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We are all getting older. Who were the DJ's that gave you those nights that you still remember. I could list countless, but I'll always remember my first proper night out.
Far too many to list, but a couple off the top of my head;
The Tidy Boys
Lisa Lashes
Lab 4
Tiësto
Armin Van Buuren
Ferry Corsten
Above and Beyond
Paul van Dyk (no e in Van Dyk 😉)
Clubbing used to be my life, Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Storm, PaSSion, Gods Kitchen, Cream and everything in between.
I was a full on cyber kid and have some very embarrassing photos to prove it 😂.
Evil Eddie Richards, Little Louis Vega at Outer Limits in Bletchley Milton Keynes in 1989
Taking my to be wife to our first date at the Hacienda.
Wiggle at Woolwich Tramshed, my god they were good nights.
Oh man... The good old days, when we used to be allowed to go out! NEVER AGAIN will I make an excuse such as too tired, too old, or got work on monday for the chance of a quality night out again! 😩
Soooo many good memories, soooo many good DJ's, soooo many good venues!
Probably my best memory was 2 days before my 21st... Richie Hawtin (before he went all minimal and boring!) and Sven Vath at Sven's Cocoon Club residency at Amnesia in Ibiza... The club was rammed full of mad German techo freaks, and me and my GF at the time! It was brilliant... Some of the best Techno I've ever experienced, Hawtin when he was still pioneering the use of Traktor in his DJ sets banged out 3hrs of perhaps the most cerebral and enthralling tech house/techno I've ever heard, laced full of samples and his signature wizardry on multiple decks and effects. The on came Sven Vath, old school with 2 turntables and a mixer, playing 3hrs of the most banging kick ass techno I've ever heard! The Germans in there seemed quite intrigued at the 2 token English people in there, but we were loving it! Never seen Sven Vath since, sadly saw Hawtin only a year or so later by which time he'd gone all minimal and boring...
Oh, and Monika Kruse @ The Fuse in Brussels... Wow, that was a bit hardcore even for me! Had a few of her records by that point, seeing her DJ live though to her home crowd in Brussels... Me and my mate needed a bit of relief, so went up to the 2nd room where there was a house DJ playing, just as we started dancing Xpress2's Lazy came on (it had only just been released at the time)... Was a moment to truly cherish and remember!
So so sooooo many other highlights (Andy C at Global Gathering, Carl Cox in various venues, Evil Nine and Adam Freeland at Sheffield Uni, Krafty Kuts at The Purple Turtle in Oxford the week after his first Essential Mix to name but a few), but those are the two that stand out most memorably for me. 😍
Checkpoint Charlie After Dark Reading.
I was at uni in Brighton from 1998 - 2002 and looking back it was a probably a bit of a golden era for dance music in many ways. I was more into breaks, big beat, funk and there were so many amazing nights on there at the time.
Norman Cook’s big beat boutique at Concorde was a favourite and had loads of good nights there. Similarly, Phonic:Hoop at the Engima with DJs like bonobo and Mr Scruff. Also Krafty Kuts Supercharged night at the Funky Buddha Lounge with DJs like Adam Freeland. Loads of good funk nights at Casablanca’s too.
Feels like I was luckily in the right place at the right time and have very fond memories. Got into DJ’ing myself and spent half my student loan on vinyl in Rounder Records and other local records shops!
Best ones for me are Jam Factory Sheffield, Havanna Middlesborough, Renaissance/Hot To Trot Mansfield & Glastonbury 1999. Strewth they were good times!
I remember nothing and luckily no pictures exist so you cant prove it 😄
Swerve at The End on a Wednesday night is one that sticks in my mind. Fabio and LTJ Bukem will always be heroes of the DnB scene to me.
I was a Friday night regular at Fabric for a few years but pulling out a specific memory isn't easy. James Lavelle, Evil Nine, Hybrid and Plump DJs were all there at some point.
Stu Allan!
I was in the Navy from 96-02 and wasn't massively into music until this point. Being together with lads from all sorts of backgrounds brought lots of amazing music to my ears. Probably first memory would have been Dave Pearce at the Dance academy in plymouth, Slinky @ The Opera house in bournemouth was another good one but can't remember who was playing :-). Home in sydney 2000 was another cracker of a night out. Locally everyone used to head to a place called Pawlett Manor which was really good for local DJ's
Ninja Tune nights at the 333 Club, Old St. 97-2000. Seeing Coldcut and others live 😎
Free parties around the north London area and up towards Luton at around the same time. Might have been a bit messy.
