Soul Source @ Longfield Suite, Rectory Lane, Prestwich, Manchester. Friday 2nd November
Review - Soul Control Posse
Well what a surprise to me this event was!!
I had heard about a monthly event in Prestwich for ages and I kept promising myself that I’d get down there to have a look, but I never managed it until last Friday. First off let me say that if someone had blindfolded me, drove me around for a couple of hours, then taken me inside the venue and asked me to guess where I was, I would have never in a million years had said Manchester!
At The Longfield Suite I was transported back to a time where clubs only had 2 “father figure” doormen instead of the encamped army we Mancunian’s have become used to in more recent times. Once inside I ascended the stairway where I was greeted by someone’s mum who was sat on her own behind a table with an unlocked money box collecting the £6 admission fees. She greeted me with the warmest maternal smile you could ever imagine that made me feel instantly welcome.
Now all I’d ever been told about the Longfield Suite was that there was a monthly Soul Night which didn’t give me much of a clue as to what I was about to witness. I asked someone where the bar was and they pointed me in the direction of a darkened doorway where once I’d stepped through I saw a room full of geriatric body poppers!!! No seriously it was a full on Northern Soul room with flares, fly away collars and the locals struttin’ the Funky Chicken! I stood amazed as the authentic near bass-less sound system took me back to the times of the famous Wigan Pier and the like. I was stood there thinking to myself that if I hadn’t driven there myself, there’s no way I would have believed I was in the Metropolis of Manchester.
After 20 minutes or so I went into the Quality Soul room which was a small but intimately cosy affair. I bumped into loads of old friends and quite a few familiar faces who all warmly greeted me with the same “What the heck you doin’ here”! I could have said the same back to most of them myself as it was so long since I’d seen some of them, I assumed they had emigrated or died! It was weird bumping into so many people that I hadn’t seen for years in this strange environment.
Anyway I took a slurp of mi bud (the drink!) and shook my own funky stuff…..well as well as I could anyway! The DJ spun a mixture of soul classics mixed in with a wealth of modern soul tracks; this was some serious connoisseurs stuff. Speaking to my good friend Janet, she explained that the reason The Longfield Suite had become one of her favourite haunts was precisely because of the music policy. She exclaimed “I stopped going out in Manchester ages ago because I felt that if I ever heard the tune “Wifey” one more time I’d go off mi head”!
Fair enough I replied but I explained to her that from a DJ’s point of view, if Wifey’s what the people want, woe betides the DJ who doesn’t give the attending masses what they’ve paid for as no DJ wants to be responsible for an empty dance floor no matter how much it compromises his artistic integrity. Anyway the venue was by no means full as apparently it has taken a severe dip in attendances over the last 3 or 4 months, but what I can say is that I really enjoyed the night and I will definitely be back.
Soul Control Verdict:
I took a trip down memory lane and stood on connoisseurs’ corner for a while and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of meeting many old friends and some new.
Soul Control Rating:
