On going inside I bumped into Persian and Junior from The Reno Club nights and lost track of time whilst having a discussion with them on all things Soul past and present. They were telling me of their plans for The Reno roadshow and the news that they’d secured the Hale Barns celebrity haunt, The Gallery for their next event!!! The Gallery is owned by Beverley Callard better known as Liz McDonald from Coronation Street and the thought of The Reno, at a place called The Gallery, in the swanky Cheshire suburb of Hale Barns brought a broad smile to my face!!! The Soul scene is certainly going more up-market these days!!!
Whilst I was upstairs talking to The Reno guys, I was making a mental note of the music being played. I didn’t know who was on, but one or two of my favourite all time classics were being played which had me covertly tapping my feet under the table we were sat at. It was around 12.30-ish by now so I bid Junior and Persian adios and headed downstairs to the main arena to see what was happening. The main arena wasn’t packed but it was nicely “full”, so I made my way to the bar where I arrived just in time for Mike “The Red” Stephens to buy my first drink of the evening. Mike and I set about talking, but we were stood near one of the speakers and couldn’t really hear each other so we went outside to the smoker’s area to continue the conversation.
I’m going to confess from now that this review is more about how others saw this night more than myself, but I’ll sprinkle in the little bits that I can add along the way because I seemed to spend the majority of the night outside talking to various friends rather than being in the “bear pit” downstairs where it all happens. This wasn’t by design it was just as one conversation with a friend ended, another one would start if you get my drift. Anyway whilst outside I spoke to Steve Owen of Piniche Promotions who was giving me the details of his next event at the Britannia Hotel in Standish on Saturday 18th October. He was killing himself laughing about my review of his previous night especially when I commented at how I thought Wigan was just around the corner from my house and didn’t expect to be on the motorway for over 30 minutes!!!
Steve pointed out, (which is a point to consider) that Standish is actually closer to Manchester than Blackburn and just as far as Warrington which I conceded was true, but all the same when you’re expecting a 10 minute trip that turns into 30, it’s a little hard for the brain to adjust!!! All the same his night was worth the trip and I’ll certainly have another look in October. Well back to Seductive!!! I’d been at the Cheshire Lounge for nearly two hours, but had collectively spent only 20 minutes in the main arena!!! There were a lot of Seductive Virgins present which was good to see and it was even better to hear that almost all of them had come because of the reviews that they had read on the Soul Control website!!!
With that in mind I’ll get my hellos to friends and the people they came with out of the way now!! So hello Darren Campbell, Cookie (Soul Out MC), DJ Delight (Soul Nation Radio), DJ Tiny G (Soul Nation Radio) and some other dude who I know your face but not your name. You knew mine name and all about me and I was a bit too embarrassed to ask who you were …SOZ MATE!!! Don’t you just hate when that happens? If anyone out there has found a way of discreetly finding out someone’s name in that situation, please start a thread on the forum and let me in on the secret!!!! It was also good to see Soul Control’s Number 1 fan Mark Solarz and his posse present too!
I won’t bore you with the details of my many conversations, but I was aware of a lot of people complaining about the music!!! I was still keeping a mental note of what was being played, but because I was upstairs most of the time I couldn’t see how the music was being received on the dance-floor downstairs. Most of the complaints were that the music was far too mellow, laid back and a bit too deep in parts!!! To be truthful there were so many people who had these sentiments it prompted me to talk to the many friends I’ve mentioned beforehand to ask them how their nights were going and remarkably they all said the same thing!
The general consensus was that the Cheshire Lounge was a brilliant venue, but they all added that the music was way too mellow and not very consistent!!! I was busy assuring Delight that the majority of the time the music was OK at Seductive and when you add that to the surroundings, it usually made for a decent night out, when out of the blue House music came blaring out of the speakers!!!! Delight raised his eyebrows in my direction and we both burst out laughing!!! I said to him “OK that’s the first time that I’ve heard House music at Seductive Soul” but having said that I reminded him that he used to dance to House!!!
I went downstairs for the final hour or so and the crowd had thinned out somewhat. There was still a sizeable amount of people dancing, but it was obvious that quite a few people had left by now. For the final 30-45 minutes Jim Hargreaves came on and didn’t really bother with any science, he came straight in with the tried and tested Seductive Soul floor fillers which started another round of mutterings amongst the Seductive faithful but this time it was along the lines of, “About time” and “Thank F*** for that”!!! I was too estranged from the night because of being upstairs most of the time to be able to call it fairly, but I think my musings above seemed to accurately sum up what most people said to me throughout the night about Seductive!!!
At the end of the night I was stood at the edge of the dance-floor and was watching Tiny G do what he does best… “Break-Dance”!!!! He was being his usual infectious self because he managed to get the few who were left to start formation dancing for the last 10-15 minutes or so!!! Jim Hargreaves was so affected by this that I was shocked when he came out from behind the DJ booth and started to MC in the middle of the dance-floor whilst joining in the chorus line!!! It was a funny sight, but also fun to see that it was all good in the end.
As I was making my way out and was passing Jim, he turned aorund and handed me the microphone!!! I thought he was gonna challenge Tiny G to a head spinning contest, but to MY surprise the music went down and everyone was staring expectantly at me as if they were waiting for me to say something!!!! I quickly gave Jim the mic back and hastily made my way out and quit Seductive whilst I was still ahead!!!
Soul Control Verdict:
It was hard for me to give a detailed review on what the main action was like because I was mostly outside throughout the night. Seductive Soul has come a long way in a short time at its spiritual home of the Cheshire Lounge and every time I go there, there is always an influx of fresh blood in attendance. Club nights naturally evolve musically and this is usually shaped by the people who attend.
I don’t know what the intended music policy for Seductive Soul is, but I can see an evolution taking place; but whether this is what the core support of Seductive Soul wants remains to be seen. I personally enjoyed a lot of the music I heard, but that maybe because I was upstairs socialising and not on the dance-floor wanting to shake my ass!!! So therefore my rating is compiled from the feelings garnered from the people I spoke to throughout the night and to be honest their feelings are the only ones that ultimately matter.
Soul Control Rating:
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Review 1: Macka
Review 2: T2 Bad
Pictures of this event
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