March 2010
Fish wrote:
Well what an amazing Prestatyn Weekender just gone that was !!, and always a good sign when an event passes by so quickly. And over it was in the blink of an eye from the Thursday night party opener in the 'House Of Soul' where it was great to see our performing acts getting on down on the dancefloor - Kenny Bobien - we salute you : - ))
To the Friday morning calm before the storm. As the day progressed a buzz was starting to take hold. Hearing the Kenny Bobien & Stephanie Cooke soundcheck was certainly a hi-light and before you knew it the evening was underway. The 'House Of Soul' looked stunning with it's new projections behind the dj stage as the the room was rocking to some terrific 70's soul sounds. The main room was building nicely up to the live shows at Midnight - with WILLIAM 'SMOKE' HOWARD up first to perform a few of his new tracks from the forthcoming album. Before The Black Masses Orchestra took to the stage, and it was time for STEPHANIE COOKE to do her thing. Elegant and graceful she worked through some of her classics - 'Lovers Holiday', 'World Go Round', Love Will', 'I Thank You' etc before being joined on stage by the main man KENNY BOBIEN for a rendition of 'Where Is The Love'. The showman that he is, Kenny then proceeded to take over and was immediately at ease talking with the crowd, before unleashing that unmistakable falsetto on 'How I Feel', 'Father', 'Dance', 'Rise Above The Storm' and others before being re-joined by Stephanie for 'Until You Come Back To Me' with some sterling work from fellow background vocalists Kimara Lovelace & K Joy. Finishing off with a totally unrehearsed version of 'What's Going On' - MAGICAL.
Saturday afternoon brought us two totally different sessions with a hugely successful jazz dance bop in the 'House Of Soul', while the main room hosted the Boomerang 70's Soul Special. Saturday night was now upon us with the 'House Of Soul' again showcasing the extremely popular 'Soulful Dance and House' Session, while the main room mixed it up all era's. TORTURED SOUL took to the stage at 1.00am and performed a faultless set including 'Home To You', 'Special Lady', 'Your Dream Is My Dream, 'Fall In Love' etc to an audience that simply loved it. With most people fixated on drummer and lead vocalist John-Christian Urich. Quite how anyone could play percussion like that AND sing through the entire show with no let up was quite amazing !! - and the crowd certainly showed their appreciation at the end.
As we entered Sunday daytime - again both afternoon sessions served up some superb music with the now firmly established 'Kings Of Crossover' proving very popular in the 'House Of Soul and MSC (Modern Soul Classics) hosting the main room and again more excellent music to be heard. Sunday evening is all about having a good time - and I think this was just about as good as it gets with everyone playing superb sets and with a packed dancefloor right to the end, it was a fitting finale to another great weekend.
Fish
Steve Handbury wrote:
Just in case you missed the Prestatyn Northern and Modern Soul weekender, please allow me to give you a quick insight as to what you missed. Although Thursday was open to all, extending the weekend even further, the majority of the action started on Friday. “Soultown” took charge of the Queen Vic with a mammoth all day session featuring the Middleton crew whose names included Pete French, Ian Cunliffe, Chris Morgan, Des Parker and the legend that is Soul Sam. It was to set the tone for the rest of the weekend. Arena 2 was buzzing as the crowd once again welcomed the return of William “Smoke” Howard. He took to the stage at midnight and, as always, was in fine voice. His anthem, “That’s What Love Does” earned rapturous applause as did his new track “Backing Up” heard live for the first time in the UK. The response has left him wanting more and if there are any promoters out there, who feel they have a place for a live performance, please let me know. No sooner had the smoke cleared (excuse the pun) and it was time for another formidable performance from Kenny Bobien and Stephanie Cooke who showed the crowd exactly what modern soul is all about.
The room remained reasonably full for the rest of the night with Colin Curtis, Steve Hobbs and Bob Jones taking charge of the decks. In the Northern room, a whole host of DJ’s including Yocky, Nige Brown, Dave Raistrick, Butch, Andy Dyson and Carl Fortnum played everything associated with the scene from the ultra-rare through to the classics. The floor seemed busy throughout with the exception of the dance competition. As always, the judges had one or two problems with a few stray bodies on the floor as they whittled down the dancers for the final. Maybe they shouldn’t play everyone’s favourite records during the competition! Redemption, also known as Arena 4 was, as always, the place to be for oldies and R&B. The usual suspects, namely Messrs. Claxton, Sisson, Moore and Rae, along with many others managed to transport both dancers and listeners back to the birthplace of the soul scene. In total contrast, the DJ’s in “The House of Soul” managed to transport everyone in the future with many tracks as yet unreleased being aired. Ivor Jones, Soul Sam, Arthur Fenn and the wonderful “Tats” Taylor mixed crossover and soulful house and certainly expanded a few minds in the process.