Seeing Chris Liberator at a party near Cambridge. Probably in 96 or 97.
Kick-started a love of proper techno.
The End club, London, in 95-99
Loads of amazing techno and house djs.
owned by Mr C if I recall correctly.
Dungeons Leyton 1990ish - sweaty, gurning.
Rockshots Newcastle Trannies with Attitude 1993 - wore a dress, liberating.
Dance academy in Plymouth
Had some very, very messy nights in there!
If you can remember, then you weren't there😉
Far too many to list, but a couple off the top of my head;
The Tidy Boys
Lisa Lashes
Lab 4
Tiësto
Armin Van Buuren
Ferry Corsten
Above and Beyond
Paul van Dyk (no e in Van Dyk 😉)
Clubbing used to be my life, Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Storm, PaSSion, Gods Kitchen, Cream and everything in between.
I was a full on cyber kid and have some very embarrassing photos to prove it
I fear we may have crossed paths @PiknMix as that’s a very similar list to mine.
So most of the above, plus:
Fergie at Storm is a strong memory, followed by a very sketchy drive home.
Tall Paul at a messed up night at The Custard Factory.
Judge Jules at Gods Kitchen when it was still at The Sanctuary.
Fatboy Slim at Cafe Mambo.
Been to a few super clubs I spose they where back in the day but, the best for sound and atmosphere was always our local - Ascension @ Lingards in Bradford (around 88-90 iirc)
Cheesy carp downstairs but come 11 and up we went to Scott Page belting out awesome tracks on a wicked sound system.
Probably nobody here that was there as it wasn't a big night, although was always rammed.
Great times.
I think you might be right!
Judge Jules at Gods Kitchen when it was still at The Sanctuary.
Was at the sanctuary a lot and definitely saw Jules there.
In the spirit of the thread, standout moments;
When Tiësto dropped his remix of Southern Sun at Gods, one of the first times it was played out.
The whole of Red and Black on Boxing Day at Crasher.
So many hazy yet beautiful memories:
Sasha's 30th birthday at the Ministry, 1999
Guy Ornadel, Brandon Block, John 00 Fleming and Sister Bliss at various nights in the Cambridge Corn Exchange
John Kelly and Ferry Corsten on a Gatecrasher tour
The Secret at the Cambridge Junction (as well as a local DJ known as The Bear, I think). Helicopters and Viking-helmeted chaos...
Tiesto at the Moulin à Danse (MAD) Lausanne: notable for delivering an excellent set, then being totally eclipsed by a Czech girl Laydee Jane immediately after him - she played the best hard trance I ever heard live. Fantastically intimate connection with the crowd.
More Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Marco V, Yves Deruyter, Paul van Dyk and Tatana over the years in Lausanne. And one exceptional performance from Signum circa 2007-2008ish.
Mauro Picotto at Zouk (Singapore). Not the most receptive crowd, but he didn't let it bother him... Also John Digweed somewhere else in Singapore a few years later.
John 00 Fleming again, in psy-trance mode in a field outside Kuala Lumpur.
There will have been other sets and nights which I've forgotten. I was remarkably lucky to be in the right places at the right times over the years... The only DJs I really regret never hearing live are Tony de Vit (who left us far too soon) and Rob Tissera. Perhaps a freeform set from Sharkey and Kevin Energy too.
Early days for me including first creamfields, Winchester 98? Global Gathering in Luton 97?
One Love parties Bristol & Swindon. Uni days at Southampton on the Manage et trois Boat Parties. They were good!!
More recently as I'm getting old now - Sasha At the Barbican and again at the Roundhouse few years back. The good old days 🎧👍
Sasha at Mixmag festival Weston Park, when Age Of Love had just come out. Progressive house nights at Wobble Birmingham, Golden at The Academy, Stoke. Just dig out Renaissance: The Mix Collection. Tunes!
A few club nights in Edinburgh (Citrus Club, Sativa, others I can’t remember) but mostly Glasgow for me. Slam at the Arches mostly and a few Saturday night Sub Clubs too. Awesome 👍
Global Gathering in Luton 97?
The first Global Gathering was in 2001 at Long Maston airfield, it was epic!
