hi winnie
i think and this is only my opinion that the upfront and progressive are as said on hear just a guide to let people know what they are likely to hear at the venue,
there are not so many new things turning up and quite often one mans new discovery is someones oldie.
This is because as stated on hear we have not heard everything ever played and because of the way i am and for the very reason i got into the music in the first was to hear new stuff as much as possible, one reason why we all used to travel huge distances in the 70's as there was always records that one dj had that the others did not.
the type of records i like may have been overlooked in the 70's or became fairly popular in the 80's which i missed for contractual reasons
there was an awful lot of stuff got played maybe once or twice at the likes of blackpool, wigan, stafford, cleethorpes, and a lot of other places a lot of stuff was considered to easily obtained in the 70's so never got a look in.
1 case in point Rhonda davis a staple for collectors and tape swappers in the 70's got played again in 20001/2 and look what happened it went from small clubs to the main room and wham! a cheap record can no longer fill the demand, and this happens very often,
the upfront/progressive clubs also borrow from other genres of music popcorn R&B, it is just to keep freshness in the music, as is said on here all the time new to my ears!
no one asks or tells anyone what to do or where to go you make your own choice the only way you can make that decision is if the club puts it on the flyer or someone you know has been, if it was not put on the flyer then we would have lots of disgruntled oldies fans coming up every minute asking for stuff they know or my favourite one have you go anything we can dance to.
without some from of description you have no way of knowing if you will enjoy the music.
i have no problem with oldies i just do not enjoy listening to the same things week in week out there are lots of underplayed oldie (stompers) but i think a lot are just too fast for failing old legs, when was the last time you heard terrible tom, saxie russell, velvet satins, johnny bragg and too many to list, i am not saying oldies are shit they are not they just have there place and i choose not to go there.
i know that this will not satiate your thirst for an answer but i have had a go.
remember it is always the dj that chooses to play the records not the dancers the dancers just confirm his choice.
mark