Saturday arrived and the thoughts for many were on the “Big Night Out” as it was billed. Each room seemingly had a specialist event planned to get things underway. In the modern room, there was a “Boomerang 70’s Soul Special” with Maria O, Dave Ripolles, Cliff Steele and the omnipresent Soul Sam delving back to the days of flares and platforms. Luckily, there was no disco hitting the decks! It was R&B time in the Vic with Kev Drage, Sam Moore, Steve Tuck and Hoss dusting off their vinyl. Redemption had Maria and Carl Willingham’s “rare” session taking place with some mighty collections on show courtesy of Ted Massey, Simon Hunt, Mick H, Andy Dyson and Carl Fortnum. There was enough invested money in their collective boxes to get even Lloyds TSB out of the shit! Neil Rushton (nice book mate), Mark Randle, Dr Bob and Jamie Taylor once again provided the very best of soulful house in Arena 5, but the focus was without doubt on the main room for the live acts.
Just after 10:30pm John Poole walked on stage to announce what everyone was waiting for. As a tribute, the band played “The Champion” as their intro in respect for the recently departed Willie Mitchell. Sidney Barnes was the first to face the huge crowd and, as always, delivered the goods in fine style. “You’ll Always Be In Style” and “I Hurt On The Other Side” had the crowd dancing where they could and clapping where it was standing room only. “Standing On Solid Ground” performed live should now, hopefully, put to rest all of the unnecessary comments about Ian Levine’s capabilities. It was a truly wonderful rendition and fully deserved the resulting applause. Next up was the big man himself, Kenny Hamber. Resplendent in a long coated bronze suit, he ran through “Never Found A Girl”, “Anything You Want”, “Show Me Your Monkey” and “Time” wowing the crowd with his vocal prowess. Mary Love hasn’t had the best of health in recent years and some questioned how well her performance would go. We should not have had any concerns as she sounded as good as ever. She started with “Lay This Burden Down” and then surprised much of the enthralled crowd by performing “Come Out Of The Sandbox”. A modern track in the main showcase: How refreshing was that? Possibly her most famous record followed and with the opening bars of “You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet” booming from the sound system, the crowd were with her all the way. She finished with “I’m In Your Hands” and made her exit. She returned just before disappearing through the curtains to say that she had ‘got caught up in the moment’ and had forgotten to collect her very special backing singer, Louvaine Demps of the Andantes. The two danced their way towards the rear of the stage and waved their goodbye’s to the crowd. The stage was amassed with red as the Hesitations faced the crowd for the first time in the UK. They stormed through hits such as “She Won’t Come Back”, “Impossible Dream”, “That’s What Love Is”, “You Can’t Bypass Love” and “I’ll Be Right There” with ease. There was a comic book moment as the lead singer changed into his alter ego and donned the necessary underpants and cape for a superb rendition of “Soul Superman”, the title track of the legendary album. They finished with the much anticipated “I’m Not Built That Way” before re-emerging on stage with all of the other performers to add “Land Of A Thousand Dances” as their finale. Backstage, they were all ribbing Sid as he had apparently got a little carried away and started singing “Mustang Sally”. Trust Sid!
More live action took place a little later as Tortured Soul performed in the modern room. Even those who were not followers of anything modern commented on how tight they were. It was, yet again, a superb performance showing exactly why they are at the forefront of the soulful dance scene.
Sunday is usually recognised as party night and this year was no exception. There were however, quite a few people who had left, no doubt due to work commitments or otherwise. Those that remained focussed on the northern room leaving the other arenas somewhat empty. Virtually everyone agreed that the event had been as spectacular as ever with the vocal performances from every artist exceeding expectations.
Next year’s 10th anniversary event is already being planned and should be something extraordinary. If you were there and heard some of the rumours, then you will know what I’m talking about. If you weren’t there, trust me and get your places booked. You will not be disappointed!
Steve Handbury
Photo Gallery
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Photo Gallery: Martyn Johnson
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Photo Gallery: Martyn Johnson
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Photo Gallery: Martyn Johnson
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Photo Gallery: Martyn Johnson
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Photo Gallery: Lin Taylor
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Photo Gallery: Louby
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Photo Gallery: John Elias
DJ Info & the Arena's they played