Soul Out @ M2 Sunday 4th May 2008
Review - T2 Bad
When this event first came to our attention, I thought to myself “Good on Wadey” for securing a large purpose built Manchester nightclub which is centrally located.
I had spoken to Wadey three days before it was announced that this event was taking place and nothing was mentioned about it, although Wadey later explained that it was a very last minute thing that he decided to take a punt on the offer from M2 to do the event as he had nothing to lose and everything to gain….. Could this be his famous last words?
I had a phone call the day before the event from a confused Raver who was saying that they’d been told that Soul Out was a Dance Music night!!!! I thought surely you’ve got it wrong, so to end the confusion and speculation I called Wadey to get clarification on what was happening. Wadey was away on a Stag weekend with a few mates at the great Yarmouth Weekender. It all sounded very hectic and noisey when I spoke to him and he said it was a great place to be as it was mostly Soul being played as opposed to the Southport Weekender which is now more about House music.
Anyway Wadey explained that M2 have a House/Garage & R&B night which runs weekly on a Sunday night and because it’s a two roomed venue they wanted Soul Out to host the smaller bar area on the Bank Holiday Sunday. Mmm, interesting I thought. I clarified this with as many people as I could and prepared myself for what would be a different kind of night out if nothing else!!!
Full of anticipation of what lay ahead I set off for the venue on Sunday night armed with my mate Fuji Finepix. On arriving at M2 the first thing to strike me were the kids who were stood outside smoking and when I say kids, I mean kids!!! There were approximately 20 of them outside armed with glow sticks and wearing fluorescent face paint, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!!! It didn’t bother me too much though, as my nights out are based around me and the entertainment on offer and not who’s there, but I wasn’t so sure how the Soul Out masses would take this!!!
M2 is the former Discotheque Royale and is situated on Peter Street two blocks down from where the legendary Gallery Nightclub was. It was years since I’d been to the venue and it has certainly seen better days. Don’t get me wrong M2 isn’t a dustbin, but it hasn’t changed at all since its halcyon days as Manchester’s premier nightclub and could certainly do with a lick of paint!!! I was directed to the reception where I paid a reasonable £5 to get in and then I was directed to where the action was taking place.
On getting though the door I was bursting to see what lay on the other side and immediately to my left was the DJ booth where DJ Alex Badass was situated. The first thing to hit me was the sound pollution, Soul Out was in the bar area of M2 and Alex was playing on a sound system which is meant for background music and herein lay the major problem!!! The sound from the main arena was bleeding through into the Soul Out arena and at times it completely drowned the Soul music out!!!
I was immediately accosted by my good friend Lisa who was eager to express her displeasure at the way her night had turned out and I suppose she had a point!!!! As I was stood talking to her there was a caravan of youngsters walking through the Soul Out arena as this was the main thoroughfare that connected the entrance of M2 with the main arena where the Dance music was being played!! Lisa exclaimed that it wouldn’t surprise her if her 12 year old daughter turned up with her mates and that she felt very uncomfortable being around so many youngsters on a night out!!!
Lisa had a point, but spare a thought for the youngsters!!! They must have been crapping themselves thinking that their parents might turn up and see them dressed half naked and with only fluorescent war paint to cover their modesty!!! Soul Out at M2 was weird and I mean really weird!! I walked into the House/Garage arena to see what all the fuss was about and found it was mostly empty with a few kids dotted about the place. I would say that the main arena had approximately 80-100 kids in there, but in a place that can hold 1500……..Nah it wasn’t working!
Back to the Soul Out arena, my ears are still hurting from the amount complaints I was getting….where’s Wadey when you need him!!!! I wouldn’t mind but I was just there for the spectacle the same as everyone else, but I suppose people just wanted to get their frustrations across. Alex was attempting to play what you would come to expect at a Soul Out event but every time one of the House kids walked into or out of the House arena, it drowned the music out, it was beyond ridiculous!! I’d been struggling to hear the distorted background system all night and to be honest I had to use my imagination and memory to fill in the bits that the House music was continuously drowning out!!!
There were approximately 80 people in the Soul Out arena and it took most of the night to reach this figure. The only positive that I can draw from this night is that most of the people in M2 showed some stamina by staying there until near the end. The negatives……I’ll leave you to work those out for yourselves!!!
Soul Control Verdict:
Wadey has conceded that taking a punt on M2 because he had nothing to lose and everything to gain just might have been a major error on his part. On the plus side there was obviously a financial advantage to doing this event, but at the cost of damaging the Soul Out brand, I don’t think it was a risk worth taking. Wadey was inundated with calls from pissed off punters on Monday morning, but he has certainly taken everything on board and is planning a root and branch review of the Soul Out brand. This was the only good thing to come out of a very disappointing night!!!
Soul Control Rating:
