Afters at The Grapes?
Mordor on the Dancefloor
Names not down you shall not pass…
Is that Kate in the background?
Kate at Houghton, watching Fourtet Jnr B2b with Guv’dalf
I love that Elijah is a massive vinyl addict. Makes this picture more worth while. I’m sure I saw a Lueka bop documentary with him praising onyebor or did I imagine it.
He DJed at Spiritland in its first incarnation …
Here’s him and Zach Cowie showing us what money can buy.
Proper cringe 
Had to turn it off
Must be tough being able to get what you want when you want.
Not so precious 
Collections built up gradually since childhood will always be significantly more impressive than the ones accumulated as an adult with the benefit of a large disposable income and hindsight (ie buying established classics + rares rather than buying things as and when they came out with no idea of their future significance and value)
Assuming how much for a drug budget? 
Yeah I get that, but if I had his money I’d be adding zeros to my average spend I can’t deny it
Wasn’t sure where to put this so going to post it here as it ties into some of the above chat we’ve had about venue closures and changing going out attitudes. This is a massive body blow for Leeds and the loss cannot be overstated. Below is a longer post I wrote for our Socials…
We’re devastated to hear Wire has decided to close it’s doors in June. This venue gave us an opportunity to start putting on events when we began figuring out how to throw parties nearly 20 years ago. It has seen people literally grow up on its dance-floor, met spouses and birthed children, created business’, hatched untold creative endeavours and given careers to some of the world’s most in-demand electronic artists. It is an absolute cornerstone of the Leeds dance-music community and it’s loss cannot be overstated. Sadly that community, or lack thereof, seems to be a major factor in it’s untimely demise. Not so very long ago Leeds could hold a candle to any underground music hot-spot you care to mention: Berlin, New York, Paris. London. All of them. On any given weekend an endless stream of cutting edge international DJs would be booked to play a multitude of venues here and there would be a ready, up for it crowd absolutely having it in each one. The energy of a Leeds club quickly gathered notoriety around the world, making it attractive for those international DJ’s and artists to come here.
I don’t know what has happened but the scene here is on it’s knees. A perfect storm of challenging economic climate and changing life-style attitudes has seemingly sounded the death knell here more than any other UK clubbing scene and it’s genuinely a crying shame. Not all of us are young enough to spend every weekend in a night club anymore, but what about those that are? All dewey eyed romanticism aside, these spaces are where life affirming moments happen with your friends and peers. We know, we’ve been there and lived it. To lose these venues and the opportunities that grow out of them is just plain wrong. All we can hope for is that someday something positive will come out of this, and the creative hard working people behind our cities recent venue closures will go on to start something new and exciting. After all, it’s a basic human desire to want to be together and share experiences in music, art and culture and one day hopefully that attitude will come round again. Put down your phone, and do something creative. In the immortal words of Andrew Weatherall: “If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much room”. Wire, we salute you x
And so it looks like next month’s Clandestino Presents Sean Johnston & Vladimir Ivkovic B2B event is set to be one of the last ever at Wire. If you’ve ever experienced a special night at Wire, or never even set foot in the place we urge you to join us for one last hurrah, and let’s give it the send off it truly deserves. Tickets:
That’s sad. If I learned anything from Tim Lawrence’s books on the NY scene it’s that great parties and venues come and go, and if we’re smart enough to realize that we are living through a really great time at a really great place with really great people, then we need to embrace that as much as we can. Hope the last few nights there are worthy of that venue’s legendary status.
very good piece Joe and sorry to hear this news. am in the same boat tbh. I don’t want to ‘retire’ but there’s so few options where I live now that really get the pulses racing.
One of the best club nights (afternoons) I’ve been to this year comprised of three DJ’s with an average age of 63. Sunday Afternoon At Dingwalls (now Piccadilly Circus) with Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge and Chris Bangs.
Saw Patrick yesterday afternoon at Love Vinyl for Phil’s day we had a good old catch up. Was a wonderful turnout place was packed inside and out with so many faces. Phil’s son Marvin did a live session too.
Dingwalls sessions are always full of energy and great dancing to boot.
How was it at Neon ?
Ah, nice. Sounds like a good day!
Neon just felt weird, expensive and a far cry - if few miles - from Camden. And the sound quality was abysmal. Fortunately the music was stupendous, as always.
Are students not going to clubs so much now? They were always the backbone of Leeds club scene in my day (late 80s to mid 90s)?
Well it always was that way but doesn’t seem so any longer. I dunno what they are up to. Think a lot of them are health concious, or maybe they dont want to be filmed in a state and end up on socials
There’s also a big Far East student population here now, who obviously dont drink / rave etc and I’ve noticed a lot of coffee shops and ice cream parlours to accommodate them