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Weekenders....is There A Demand For A Rare Soul Weekender?


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When looking at the calendar of events there seems to be a weekender on at least once a month, sometimes more and that's just the UK. And they seem to attract loads of peeps. But apart from a few the music policy is generally oldies based, maybe a live act thrown in and possibly a modern/alternative room.

Whilst there may be different styles of weekenders in Europe (encompassing more progressive music) I would really like to know if there is an appetite for a rare/underplayed/progressive weekender in the UK. I know Manchester is a really successful weekend but that takes place in a number of different venues so is not the traditional "weekender".

Perhaps there's just too many weekenders already.

Comments and thoughts please

Edited by SallieJane
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personally i think there are enuff dates in the diary full stop!...just wish some would start mixin it up a bit...sadly thats only my opinion there are a big majority of 'punters' who are more than happy with the same old...so those promoters are gettin people in so are also happy with the same old...whether that be genre or dj

dean

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Sad to say, no space at all on the calendar really...

Maybe a small event like the rare soul weekends that John Mills did in North Wales but can't see anything on a large scale unless promoters put heads together and free up a weekend..

Then you have the whats really rare and whats not brigade :D

Its a funny old game! :hatsoff2:

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So far opinion is pretty divided. But do the hard core niter people that attend the likes of Burnley, Lifeline, TOD, 100 Club etc want a weekender? Unfortunately I never made it to your weekender Chalky so don't know how successful it was, although given Lifeline's rep I'm sure it was pretty impressive to say the least.

If there is demand for such an event. What would be the ideal venue? Does it matter? And where should it be located? How far are people willing to travel?

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Thats a pretty broad section of music that has been dismissed in one foul swoop. Its like all the genres that the NS scene has cherry picked from over the decades, there is good, bad & indifferent....if a good DJ is mixing the best Funky Edged tracks in well with other things of the same or similar quality, with a few classy oldies in the mix it'll work, play entire sets of it, out of context, then it wont, as with RnB, Latin, Modern etc....good DJ's mixing up the best of the best....& tbh theres always been funky things played on the NS Scene since the beggining, its just that we now have to pidgeon hole everything.

Russ

Not so Russ. I have been going to venues for a lot of years and it is only very recently that I have had cause to say this. People are playing stuff now that is just not good enough (for me) for no other reason than to play something uknown or what they consider to be unknown. Sallie asked the question and I answered honestly. I would go (if possible) if it was a soul weekender :thumbsup:

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I love Brid weekender, OK so it has a top 500 type main room, but away from that are the brilliant Rare & Underplayed Room, The R&B Room, The Club Room, and the Modern room, you don't ever have to hear a top 500 oldie if you don't want to, and those that do want to, don't have to hear anything else!

I think this is the only format that works commercially for a weekender, and at Brid it works perfectly, a sellout year after year.

Too many arguments/chinstroking go on regarding what constitutes good rare/upfront soul for a weekender based purely around that to get the attendance to make it profitable

IIMNSHO of course!

:)

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Not so Russ. I have been going to venues for a lot of years and it is only very recently that I have had cause to say this. People are playing stuff now that is just not good enough (for me) for no other reason than to play something uknown or what they consider to be unknown. Sallie asked the question and I answered honestly. I would go (if possible) if it was a soul weekender :thumbsup:

I have got to partly agree with you Joan, some of the stuff I have heard in the last year or so at venues, was stuff that I have throw away years ago.

Ex soul pack stuff that simply was not good enough, having said that there as been the odd one or two that have been ok.

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Not so Russ. I have been going to venues for a lot of years and it is only very recently that I have had cause to say this. People are playing stuff now that is just not good enough (for me) for no other reason than to play something uknown or what they consider to be unknown. Sallie asked the question and I answered honestly. I would go (if possible) if it was a soul weekender :thumbsup:

We will have to agree to disagree then Joan, cos there are some very good funky edged stuff out there including tracks championed by Paul Sadot originally amongst others.

best Russ

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I have got to partly agree with you Joan, some of the stuff I have heard in the last year or so at venues, was stuff that I have throw away years ago.

Ex soul pack stuff that simply was not good enough, having said that there as been the odd one or two that have been ok.

Tastes change, what was not in vogue then might be in vogue now or in ten years time, its always been the way, but at the end of the day its all only just opinions really, theres a nice little vibe goin on with these things at the moment & I really like some of it, its fresh n exciting, well to me anyway....its like everything, there are good n bad & its how the DJ's present it & in waht order !!!

Russ

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And we all know that some absolute killer records have been put into soul packs that went on to become MONSTERS & classics years later.....doesnt mean they were no good at the time, just not right for the time.....& under appreciated, I didnt get Funk for years & Im no expert now, but one day the penny just dropped & the good stuff works for me now.

