Weekenders in England have an history. Those of you who remember the British soul, Jazz Funk and Rare Groove scene in the 70s and 80s. The former was centred at the Lyceum on the Strand in London. They gave rise to the All Nighters, and All Dayers and then the Weekenders. It was a uniquely British thing originating in London, forging an independent identity of the US influenced music. That scene triggered off or had an effect on the rave scene of the late 80s centred again on US influenced music, this time House music. Some would say the said scenes were all passing fads of the time. I would say they were all related, evolving into next one.

Soul music had a big influence in east London and Essex. In due part to the early pirate ships (such as Radio Caroline) broadcasting off the Essex coast hosted by Essex DJs, playing soul music - (*Please click on link to learn more!) - Pirate Radio Influence in England

Top jocks were Chris Hill, Gary Dennis, Froggy (and his legendary sound system), Frostie, Tom Holland, Robbie Vincent to name but a few. They evolved into the Caister Soul Weekenders one of the first in 1979. Please click here for more information on the Soul Music Mafia - Soul Music Mafia - Please click here to learn more about them!

Southport began during that era playing soul music as well. There were soul scenes in the West End such led by the legendary Norman Jay MBE, not forgetting Jazzy B and Soul 2 Soul of the 80s at the Africa Centre. South London Steve Wren, Aitch B, Jigs, Ash Selector James Anthony. There were many more I don't claim to be an authority and apologies for anyone I missed out, I was just trying to set the tone.

British groups started to make the Jazz funk tunes that were popular they were not just imports from the US, adding a London or British touch to them. Light of the World, Beggar & Co, Freez, Loose Endz, David Joseph were a few
names of the 80s.

WAREHOUSE PARTIES & ACID HOUSE RAVE SCENE

In the mid 80s with the all nighters as they grew in popularity in London, promoters and DJs often part of the pirate radio stations, started holding them in empty Warehouses. As we know in Thatcher's Britain at the time,
there were many shut down industrial estates left idle. Norman Jay & co were instrumental figures of those warehouse parties in London.

There were other jocks involved like Judge Jules, Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold who were spinning soul and boogie tunes at those parties. Their experience of that scene was a godsend when the next US invasion occurred House music or more specifically Acid House(*from Chicago, Usa) which took Ibiza and the English Holiday visitors by storm one summer in 87. When it arrived in the UK those jocks of the warehouse scene took the Acid House music and style to more warehouses, and then to the open aired fields. So you can see how it is all related.

SOUTHPORT'S ROLE

At Southport is where they all come together under one roof, DJs of all those scenes who were there. That is why it is the biggest weekender of them all attracting thousands from across the country and overseas. Some jocks who
may have fallen out with each other who refuse to play on each other's billing, will be found at Southport. Plus they have some of the biggest name DJs in the world invited along and PAs. Such as the legendary Masters at
Work in person who one of them are residents at Southport (This being Little Louie Vega from the team!); and have built up a unique relationship with the crowd. Norman Jay lists Southport along with the Notting Hill Carnival as the biggest events he looks forward to playing at each year.

Some have said it is the UK's equivalent of the Miami Winter Music Conference (*however it has to be noted that Southport has been running for far longer then the Miami Winter Music Conference in the Usa!) , with so many names and artists, and new singles played out there prior to release. If it goes down well at Southport you know it will be a
summer anthem. 'Horny' of the late 90s was a tune first dropped at Southport and caused a storm.So there you have it nothing further for me to say about it. I only wished I had began coming more often but was put off by the journey. Its a place where you only meet faces or the real clubbers who are down with the music back in the day, like at the Notting Hill Carnival. The crowd at Southport are happy and deep into the music, and you see some exquisite dancing. It would seem that they all come out of the woodwork for this weekender!

Well the five hour drive up from London was worth it. We arrived at the Pontins Camp venue around midnight, and the place was buzzing.

There were Five arenas at Southport:
The Powerhouse the main room playing house non stop.
The Bacardi Bar
The Funkbase hosted by BBC Radio 1xtra
The Connoisseurs' Corner, the legendary cosy rare groove room
The Ice Bar all white room

NORMAN JAY & The Connoisseurs' Corner, the legendary cosy Rare Groove Room

We managed to catch Norman Jay in the main room in the midst of his Funky House set rocking the crowd on arrival just after midnight. That was the first of his two sets on Friday. He was in the Connoisseurs' Room for his
legendary Rare Groove set. Norman had to be there of course because he was the DJ who coined the term 'Rare Groove' named after his legendary soul show on the pirate Kiss FM in the 1980s. His show kicked off the rare groove scene and craze for collecting deleted and hard to find records. It also led to the growth of the bootleg market where bootlegged copies of those obscure but very popular gems were sold in record shops.

However, Norman Jay was one of the few DJs who had them all in his collection! The rare groove scene soon fell flat as DJs began to play obscure records just for the sake of it. Then clubbing was taken to new levels with Soul 2 Soul, and of course Acid House. Norman didn't fail to disappoint dropping crowd pleasing classics and keeping up the good vibe of back in the day.

In the Connoisseurs' Room featured all the big names of Rare Grooves all legends along with Norman, such as Gary Dennis from Caister Soul Weekenders, Terry Jones of Choice and Bob Jones. A lot of dancing and some body popping in that room.

THE ICE BAR

Main chill out room playing smooth grooves and party tunes. Chill out in capitals because the ICE BAR was themed on ice! It was in a futuristic all white room: white walls, ceiling, floor and furniture. The doormen were on
hand to prevent the room from overcrowding.

THE BACARDI BAR

The Red Bacardi Bar was all red and themed: 'and exotic cocktail of jazz, funk, drum and bass, broken beats, and soulful melodic garage'. It catered for all tastes and was also very popular. It was the room which featured
special guest DJ from the US Jazzy Jeff the dj partner of Fresh Prince - Will Smith. Those just expecting hip hop were in for a shock because he played a complete mix and blend of music, plus scratching, keeping everyone on their
toes screaming for more. Some reckoned he was the surprise jock who stole the weekend. He knows how to work a crowd.

Masters at Work

The legendary house duo from the US,Kenny 'dope' Gonzales and 'Little Louie' Vega are long time favourites at Southport. They always talk up the weekend and the relationship they have with the crowd. On Saturday night 12-4am the main room was rammed solid for their set. They played old and new and some exclusive remixes for the night, you just did not know what to expect, which made it so exciting. People underestimate their turntable skills, thinking they are just producers/remixers. It was hard to tell whether they were dropping an exclusive new dub of theirs or mixing two different records together. However It got so packed I went in to the adjoining Connoisseurs Room with Terry Jones. Not surprisingly it was about a quarter full, he did say it was going to be hard playing with two of the top DJs in the world next door, but he did drop some tunes nonetheless. Due to the crowd size it allowed me to sneak off and enjoy Jazzy Jeff, as mentioned earlier! MAW were wicked.

The Weekend finished on Sunday afternoon with Los Amigos Invisibles live in concert. They were very good. The last djs were Jonathan and Bob Jeffries.The thing I noticed about Southport is that they close down dead on
time at 5.30 ignoring all the chants of 'One More!' from the crowd. The security were quickly in shepherding everyone out. It was a great weekend. It didn't finish there though. The official Weekend after party was in town
at The Old Bank wine bar. 7-2am. That was wicked as well keeping the vibe with classic house and live percussion. I had to stay on. There was no way I was going to drive back at night 4 hours to London. I cant wait for the next
Southport Weekender. To sum it all up, the five rooms of music taking you all on a journey with the different DJs, was in the words of George Clinton's legendary anthem: 'One Nation under a Groove'.

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