Tribal Gathering was in Luton I think.
Surely if you can remember it you were not doing it right?
Life @ Bowlers. Trafford park.
For me it was Camden Palace, home to Peach trance nights run by Graham Good and Saturday was Frantic, hard house, gurning out to BK, Andy Whitby,Rob Tissera ( who played an extra long set on my birthday!) Lab4, Mark E G, I was lucky enough to be close friends with their close friends so spent many a night with them.
And then the tidy weekenders happened.... Anyone venture to them?!
Did someone say the Plymouth Dance Academy?
I know I went quite a few, can't remember much though 😆
So many good memories from my clubbing days. Rise at The Leadmill and in particular BT live and DJ Sonique are two sets that particularly stick in the mind. Oh and the Trade nights there.
Mix Master Mike with Beardyman as a warm up whilst I was err... seeing things at Sheffield Student Union and Diggers at the same venue.
The early Urban Gorrila nights and the Tuesday Club.
Insomoniacz - particularly the early days. Again, so many good nights but I particularly remember an early Tidy Boys set before they became too big for themselves.
Gatecrasher - sat on the fire escape or in the service lift talking bollocks with people and a very memorable Miles Elliot set when they used to have a DJ upstairs. Oh and Tony de Vit totally demolishing the main dance floor.
I Love Techno in Belgium - largest one night club event in Europe (the world?) - 30,000 people in a single venue. Dave Clarke played a killer set.
Headcharge - the Atomisers always played a belter and the likes of Dave the Drummer and the Liberators.
Various ad hoc live sets - Justice, DJ Shadow, Orbital etc
A one off night at Progress as guest of Farley Jackmaster Funk when he and Tony de Vit were playing.
The Cue Club in Birmingham - getting lost in the various corridors and backrooms.
The first Gatecrasher Lotheron Hall was immense.
Randomly stumbling across Andy Weatherall at a night in Cologne, Germany - belting set he played (unsurprisingly).
So so many nights spent clubbing and I am still good friends with a lot of the people I met and am still married to one of them too 🙂
Spent many a night /day /night /morning gurnning, jaw askew, eyes rolled back trying to see up into my brain, sweaty and topless back around the late 90s,early 2000s in clubs that no longer exist.
The End. The Cross. Turnmills. Fabric. Heaven....
Good times. So glad that not everyone had a camera in their pocket back then...!
Who was playing? 🤔... Did it really matter once the goods kicked in? More important was where you were going to sleep after leaving the club at 6am.
Mate and I used to leave a bag in the lockers at Liverpool Street with a change of clothes.
Lost count of the number of times I was woken on a Sunday morning by the train conductor at Southend-on-Sea.... and then again a few hours later at Fenchurch Street. 😁
All good fun and I regret none of it.
I was here for this...
Oh, and Monika Kruse @ The Fuse in Brussels…
Ha, me and the Mrs were on a work's do to Brussels and veryone else went off round the bars and we went to Fuse and saw Monika. Epic night, really enjoyed it. The coach journey back to the UK the next day hurt though 😀
Insomoniacz
Just what you need after a messy Saturday night, a very messy Sunday morning 😂
The first Gatecrasher Lotheron Hall was immense.
How could I have missed that off my list! I didn’t have a lift home but some complete randoms drove 2 hours out their way to take me.
Gatecrasher – sat on the fire escape or in the service lift talking bollocks with people
Very good chance at some point, I was one of those people!
More important was where you were going to sleep after leaving the club at 6am.
The look of disgust from commuters going to the office whilst you’re still a sweaty mess. At least you got the table seats to yourself.
Probably went to some of the same nights as you Alpin.
Turnmills was my regular for a while - the gallery or a night called headstart iirc.
Before that I was regular at the drum club and sex love and motion, both at the sound shaft.
Went almost everywhere in London really. Including a South London phase of escape from samsara at the fridge.
I was never 100pc on board with trance, but it was a brilliant crowd for London.
The Cue Club in Birmingham – getting lost in the various corridors and backrooms.
The Que Club.
An incredible venue, just amazing, so many rooms, once you lost your mates you never saw them again.
Went to a quite incredible Sundissential night there, Fergie, Lisa Lashes, TdV, Tidy Boys, etc.