Russ

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I have got to partly agree with you Joan, some of the stuff I have heard in the last year or so at venues, was stuff that I have throw away years ago.

Ex soul pack stuff that simply was not good enough, having said that there as been the odd one or two that have been ok.

I agree, there is the odd tune that hits the spot and I said exactly that on another thread recently. It's just that on the whole they lack that certain something that makes a tune special (for me) and that is the reason I go out.

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We will have to agree to disagree then Joan, cos there are some very good funky edged stuff out there including tracks championed by Paul Sadot originally amongst others.

best Russ

Paul will be the first person to tell you I was not a fan of a lot of the stuff he played :lol:

He did play some that I thought were crackers, but they were the more soulful ones :thumbsup:

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If you look at the line up for the Autumn weekender at Pontins in Southport you'll see that the confirmed DJs have the ability to deliver a real quality 'Rare and Underplayed' room which isn't an afterthought or an add on its a superb room with a great sound system. True there'll be a bigger room full of the oldies crowd but that shouldn't take away from DJ's such as Ted Massey, Phil Threlfall, Dave Welding, The Willinghams, Pete Hullat, Simon Hunt, Mick Smith, Soul Sam, John Weston, Roger Banks etc etc. I think there's enough rare and underplayed stuff in their collections to suit anyone but the only way to find out it to be there. :thumbup:

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Tastes change, what was not in vogue then might be in vogue now or in ten years time, its always been the way, but at the end of the day its all only just opinions really, theres a nice little vibe goin on with these things at the moment & I really like some of it, its fresh n exciting, well to me anyway....its like everything, there are good n bad & its how the DJ's present it & in waht order !!!

Russ

Yeah Russ tastes do change, having said that I don;t think mine have all that much.

I loved the stuff that was to become crossover back in the day when stompers were the vogue.

Don't get me wrong I loved the stompers as well.

I was never in to funk, but there are loads out there that I have liked after hearing them.

Being from the north of England, funk was something they played down south, lol.

There are loads of the funkier Mecca tunes I loved without realizing that they where funky bitd.

I was into soul music before I was into Northern, as a lot of the younger people it's the other way round.

I know a lot of people went to Wigan or where ever and got into the music that way.

I used to listen to a record and than diside if I liked it or not, nothing to do with being in vogue or not.

Back to what I said earlier, some of the records being played out I thought they where rubbish, and I still think they are rubbish.

Having said that there are loads of stuff played in any era, that I thought were rubbish.

P.S. Russ still not come across the Sam Dees tickets yet, but still a lot of boxes and stuff to look though yet.

When they turn up I will send you one.

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Sad to say, no space at all on the calendar really...

Maybe a small event like the rare soul weekends that John Mills did in North Wales but can't see anything on a large scale unless promoters put heads together and free up a weekend..

Then you have the whats really rare and whats not brigade :D

Its a funny old game! :hatsoff2:

If we find a suitable venue then we will be running a weekender.

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Hey Dave - I didnt realise some of the things I liked were classed as funk either. I first became aware of this when living in the states & when I DJ'd there would usually be funk DJ's on the same rosta.....I just didnt get it, as much as I tried, however, occasionally a punter or DJ would comment on a record I had played as being funky ?.

Im not that keen on funk records that were being played darn south during the NS heyday....the type of funk I like is either 6ts gritty funk or early 7ts funk, altho there are others Im keen on that fit neither time frame...over syncopated a la James Brown esque type things just dont do it for me. Im not sure if you listened to Dave n Jordi at the weekend on Soul People, but the second hour contained some crackers...also Steve Clancy's first Mixcloud podcast has some nice funky sounds in the mix too, Im sure you would appreciate some or all of these for thier soul content & dancability.

Im lovin the Young Ideas, Mary Mundy, Zodiacs, Georgia Soul Twisters, Mary Love, Ron Surrey, Charlene & the Soul Serenaders & many others.....Im sure some would think these are obvious, but unknown to many....oldies Eric Lomax is the bollox & funkeee as you like, anyone for 7th Wonder - Captain Of My Ship....contentious at the time & fits in well today too....Sag War Fare, Damn Sam, Hopkins Bros, & then we have the funky gospel stuff, a lot of which I love too, If your god is dead try mine...brilliant...& anyone with a copy of the Singing Toronadoes get in touch now, Id sell a kidney....

Thank you for keep looking for the tickets Dave I really appreciate it mate.

Best Russ

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This topic is about whether there is demand for a Rare Soul Weekender. Can we start another topic to discuss the merits of funky edged soul please then at least fellow members know what they will be reading when they open a topic. Thank you.

