TSOP @ Longfield Suite Friday 5th September 2008

Soul Control - TSOP

TSOP @ Longfield Suite Friday 5th September 2008
Review - T2 Bad

"I was away when the TSOP All-Nighter took place in August, but by all accounts the night was a huge success...."!!

Boyee, was the weather bad on Friday!!! I seriously didn’t feel to move out of the house, but duty called so I climbed into my jalopy and headed off to the Longfield Suite for the latest instalment of TSOP.

Soul Control - TSOP

The rain had eased a little as I was disembarking from my car, but I beat a hasty path to the entrance before I got caught in a flash downpour. Someone mentioned to me that night that as soon as you hit the staircase to ascend to the two main arenas, that you can usually tell what kind of night, it’s going to be. Thinking back to when I arrived, there certainly seemed to be an air of expectation about TSOP.

Some of this might be down to the fact that there was a birthday party being held in the Soul room which was a nice touch. I first went into the main arena where the Northern Soul is played and was surprised to see that it was certainly the fullest I’d ever seen it. Now let me explain further; the first time that I’d ever been to TSOP was last October and by all accounts this was long after the event’s halcyon days of yesteryear. I was away when the TSOP All-Nighter took place in August, but by all accounts the night was a huge success and many were saying to me that the mood experienced on Friday 5th was a direct result of the All-Nighter.

There seemed to be a bit of a buzz in the Northern room and the DJ who was on when I first came in seemed a lot more enthusiastic than any DJ that I’d ever seen in that arena before!! He was talking to the crowd in such a way as to entice them to become involved with the night and not as I’d seen before in this arena where other DJ’s just read the contents of the record label verbatim as if this would be enough to get the masses raving!!! I didn’t catch that DJ’s name but I applaud him for caring enough for his public to actually be bothered to include them in the night’s proceedings!!

Anyway after 30 minutes or so I headed off toward the Soul Room and stopped on the way to speak to a few of the locals and regulars. On entering the Soul Room, there certainly seemed to be a party atmosphere in there and I got the feeling that perhaps I’d missed the meat of the evening because there were some hot & sweaty Funkateers who were collapsed in the chairs around the edge of the dance-floor looking like they were desperately searching deep within for their second wind!!!

Bob Hinsley was on at this point and he was followed by Mike Stephens. Whilst the music was quality, I found it a little pedestrian for my clubbing tastes to be truthful, but that’s just my personal point of view as most people that I spoke to said they’d had an excellent night so far and the excessive heat that was being generated in this room suggested that this was the case!!! The Soul Room wasn’t rammed, but it was nicely full and the atmosphere was what you’d expect of a birthday/club night all rolled in one.

Mike Stephens seemed strangely subdued though, and he even announced toward the end that he was taking this night for himself for once, and playing what he wanted to hear and that normal service would be resumed at the next TSOP!! I think his mood might have had something to do with the fact that Manchester City Football Club had recently become the richest club on the planet and Mike was in mourning for what the future had in-store for the Stretford Red Sox!!!!

Soul Control Verdict:
I’m gutted that I missed the TSOP All-Nighter as it was supposed to be the nearest thing for a long time to what TSOP was like in its heyday!!! TSOP seems to be on the up again and I for one hope it continues on this upward trend for a long time to come.

Soul Control Rating:

Soul Control - 3 Star Review