I remember stumbling into a room in there that was almost pitch black and some kind of deep, deep house was playing and round the outsde sat 20 odd people just swaying in what I assume was a huge K-hole.
Beautiful to see.
The Que Club was my spot between 94-1999 (last time I went properly clubbing was Atomic Jam for the millennium)
Best night I had up there was a Trade/Ultimate Orange with TDV. Went every Saturday so enjoyed Space hopper, logical, oscillate, HOG, Antidote, AJ... Even the Cream and other big club nights.
Dave Clarke dropping Access at midnight on NYE at fantasy Island with MC Ribz on the mic was special, as was the first time I heard Sven Vath at the Orbit.
Great thread, giving me flashbacks. Dance music and clubbing were big parts of my identity from an early age to well into my 30s. A few key moments;
1. Seeing the video for the Prodigy's single "One Love" on one of those Saturday morning chart shows in the early 90s and instantly falling in love with hardcore / rave music.
2. Going into Fearnley's Records in Middlesbrough and buying my first happy hardcore / gabba mix cassette.
3. Getting in to my first club as an underage 17 year old to see Anne Savage.
4. Getting a £1k bank loan while still at 6th form college to buy a pair of Numark TTX1 turntables and a mixer, then proceeding to spend every penny I earned from my weekend shelf stacking job on hard house vinyl.
5. Going to uni in Sheffield circa 2003-2006. Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Tuesday Club, Urban Gorilla, Headcharge, Planet Zogg + many many more. Somehow scraped a 2:1, barely.
6. Getting a reasonable job after uni which paid for 2 X Pioneer DJM 1000mk3s and a DJM 800 mixer plus many more records.
7. Putting on a monthly drum and bass night with a couple of good mates at a local late bar, circa 2008-9.
I then lost interest for a couple of years and in early 2012 sold all my hardware and bought a Native Instruments S4 USB controller and started messing about with laptop DJing, just after I’d moved to Leeds for work. I also met an awesome group of people who I went out with clubbing regularly to nights like Back to Basics, Mint Club, Wire etc and started to play mainly house / techno at house parties with a mate. We even got a couple of gigs at friends’ nights in and around Leeds.
Around 2016 I started to lose interest in it all though. I sold all my kit (but kept my old record vinyl collection) and I played my last proper gig in 2017, which was a bit of a reunion night in Leeds. I just couldn’t get into it though and didn’t even bother going to the after party. My old group of mates did a big reunion house party (100+) people in May 2019 which I went to and DJ’d at but again, just couldn’t get into it and even symbolically left my tatty old Sony DJ headphones which I’d had since 2003 at the party as a way of saying “yeah, this used to be me but it isn’t any more.”
I started mountain biking in 2013 and that kind of took over as my main hobby. Just as expensive as clubbing / DJing / record collecting but a lot more healthy. Plus, in 2018 I got married to and had a little boy with my long term girlfriend and it just felt like I’d grown up beyond staying out very late.
It’s sad, because there is a huge music-shaped hole in my life now. I do still listen solely to electronic music but my tastes are definitely more towards the Boards of Canada side of things than full on rave. Anyhow, writing this post has brought back some (hazy) memories and its been really great reading all the other contributions. it's amazing that some others on here remember Headcharge in Sheffield. Had some of my most intense clubbing memories down the Wicker Arches listening to acid techno.
Used to love blowpop at the blue mountain club in brizzle. Saw John Carter/ Junior Cartier, Plump DJ's, Freestylers, loads of breakbeat/ house classics. Super cool vibe in there and a great roof terrace for chatting with nice people. A classic night.
Played at the old fire station in Bristol at a ministry of sound night once. The pinnacle of my club night dj performances...!
1993, a pal loaned me a cassette of some London pirate house station.
Haven’t heard it’s like yet.
First track was something that sounded akin to simply reds ‘fairground’ and there was also a track with the lyric “every woman grab your man...love and understanding, love and understanding...”
Wow your all youngsters...lol
I used to go to acid house parties in the 80's, raves in the days you had to drive around and ring from a phone box ( remember them) then on to the massive tents in a field before it started going to the clubs.
My clubs were Fridays
That tiny club next to astoria (can't remember then name) or Camden , Saturday astoria,cross club, club labyrinth,..so many others i can't remember but mainly where the local estate hardnut was working the doors so we could get in for free
The Dj's
Fabio, Grooverider,Carl Cox , Ritchie Fingers.....to be honest in those days you didn't really ho for the djs, you just went to whatever places your mates are going and if you can jump in the car
I did Djing myself...so sometimes I would even get paid for a night out...