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This topic is about whether there is demand for a Rare Soul Weekender. Can we start another topic to discuss the merits of funky edged soul please then at least fellow members know what they will be reading when they open a topic. Thank you.

Why not tell people to stop talking about oldies too then?

Plus I think the funky edge thing is relevant to this thread as I know Sallie does like that type of sound. She asked if people would be interested in a weekender and from that I took it that she would be running it and therefore I gave my opinion which I am entitled to do.

No biggie and for what it's worth I thought the thread was quite constructive.

Edited by jumpinjoan
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This topic is about whether there is demand for a Rare Soul Weekender. Can we start another topic to discuss the merits of funky edged soul please then at least fellow members know what they will be reading when they open a topic. Thank you.

Well said Chalky ..your too diplomatic though ..just tell em all to FUNK OFF :wicked:

Not you Joan ..your a good friend :thumbsup:

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Why not tell people to stop talking about oldies too then?

Plus I think the funky edge thing is relevant to this thread as I know Sallie does like that type of sound. She asked if people would be interested in a weekender and from that I took it that she would be running it and therefore I gave my opinion which I am entitled to do.

No biggie and for what it's worth I thought the thread was quite constructive.

At no point have I said people cannot give their opinion.

From a personal point of view I am opening a topic which is about the need or not for a Rare Soul Weekender to find some arguing about the merits of funky soul.

All I am saying from a mod point of view this isn't the topic to discuss the merits of funky soul.

Why not start a topic and discuss funk edged soul and have a good proper debate about it?

Why can't people just accept a simple request?

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At no point have I said people cannot give their opinion.

From a personal point of view I am opening a topic which is about the need or not for a Rare Soul Weekender to find some arguing about the merits of funky soul.

All I am saying from a mod point of view this isn't the topic to discuss the merits of funky soul. And I don't see a discussion in this topic about oldies?

Why not start a topic and discuss funk edged soul and have a good proper debate about it?

Why can't people just accept a simple request?

What was the problem with the thread Chalky? I really don't get it.

Sallie asked if there was any interest in a weekender and I said yes (possibly) as long as it was soul and not all that funky edged stuff because I know she has a big liking for that type of sound. What was wrong with saying that?

Edit: yes it may have snowballed a little but hey, that's what happens.

As for starting another topic? I really couldn't give a funk about discussing the merits of funky edged soul because I honestly couldn't give a funk about it.

Edited by jumpinjoan
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Joan, you misunderstand, there is nothing at all wrong with discussing Sallies request as to whether there was demand for a rare soul weekender, there was nothing wrong with your response either. The topic though is now sharing a discussion about the merits of funky soul, I'm simply saying can we stick to the topic, nothing serious just a simple request. If others wish to discuss funky soul and whether it is any good or not feel free to do so in it's own topic.

I believe that when members open a topic under a given heading it should be largely discussing the topic title (I know I know, topics have a habit of going off at a tangent). Some might not want to trawl through a discussion on funky soul to find the discussion about whether or not there is the demand for a weekender.

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Guest Soultown andy

I agree Chalky, also don't need every weekender out there trying to convince us they already do it..... :lol:

Unless you happen to support that particular one :wink: .

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But will Weekenders eventually be the death of Allniters during the Summer months...just a thought ??

Thing is tho...most weekenders are out of the main summer season cos the venues get booked up by "normal" paying guests and don't need the extra trade.

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Guest rodw

Don't know whether that's the case all over the country but take your point....there does seem to be an lot of Weekenders on in the Summer tho. Would be great to have a smaller scale Rare Soul Weekender whenever, it's a brilliant idea for like minded people.

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On Sallies question I think there is a demand for a Rare Soul Weekender. People are asking us all the time when are going to do another. It is just finding a suitable venue with the right amount of rooms or another friendly hotel very close by. As soon as you mention all night to some they don't want to know.

We ran weekenders at The Ye Old Bell where we had all-nighters as well. We supplied a mini bus for those stopping at the travel lodge a few miles away but didn't want to go down that route again, wanted everything at hand.

We also feel we supplied, over the weekend, some of the best soul music anywhere in Europe at the time and I still don't think it has been bettered musically. There hasn't and still isn't anywhere in this country that does what Lifeline did at it's weekenders IMO. The list of DJ's was amazing and that is what we would like to get back to again at the right venue.

Go for it Chalky !!!

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Guest rodw

Don't think travel is much of an issue for Weekenders either....people travel from Scotland to Devon, Cornwall etc. They book up in hotels for the whole weekend so.......

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But will Weekenders eventually be the death of Allniters during the Summer months...just a thought ??

=========

never never never can we allow the death of saturday all-niter...life would never be the same

hard core til we die.... :)

Edited by wiganer1
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