Keeled Over

Last night, as noted yesterday, we went to the Northern Soul Allnighter at Keele.  We'd been to one last year, which was good, but missed the last one in January.  So, we were looking forward to it.  Unfortunately, it was pretty naff, especially given the £12 entry price, compared to an average £5 for the events we, normally go to each week.

I have listened to Northern Soul for more than 50 years, and, in the 70's, even did some DJ'ing; I listen to a lot, still, online, as well as going dancing pretty much every week.  Yet, I can honestly say that about 90% of what was played was stuff I've never heard before, which is not, in itself, a bad thing, though its difficult to dance when record after record is stuff your not familiar with, but, what is bad, is that, of this 90%, 90% of it was so non-descript that I wouldn't know if I ever heard it again, or, to be honest, care!  That's not the emotion I associate with Northern Soul, from the first time I heard it.

I didn't seem to be alone.  Never have I been to a Northern Soul event where the dance floor was so empty for so much of the night.  Even when something decent was played, it was difficult to raise the enthusiasm to get up.  I had the impression that some of the people who did get up to dance did so out of some sense of sympathy, a sort of pity dance.  It was due to last until 6.00 a.m., but at 1.30, we gave up on it, and many others seemed to have done the same.  perhaps the DJ's weren't actually looking at what was going on on the dance floor.

Some months ago, John Murphy said to me that, back in the 70's, when he was a Northern Soul DJ at Tiffany's and other major venues, if they played something that cleared the dancefloor, they had one more record to get them back, or the management would have replaced them.  A DJ has a number of tasks.  At a club, its necessary to know the regulars, and what they dance to, which isn't possible at one off events, but, secondly, the DJ should observe the dancefloor, and see what works and what doesn't.  That doesn't mean playing crap just because some people dance to it,  but requires balance.  The DJ, also, as part of that function, should try to educate, by introducing some new sounds, but, again, it requires balance, one new record in an hour is plenty, and it should be good, not just something no one has heard before.