Northern Soul – The Post Wigan Years

The following article was written for the sleeve note of the 10 CD Box Set The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time Capsule compiled by Ian Dewhirst and released at the beginning of 2015.  It is a brief overview of the Northern/Rare Soul scene since the demise of Wigan Casino.  it is by no means a comprehensive and full overview of what was happening and has happened since 1980/1981.  It focuses only on the main all-nighters of the time.  There has been 100s off venues since Wigan that have held an all-nighter and it was impossible to mention all within the constraints of the word count I was held to.  It neither focuses on Soul Nights of which there was literally 1000s and even more today.  The majority held no influence on the scene in the way the likes of Blackpool Mecca did.  That isn’t to say there was none, some are featured but many are not as space didn’t allow .  Hopefully there will be a book to follow that will feature many of the venues and clubs omitted.

Much has been written about the Northern Soul scene up to the demise of The Wigan Casino, but very little has actually been written about what followed. For many, the scene died when Wigan Casino closed its doors for the final time. These same people would perversely discover that the scene was far from dead and that a hard-core crowd had continued to keep the flame burning and in the process, had taken the scene back underground with an aggressive upfront music policy.

We have digitised magazines in the past, Shades of Soul, Backbeat etc so I thought I’d do Rod Dearloves magazine from the early 80s, Midnight Express.

Issue 1. Rod Dearlove / Soul Sam / Danny Feeney / Ian Clark and so much more…..

Midnight Express Issue 1.PDF39.38 MB · 429 downloads