God I feel old
Danny Tenaglia
Sasha and Digweed.
My Cream favourites Leftfield.
@cheekyget the Milk Bar?
Remember a sat night at the Astoria sitting up on the balcony slightly jaded and MC Chalky White came bouncing along the tables and stopped with us whilst MCing. Blew my mind.
@burko73, remember Lakota? I used to go when I was a student at Bristol in 93-94.
the Milk Bar?
Think that was the one, reasonably plush for a club and there was a decent house night on there iirc.
We got refused entry to the Milk Bar when we tried it. Found another club which by chance had Carl Cox playing that evening (if my memory serves me correctly).
We used to attend Decadence at the Town & Country Club in Kentish Town (first place I ever heard Loaded by Primal Scream played). Remember seeing A Man Called Adam, Baby Ford and Guru Josh 😳 play there - back end of 89, early 1990.
Did anyone attend Energy at the old Docklands Arena? That included the likes of Adamski, 808 State and Black Box (again 😳). A great day/evening.
Also a Cue Club regular from early 90’s til I moved away from the Midlands in 97. Specific details are very hazy, definitely remember Atomic Jam, Space Hopper on a Friday? Also remember a Megadog or two but could be getting confused? Loved the atrium above the dance floor which helped generate an energy you just didn’t feel anywhere else. Great memories of that place and the people that made it so special.
So many clubs, so many DJ’s. Basically every club in Brum and Wolves and few in Liverpool and Sheffield, and every DJ that was a name in the mid 90’s to mid 2000’s. Perhaps my most memorable night was starting off **** scared then ending up having an awesome time with a load of Yardies in Wobble with Tuff Jam playing
No doubt been in the same clubs at the same time as others on here.... If you remember anyone wearing that screaming orange Orange jersey in Sundissential that were me
I wish I was a little older so I could’ve been there for Acid House.... And I’ve still not been to Ibiza 🤦🏻♂️
Just missed acid house myself, I was an indie kid and some of the lads I worked with at 17 were going to the orbital raves.
Wish I'd give with them.
Introduced to dance music (and a snowball) at a Tribal Energy party in a recording studio in Peckham in 1990 or 1991.
Then as a student in London there were no shortage of clubbing options, as well as the odd squat party.
That was kind of before the London acid sound had developed and a lot of the parties just played normal house and techno.
Great times, but my god the toilets.
I really can't remember if it was called the milk bar....but on Sunday mornings when astoria finishes it was called the breakfast club....really weird getting out of a club on a Sunday afternoon in the sunshine
I used to be a frequent visitor to Cream when Oakenfold and Nick Warren were resident DJ's. My missus was at John Moores Uni at the time so we'd go pretty much every other week when I went to visit her.
The 5th Birthday was good but the 6th Birthday in the courtyard was insane. Broadcast live for the Essential Mix, it's by far the best club night I went to. Oakenfold rarely failed to deliver around that time and in that venue.
Most probably stood next to a few of you guys in the 98-00 days, I had mates who were older and had been to proper raves who looked down a bit on the Super club cyber-kid scene but it was all what we had at the time, and by **** we made it ours!
PaSSion was the standard Saturday (anyone remember the guy who turned up weekly holding a frying pan?) Tamworth services after, I remember queing there at 4am for a tea, the old lady on the till was going on about these kids turning up with stereo systems every week, the guy behind was like 'totally agree, it's terrible ain't it' looked behind and it was JFK 🙂 I think it stopped after services management got wind - the huge towel with the mitsi symbol painted onto it and the kids dancing around it was probably the final straw
Best set of my life was a Friday night at Nottingham Renesance with Carl Cox, blew the place away, the guy from Underworld proper wrecked The Club one night in Nott's, I remember that..
The other place we went was a monthly called Eden at a Lincolnshire village hall type place (Metheringham) the hall was placed at a Bottom of a quarry, man alive they put a sound system in there, £5 on the door and always a great headliner like Trevor Jackson or someone, I think Judge Jules played the night it closed, although being a bit snobby we used to mostly avoid the JJ nights as it bought in the mental crowds
Great time, glad I was part of it
Some of you had to be on gurn.net?
