Just when did the Broken Wheel start booking US soul acts ?  I was a regular at the Twisted Wheel, Gondola / Skyline (Hull) &  Tin Chicken (Cass) back in 68, so it wasn't on my radar back then ... but ads I have for gigs at the club show they weren't booking top soul acts till late summer 68 at the earliest (they did book the Alan Bown that summer but the group were already well into their 'Toy Land' phase by then) ....

   

Edited November 18, 20186 yr by Roburt

They did have Amboy Dukes on in April 68 & that outfit got bookings at the Twisted Wheel too. Also had Pesky Gee on (who had been the resident band @ the Nite Owl in 67) plus State Express (who used to back up Edwin Starr in the UK back then) .... but the 1st booking at the club for a US based soul act (as far as I know) was Edwin Starr at the end of September 68 ....  I think this was their first all-dayer too (& they didn't do niters) PLUS they'd also renamed themselves from the NEW BROKEN WHEEL to the BROKEN WHEEL SCENE .... 

I have no idea who the Soul Package were (on in August). No doubt a short lived UK group who did covers of soul songs.

I lived just up the road (in Donny) then and I don't recall any Sth Yorks mods going to (or even mentioning the club) back then ... guess there were too many bigger / better / more hip places to go back in 68.

... anyone know of other US soul acts who appeared at the club in 68 ?? ... 

Edited November 18, 20186 yr by Roburt

Never heard of the place but a quick google led straight back to soul sauce.

 

Yes, there's an old thread on the club ... but that just dealt with the 70's happenings at the venue.

It's also been mentioned in old threads about the 60's / 70's soul club scene in Yorks / Notts ... but nothing that I can see that states when the place started to feature live US soul acts on a regular basis. A top London based soul singer played the club in late May 68 but (as stated above), I think Edwin was the 1st US star to play the venue later in that year.

Billy Stewart played here at same time he came to Donny Attic

Done some more research & it seems the soul period @ the club had kicked in fully by late 69  ....

There is a book called "Another Saturday Night" by John Kirk which is all about the Broken Wheel. It's due to be released shortly. I'll see if I can find a link for it.

Went to the club a few times from Sheffield around 69/70 & saw the awesome Edwin Starr there , we used to knock around with a group of local girls, great club, think it was a converted barn, as you had to go up outside wide wooden stairs to get to the Wheel entrance & once inside downstairs to the dance floor & stage, not licensed, so you got a pass out & went to the Ship or Red Lion, if memory serves me well. Great times in that club, there was also a club in Worksop around the same time, but can't remember the name of that one. 

It was the Ship & the White Lion plus the Anchor & if you went across the locks the Clinton. I think the Worksop venue was the Honeycomb on Bridge Street.

Forgot about the Anchor, never went across the locks, thanks for the memory jog Derek  🙂