixed in wth a few Newies. As expected, people started to dance at this point. I took over at 11.00 pm and played a set which contained more Oldies than I usually play, but I still managed to slip things like The Magnectics and The Vondells in there mixed in with some uptempo R&B.

John Pugh took over from me and the floor almost caught fire, whilst there were a lot of regulars off the scene there, the night had also pulled a lot of locals in as well, so Oldies were the order of the day. Blue Max joined John downstairs as well, so The Catacombs lived again for a while.

Guy Hennigan was next up, half of the original Sixties Mafia, in full force, to a great dance floor reaction. Starting off with the Back Street instrumental it just got better and better. Full respect to Guy, he doesnt get any where near the number of bookings he should these days. Fortunately hes one of the residents at Bilston, so hell be back next time as well.

The last spot should have been Little Scotty, but for whatever reason, he didnt arrive, so the last hour was covered by Rob Haigh for quarter of a hour, and then Guy Hennigan went back on to finish the night off. To sum it up, the venues good, the dance floors good, the bar prices are good, the fact its two rooms is good, the DJ line ups good, and with room for a few more bodies this will turn into a top night. The next one is on November the 24th. Get yourself along. Dave Rimmer Soulful Kinda Music Magazine&Web Site http://members.tripod.com/SoulfulKindaMusic/