PaSSion was the standard Saturday
Can you remember when you used to be able to get cups of tea in the top chill out room? If you were a regular then we’ve probably crossed paths at some point.
Police waiting in the car park at closing and everyone trying to walk in a straight line past them 😂
By the early 90s things were going a bit wrong, there were some good progressive house tunes (like Leftfield - Not Forgotten) but it was getting Cheeeeezeeee. Where it started for me - Outer Limits was gone and the scene was kinda exploding. We were putting on parties in Milton Keynes, some legit and some were not and for a bit we dabbled with progressive and a bit of trance, it was fun running across fields being chased by the police for a while.
Then in about 94 after a night in London the whole thing changed, an old friend had told us about this club in South London that played proper bass driven dirty house music, early tech-house I suppose from the guys at Swag Record in Croydon (Nathan Coles, Terry Francis), the super clubs were on the rise but this wasn't like that (I did go to Cream's 2nd Birthday around this time) this was dark, a bit dodgy, warehouse vibes, single strobe or maybe a laser and an absolutely relentless arse-moving groove.
A group of us got together on an early internet chat forum around 96, UK-Dance, you got a digest of messages twice a day and replied to the list-bot and your reply featured in the next digest, it kind-of exists still on FB but it's not the same as the delay was what made it all a bit more chilled, this was the era of 2-Step UK Garage, Jungle and Drum and Bass as well as HouseNo (don't know why that label didn't stick). While it was mostly chilled, anyone trying to explain why Trance wasn't shit generally got "flamed".
We were mostly internet nerds as you an imagine, but somehow a bunch of us got asked to play at a party in a Mansion somewhere in Teddington I think, right by the river, dance floor was the drained swimming pool, dj booth was the jacuzzi (also drained). Here a plan was hatched to put on our own nights.
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(me DJing at the first Triology party in 97)
First Triology (three rooms, sounds a bit like Biology) was in an old S&M club under the railway arches in Lambeth in 97, sweat dripped from the roof onto the records, we partied all night, I wouldn't be surprised if the camo netting we put up to "lower" the roof is still there, no name DJs whatsoever but a queue around the corner had the venue management panic a bit, but in the end it all went off like a dream.
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(Main room - first Triology Party 97)
A couple of parties a year at the All Nations Club (run by Yardies who were cool with us), Trendz & Nation, all in Hackney, led to us to accumulate the vast sum of about 1500 quid, which we blew on three coaches and a very full on weekend in Normandy, the party was at a Monastary that some rich friend of a friend was trying to turn into a night club, it was about half finished, some derelict and some quite nicely done (with a killer sound system), but in the middle of nowhere, this was probably the messiest weekend of my life, that's about all I am prepared to say.
For about a year after this, until around mid 2001, the House/Techno crew from Triology - Kult put on nights at the George IV on Brixton Hill, these were great nights, we had some of our hero's play like Eddie Richards and the rest of the Wiggle crew, plus DiY and some more I've forgotten, we played guest slots at other parties at places like the Dogstar in Brixton and had a great time dropping acid and seeing how long we could stay in Caesers in Steatham before getting the fear and leaving in a panic only to collapse in hysterical laughter when back at the flat above Brixton Cycles.
Around 2002 I pretty much knocked on the head, my daughter was 6 months old and we were living in Shrewsbury, travelling every weekend to DJ and hand out flyers in Brixton wasn't compatible, it was also about this time I got my first mountain bike 🙂
I kind of miss it, it was the best time, I've obviously left out loads of details 🙂
If I had to pick one tune that sums it all up, would have to be E-Dancer's Human Bond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kFH4hbCuNU
put on nights at the George IV on Brixton Hill
Now there was a venue. Think my times there were a few years after yours, the Dogmatique house night and later some questionable Sunday daytime sessions.
All the retrospectives about the scene in the late 80's/early 90's concentrate on clubs like the Hacienda, but it really wasn't a Manchester City centre thing.
Where it really got going was in the warehouse parties in Blackburn, then places like Wigan Pier, Legends in Warrington, Angels in Burnley, The Pleasuredrome in Farnworth
Here's a great little article from Vice on Legends, which was our regular Friday night
The Small Town Nightclub That Quietly Changed British Clubbing Forever
@PiknMix your posts stir some great memories.
