Casino Club - Spirit Of 77 - "The Faith Keepers"

The Casino was a nightclub in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Operating between 1973 and 1981, it was known as a primary venue for northern soul music. It carried forward the legacy created by clubs such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and Golden Torch in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent. It remains one of the most famous clubs in Northern England.[1]

This England, a TV documentary about the venue, was filmed in 1977. In 1978, the American music magazine Billboard voted Wigan Casino "The Best Disco in the World", ahead of New York City's Studio 54[2]. Russ Winstanley and Dave Nowell wrote a history of the club, Soul Survivors, The Wigan Casino Story, which was published in 1996. A stage play by Mick Martin about the Wigan Casino years, Once upon a time in Wigan, debuted in February 2003 at the Contact Theatre in Manchester, and has since toured nationally.


[edit] History
Wigan Casino was the name of the last incarnation of a Wigan ballroom called the Empress.[3] The venue, previously called The Casino Club, was operated by Gerry Marshall as a cabaret club in the early 1970s. Alan Caine approached Marshall about running a soul music night in the Beachcomber Bar at the back of the club, to which Marshall agreed. Mike Walker recognised that at a local rugby club, Russ Winstanley had a similar evening that was more professionally operated than the one founded by Caine. Walker brought Winstanley from the rugby club to the Casino Club, and Wigan Casino opened in September 1973, with Winstanley as the DJ. Many famous soul performers performed there, including Jackie Wilson, Edwin Starr and Junior Walker.

Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan Casino to hear the latest northern soul artists and to dance. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched round the corner up into the town centre. The second dance floor, called Mr. M's, stayed open until 6am and played oldies songs from a variety of DJs. Every all-nighter traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the 3 before 8: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe, and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish. Parrish is still active on the northern soul circuit.

Amphetamine and other drug abuse led to the downfall of the club, with pressure from the police and the local authority forcing it to close in 1981.[citation needed] The final night of Wigan Casino in its northern soul state was DJed by Winstanley, and the 3 before 8 were played three times consecutively at the end of the night. The crowd refused to leave, so according to Winstanley, to "break this spell of hysteria" he picked a 7" at random from his box and played that. This final Wigan Casino song became one of the most famous northern soul songs of all time, Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You". The Wigan Casino building burned down a year after it closed.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigan_Ca.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Northern
• Soul
• Wigan
• casino

[jelboysvw]

Overexposure is what screwed the northern soul scene up......It used to be an underground movement that was media free...until we got sold down the river by money grabbing tossers.

[red777photo]

"Northern Soul has been described as the longest running fad in the history of UK music culture. What began as an underground 60s mod scene in unlicensed, no-frills clubs in the north of England is still very much alive and kicking in the twenty-first century.

[bevafearn]

no drink needed then to have a good time. I cannot remember any fighting or issues at all. no pushing on the dance floor (even upstairs in M's where there was hardly any room and you couldnt bloody see much) why cant the youth of today enjoy life as much as we did then.

amazing memories, amazing music and met some amazing people. a reunion would be amazing. anyone up for it KTF

[banburger]

wigan was brilliant until hey let the camera`s in and had the dancers on top of the pops

moral clash we wanted success for the artists but the scene exclusive for lovers of real soul music

[57dogsbody]

jelboysvw you are 100% right. in my eyes it was all over bar the shouting by the end of 74.coach loads of divs turning up at wigan, it ruined the atmosphere,the records turned to pop crap ,the magic i used to feel seemed to have seeped away. many great sounds dicvered later,but,and its a big but, the magic had been sold down the river.it happens to all youth cults; when they are underground they are great , when they are common knowledge they are ruined.

[wideboyi]

i went the casino and the only place that has the same atmosphere with people music not northern soul is glastonbury festival but that is now being wrecked to commercialisam

[AndrewEllis1961]

The casino one of the great alnighters. Iam now 50 and still go to the odd nighter keep the faith.

[pezz12345]

@jelboysvw So true mate...ain't that always the way. But you still got the way it was inside ya. KOKO.

[kateflip]

great days...

[issy3607]

Northern Soul in me blood awsome KTF great tune

[4RedDwarf3]

@jahvoke Well shame on those people then mate, for not showing the world what they loved. Im sure all those people that never turned, up or hid upstairs, took something away from the overall experience and what you see on camera, but that doesnt detract what i can see anyway. Its probably a good thing they arent there to see, and im betting all these years later they hate they arent immortalized in these videos hehe.

[jahvoke]

@4RedDwarf3 I'm sorry to burst your bubble mate but it wasn't really like that, yes you heard the tunes but no way did any of that filming capture the true essence of the place. the real good dancers where upstairs in Mr M's on that night or just didn't show up at all!! Word got round about the cameras and quite a few crews who had been there from the early days just boycotted the night outright. There was a massive posse from the Widnes/Runcorn area that didn't go at all I remember it well :((

[mccalliog66]

@mclprule

No drugs in Wigan or the Torch LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[Ritchie1954]

@jelboysvw to true couldnt agree more an exact observation ..right on