here,s my take on things...
as someone who loves upfront , rare, underplayed, whatever term you want to use...but also attends oldies venues as-well,
I notice that more and more middle aged people .week by week, year by year , get into the " northern soul " as we know it.these are people, who at the age they are, find themselves with time on there hands at the weekend, be-cause their children have now grown up, left home .whatever, and through the big media world that we live in now, remember its not an underground scene any more.dip there toes into this soul melting pot, like it, like the motown that comes with it, like the oldies cos that's all they know, that's what they have heard. on a CD somewhere..some people, used to live it many years ago, get back into it,ect ect ect.
So..you have a general consensus of folk that just want to go out, have a drink, dance like no ones watching , dont care about labels , don't care about whether its a real one, dont care if its on a CD. and whether we like it or not they make up 60% of the scene , could be more. I would not like to hazard a guess
Then ,,and this is the part I don't understand..there are a general few , who like rare soul. but don't like upfront nighters, they don't like the music, beggars belief,You have to be open to a certain amount of change, and have an ear for the undiscovered stuff, its still out there, I know. Having said that, what I do find is many a rare record being played in a oldies venue, so it is getting across .slowly and surely. if they like it, they will eventually dance to it.as I have said time and time again. its an ever evolving soul scene. ever turning and changing.sometimes for the good, but sometimes for the bad, IMO most big promoters will want to make money at a nighter so will always go for oldies in the main room, be-cause they know they can fill it that way.It cost a lot of dough to put a nighter on, you gotta make it pay, we have a perfect up front niter, called Life line, it should be packed to the rafters, by all accounts, and sometimes I dont always like what's played there all the while, however I have had to learn that I cant have my cake and eat it all the while.