Post by coops on Nov 2, 2008 18:27:08 GMT
St. Ivo centre, St. Ives,
The one in Cambridgeshire, not Cornwall!
The St.Ives reunion celebrating 33 years of this legendary East Anglian venue is, as it says, a reunion.
Not to be confused with an anniversary, that’s usually the province of a venue that has kept going over a span of time, without a break and/or without a change of venue, i.e. Ballroom to Shopping Mall.
Earlier this year the main promoter pulled out from this event leaving it in the hands of Dave Hayden and Max Rees (both of the Cambridge Soul Collective) and one or two people I spoke to about this expressed a slight concern that this annual pilgrimage of our memories and souls may be lesser for it, but thankfully, it wasn’t.
One of the most striking differences between this reunion and those of the past, also of this reunion and the legendary EASC all-nighters in the mid to late 70s is the ‘Theatre’.
The ‘Theatre’ once the domain of all things oldies, Whellish and Torchish is now not quite as physically dark as it once was and not filled with those memory fuelled tunes of that distant era. It is still and area of dance. An area to connect with a certain genre of music but it’s now a place one pays homage at the altar of the ‘modern oldie’! The tunes played in this historical sweat shop at the 33rd reunion were almost anything from the 70s to this present day.
Neo and Nate Evans complimented their differences as much as their similarities, likewise with Kenny Thomas and Kenni Smith, the whole gambit of non 60s northern. A mixture of modern and crossover soul was played out by Molly, Max Rees, Dave Hayden and Sean Chapman.
In the ‘main’ room (and such a fine ‘main’ room it is, still looking and feeling as fresh as it did when Ken Cox opened the venue so long ago) was filled with classic oldies from Wigan, the Wheel, Torch and all places between, and of course the original St. Ives.
The music was not, as some may say ‘challenging’, not in the musical sense, but it was very challenging to the senses awoken by ones memories of night gone by.
James Trouble, Ginger Taylor, Tony Dellar, Kev Draper, Sean Chapman and Brian Rae each to a man took the memory hungry horde back, Dr. Who like to the days when we had a little bit more hair and a little less weight.
It wasn’t a night for discovering new tunes, it was a night for rediscovering old ones wrapped in distant memories and brought to the fore and shared with our friends of yesteryear.
With 750 souls in attendance previous concerns about it’s success were stampeded away under the footfalls to the dance floor.
I would say that this annual event will go from strength to strength with the addition of the ‘modern oldies’ room but how can one top a night already filled so full that people without tickets who arrived late were all but turned away by the ever diligent door staff.
St. Ives, NOT an anniversary but a REUNION forged by a union of the collective memories of 750 very satisfied appreciators of Northern and Modern soul.
images on ournorthernsouls.org
The one in Cambridgeshire, not Cornwall!
The St.Ives reunion celebrating 33 years of this legendary East Anglian venue is, as it says, a reunion.
Not to be confused with an anniversary, that’s usually the province of a venue that has kept going over a span of time, without a break and/or without a change of venue, i.e. Ballroom to Shopping Mall.
Earlier this year the main promoter pulled out from this event leaving it in the hands of Dave Hayden and Max Rees (both of the Cambridge Soul Collective) and one or two people I spoke to about this expressed a slight concern that this annual pilgrimage of our memories and souls may be lesser for it, but thankfully, it wasn’t.
One of the most striking differences between this reunion and those of the past, also of this reunion and the legendary EASC all-nighters in the mid to late 70s is the ‘Theatre’.
The ‘Theatre’ once the domain of all things oldies, Whellish and Torchish is now not quite as physically dark as it once was and not filled with those memory fuelled tunes of that distant era. It is still and area of dance. An area to connect with a certain genre of music but it’s now a place one pays homage at the altar of the ‘modern oldie’! The tunes played in this historical sweat shop at the 33rd reunion were almost anything from the 70s to this present day.
Neo and Nate Evans complimented their differences as much as their similarities, likewise with Kenny Thomas and Kenni Smith, the whole gambit of non 60s northern. A mixture of modern and crossover soul was played out by Molly, Max Rees, Dave Hayden and Sean Chapman.
In the ‘main’ room (and such a fine ‘main’ room it is, still looking and feeling as fresh as it did when Ken Cox opened the venue so long ago) was filled with classic oldies from Wigan, the Wheel, Torch and all places between, and of course the original St. Ives.
The music was not, as some may say ‘challenging’, not in the musical sense, but it was very challenging to the senses awoken by ones memories of night gone by.
James Trouble, Ginger Taylor, Tony Dellar, Kev Draper, Sean Chapman and Brian Rae each to a man took the memory hungry horde back, Dr. Who like to the days when we had a little bit more hair and a little less weight.
It wasn’t a night for discovering new tunes, it was a night for rediscovering old ones wrapped in distant memories and brought to the fore and shared with our friends of yesteryear.
With 750 souls in attendance previous concerns about it’s success were stampeded away under the footfalls to the dance floor.
I would say that this annual event will go from strength to strength with the addition of the ‘modern oldies’ room but how can one top a night already filled so full that people without tickets who arrived late were all but turned away by the ever diligent door staff.
St. Ives, NOT an anniversary but a REUNION forged by a union of the collective memories of 750 very satisfied appreciators of Northern and Modern soul.
images on ournorthernsouls.org