I thought it was a good vibe and the young people into soul now owe a lot to the first small, but influential wave of young soulies that put the effort in, long before it was cool - Liam, Azza, Callum, Rich E, Maxwell et al.
Its a lot easier to walk into a soul night now, in your 20's then it was 10 years ago for example (not that folk are unwelcoming, by all means, its the opposite, but in terms of having a peer group for example).
And people will bemoan the styles and and the commercialism but those who made the effort ten yrs ago are still sticking with it and moving it forward, and i'm sure these even younger guys will too - all good I say.
plus, aesthetically, its a performance at the end of the day - you need cliches, and stereotypes to play to the common denominator, it is the Brits! And those keen on it will get involved, buy big shit pants, bin them in a years time and go on to add value and make a solid contribution to the scene in years to come