There were that many of them that I had to check my clock to make sure Soul Grooves wasn’t finishing or worse still; finished!! Not to worry though it was just an anomaly of the anti-smoking laws as this was the biggest smoker’s corner I’ve ever seen since I left Wilbraham High School in the early 80’s!!
I negotiated my way through the crowd and walked into the pub part of the venue where the locals were lapping up the Old Skool Pop music that was on offer. I ascended the stairway where I was greeted by a bloke on the door of whom I recognised his face, but for the life of me I couldn’t place where from. (Don’t you just hate when that happens)!! I paid the entrance fee which was reasonable and headed into the main arena (well the main arena for us Soul Heads anyway).
The room was quite full I’d estimate about 90 or so people and most of them seemed to be having a good time. I went to the bar and was pleasantly surprised to be paying pub prices for my drinks as opposed to City Centre bar prices which immediately made me think to myself; well at least if nothing else, Soul Grooves was a cost-effective night out!!! As to whether it was any good or not remained to be seen!!!
On moving closer to the action, I was greeted by my good friend Ruth who commented that she didn’t think too much of the night. She went on; “I’ve been here for over an hour and I’m not impressed at all”!! I asked her what her problem was and she commented that she just couldn’t get into the music and she then asked if I knew how long this DJ was going to be on for. DJ Miranda B was taking care of proceedings at this point but to be honest I hadn’t been there long enough to assess how she was performing. Having said that I’d been there for over 20 minutes and to be honest I didn’t think Miranda was doing that badly. What I’d heard up until this point was a mixture of Quality Soul and the usual fare of Soul Classics.
I bumped into Mike “The Red” Stephens who was talking to another good friend of mine Suzy who was celebrating her birthday. After greeting them both, Mike commented that he thought Soul Grooves was fantastic!!! If there’s one thing that the comments shown on the Soul Control website prove, is that music and entertainment as with any of the arts, is in the eye of the beholder. Personally I’d been to a function at the Gateway a couple of years ago and if there was one thing that stuck out for me, it was the word “function”. Soul Grooves had the feel of being at someone’s birthday party in a pub function room and apart from the birthday party bit, that is what the event is; it’s a Soul Night in a pub function room!!!
Now if this doesn’t offend you senses too much, Soul Grooves could prove to be a decent value for money night out for anyone who has yet to sample it. The crowd in attendance were made up of the usual suspects (Sorry Michaela, I don’t know how else to describe the regular Manchester Soul Masses), and many new faces who I hadn’t seen before. The music on offer was easy on the ear and pleasant to listen to and a majority of the Soul Grooves crowd seemed to enjoy what was on offer as a whole.
When I was stood near the bar, a woman in a white top with short dark hair and who seemed a little worse for wear was dancing erratically and bumped into me. Her friends apologised to me and quickly explained that the woman was suffering from cancer and just wanted to make the most of a good night out. She was annoying a lot of people with her seemingly drunken antics, but under the circumstances she could hardly walk around with a badge saying “Excuse my behaviour, but I have cancer”!! Anyway, I offered them my best wishes, but this only served to made me reflect on how short life is and how we should all make the most of the time that we have, because who’s to know what is around the next corner.
After Miranda’s set, the DJ, promoter and main man of Soul Grooves Nick Flight took to the decks and continued much in the same vein as Miranda did with an ensemble of Quality Soul and 80’s Classics. There was some confusion as to what time the event was finishing because as it approached 1.30am, there were steady trickles of people leaving which meant that I had to stop hob-knobbing (No jokes please) and do my paparazzi bit!!! Another DJ, of whom I didn’t quite catch his name, came on after Nick and played a Rare Groove set for about 30 minutes and it was during his set that I met Nick and Leah Flight for the first time which was a nice experience, as they make a nice couple.
By the time 2.30am had come the crowd had become really sparse and it was only the hard core Raver’s (if there’s any such thing on the Manchester Soul scene) who were left. I stayed until near the end and departed just after 3am with Soul Grooves in its final throes.
Soul Control Verdict:
Nick Flight understandably seemed a little nervous about what I thought of Soul Grooves. I saw no evidence of the pub regulars taking over the dance-floor although with so many faces who were unknown to me, I wouldn’t be able to tell anyway, and there were definitely no Manchester United shirts and beer bellies on show as previously reported. There was nothing spectacular about Soul Grooves, but it is a good solid Soul night out if their music policy is your kind of thing. But to the people who stated to me that it wasn’t their thing, remember one man’s tea is another man’s poison. Soul Grooves is in its infancy and only time will tell how it pans out, but I for one wish them good luck for the future.
Soul Control Rating:
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