I spent many a weekend in the Emporium, in the Engineers next door before hand, mostly as Passion events. The best times when that place was full at the heyday.
Also spent time at the usual other places. I remember attending a few Gatecrasher events at the NEC, and the first Love Parade that was held in Leeds ... I think like a million people turned up!
Slinky also ran a night in Leicester for a period of time, I quite often went along to that, but it was a tiny place.
Good times!
Slinky also ran a night in Leicester
Yes at Flaming Colossus was a great night out.
I spent many a weekend in the Emporium, in the Engineers next door before hand, mostly as Passion events. The best times when that place was full at the heyday.
A few of my mates would play the warm up sets in there, messy pub that 😂
You must have gone to a few of the infamous PaSSion classics nights?
Lee lights (who did all the lighting for emporium) was one of my staff in his day job. We turned up to work in some right states!
I started going out when i lived in Portsmouth to the original raves around M25, Ravealation, Dreamscape etc, then moved up to York for uni.
Used to spend most of my weekends at Back to Basics and Up your Ronson, the Orbit in Leeds and some clubs in Sheffield (anyone remember a place called Niche? full of hookers and bodybuilders but open til midday on sunday?) and had a great little scene in York itself around the Arts Centre.
Started to get into drum n bass on trips back down south, then moved to London and remember (very vaguely...) nights at Roast for jungle, the End for techno and of course if you lived in London at the time, then you had to have a killed a large number of brain cells at Bagleys at Kings Cross?
Dave Lee Travis, Adrian Juste, Bruno & Liz.
Smoking Camel Lights in a cafe in Rimini at 6am, prodding the packet to make the camel dance.
The Arches in Glasgow - RIP
Nothing like a good night at Pressure, coming out in the early hours and hearing the trains rolling into Central station about you
oh gawd, thats a tough one - too many to mention from being a kid and going to the free parties and raves in 89, to ending up working in the industry running nights and tours until stepping away in 2004 to ahem, get certain consumption issues under control, ahem.
personal highlights for me where:
going to the arches in sheffield when it was still SADMAC and you had to have a membership card to get in. a real diverse mix of people - from crusties to the glam brigade. all in a barley converted and deeply hazardous car mechanic garage
doing double headers of sasha @ shelleys on frdiay night and then dave seaman at jam factory on Saturday night, little to no sleep all weekend, but somehow still functional on monday morning
Rise @ the leadmill in Sheffield - it went through various guises musically with the changes of promoter, but we lived for it every Friday mid 90's and you new at least half the people in there!
tyrant at the bomb in Nottingham in the late 90's with sasha and lee burridge as resident in a tiny sweaty sub-terrainean club belt out a golden era for progg house and mitsibishis had recused the scene! always over the fire limit, always hotter than hell in their and always could never find the the little chill out room other than by complete accident
i always have a soft spot for the cross in kings cross (sadly no longer there). i used to run monthly Saturdays there early 2000's, and the venue and the crowd made it feel like a throwback to early 90's clubbing in terms of atmosphere - dancing on all available surfaces as well as the terrace. having norman jay as our second room resident didn't hurt
@sofaboy73 - Rise regular also so undoubtedly we will have met at some point 🙂 and yes, live for Friday night we did. I have still have my Rise jacket and wallet. Now retired and placed in my little shrine to clubbing memories I have in my music listening room.
Went to Tyrant once by complete chance and had one of the best nights of all time there. Such a great little venue...
little to no sleep all weekend, but somehow still functional on monday morning
It's funny looking back and also looking at some of the younger people in my team on a Monday and Tuesday, we say we were functional on a Monday, but were we? Really?
I mean back then, just getting to work and not being fired or throwing up was concidered "functional" I guess. Certainly no real work was done. I have a couple of lads in my team that used to be out all weekend and even though they would swear blind they're working on a Monday they did pretty much nothing. Tuesdays are no better...
The Arches in Glasgow – RIP
Nothing like a good night at Pressure, coming out in the early hours and hearing the trains rolling into Central station about you
A quick stroll to The Unit for the afterparty, with the bemused rail workers looking down into the courtyard
6th Form, Manchester, 1994 onwards:
Yellow - Friday nights at The Boardwalk - Funk
Hacienda - Saturday night - Pretty much every single that played there!
The Jam Factory - Sheffield
Hacienda on a Wednesday for indie night
Absolutely killer times!!
Hopefully this Covid kerfuffle wont kill the club scene for the youngsters!
For me though, a few stouts in my countryside local is fine for me! These days i'm normally getting up when i'd be coming in!!
tyrant at the bomb in Nottingham in the late 90’s with sasha and lee burridge as resident in a tiny sweaty sub-terrainean club belt out a golden era for progg house and mitsibishis had recused the scene! always over the fire limit, always hotter than hell in their and always could never find the the little chill out room other than by complete accident
Don't forget Craig Richards. There was a chillout room at The Bomb? I never found that.
Checkpoint Charlie After Dark Reading.
Yes! I remeber borrowing a drivers license to get in and watch Orbital live in there.
For me there was Final Frontier at Club UK in Wandsworth. Party until well after dawn, bundle into my mmates Polo and then get dropped straight off at work for a full shift on the Tesco deli counter before heading off to party the following night. Awake for 48 hours every weekend and wondered why my A-level results were so bad 😉
The Bomb was quite a venue, only went there once, a friend of mine was driving Eddie there from Milton Keynes to DJ and I drove over from Shrewsbury to meet them, spent most of the evening up in James Ballie's office, which was up a couple of flights of derelict stairs somewhere in the building, can remember getting lost in a maze of corridors and popping out of a door straight into one of the rooms in full swing.
There was a chillout room at The Bomb? I never found that.
vague memories of a little room off to the side, halfway up some flight of stairs. found it once, went looking for it again on later visits, never to be found again. the place was rabbit warren, however my er, judgment may of been a little off at the time!
Chillout at the Bomb was up the stairs, to the other bar i think. Was it a separate bar/cafe in the daytime?
DJ Sy at Venus in 1990 was fun... before the makeover which brought in the Boys Own type nights. but it's all good 🙂
Found a couple more pictures from some of our parties
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Turnmills was like that for me. I must have wandered round there for hours, never really knowing where I was.
@Mister-P - My Brother in Law and his mates used to put an all-nighter on called 'Faith' at Turnmills on Easter bank holiday weekend. Chicago house and new school funk. I loved those nights. We'd get the train down from Manchester, en masse, for the weekend. Turnmills was a brilliant venue. We had some blinding nights in that place!
Some good memories of the Bomb there. Was just a doorway in the middle of a row of shops as I (vaguely) remember. A proper low ceiling sweaty club. Made the sound great.
There were some good nights in Nottingham round that time.
Easygroove playing at a beach party in tenby around 92, watching sy play at martha`s in swansea, john pleased wimin playing at our local club in tenby,such a showman, tdv at patti pavilion swansea,carl cox at universe, such a great time, as renton said in trainspotting music has changed.
So lucky....
Sasha at the Hac, Jay Weardon at the Thunderdome, Unabombers, all the 808 State crew......
But.
DAVID MORALES.
Bagleys , sub club oh man the youngsters these days sure missed out ... best times of my life i thought would never end .. nights out the last ten years seem like another world im visiting and not for the better thats a cert ...😢
Back in about 89/90 I managed to get into the Hacienda as 16 year old. Just went in on my own whilst up there on a school Materials Science trip to UMIST.
Utterly brilliant atmosphere!!
Managed to get back once or twice more before it closed, but still superb nights.
The long-lost Nation, then Cream, was also a scene of some awesome nights, as was the 051 where Cream started before moving down the way.
I now DJ for fun (hopefully clubs post-Covid 🤞🏼🤞🏼) and intend on making my own music before long. Still as enjoyable to me, but from a different perspective!
Can't believe that I missed this thread. I went to uni in Brum 96-99 so was lucky enough to catch what I guess can be considered the tail end of the great house era there. Definitely ticked most nights (and days if you include Sundissential) off the list with the exception on Miss Monneypennys (must have been down to figuring it was too glam for a bunch of students). My absolute standout was Tall Paul's set at God's Kitchen at the Custard Factory (I think) when everything just came together in one of those just lost in it all moments.
Definitely also remember Logical Progression at Que Club, getting lifts to Cream, someone organising a coach trip to Passion and a couple of trips to MK to the Helter Skelter raves (I was big into D&B too at the time).
And I'll end simply on how most Brum nights ended........Mr Egg.
Jeez, just checked back in to this thread. Some great tales/memories!