Long Night Of The Soul
Francesco Mellina brings images of the last bash at the Wigan CasinoÉ
“There was the smell of talcum powder… it was hot… it didn’t seem that loud.” FRANCESCO MELLINA
THE CLAIM THAT Billboard voted the Wigan Casino “the best disco in the world” in 1978 may have been debunked, but this longdemolished soul nexus in the English north-west retains a special place in the global musical psyche. From September 23, 1973, as well as weeknight sessions there was an all-nighter on Saturday, where black music fans from across the UK would gather until dawn to show off their moves on the venue’s fully sprung maple dancefloor.
December 6, 1981 was the last Casino all-nighter, after a couple of false finishes (see patches, left). Liverpool-based photographer Francesco Mellina was commissioned to cover it and “rock’s Forgotten Tribe” by the NME ‘s Paul Du Noyer. The paper used only a few of his images, and now, in time for the 40th anniversary of the closure of the ‘Heart of Soul’, he’s preparing his crowdfunded photo book Last Night At The Casino for a fuller view.
“I arrived two hours before it opened, and when I saw the crowds I realised, Right, I’m going to stay here all night and document it,” says Mellina, an avowed admirer of the photography of Don McCullin, who’d been to the club a few times as a reveller. “I wanted to do something more in-depth, from the crowds outside to the doorman, to the coat lady, up the stairs to the balcony to the record bar, to the dancefloor.”
He navigated the Casino’s different areas armed with three rolls of 36 exposure film. “The sensory memory of it was phenomenal,” he says. “You noticed this intense smell of talcum powder, which is so they could slide better on the dancefloor, these guys doing these unbelievable, balletic dance moves. One guy was doing handstands. It was hot, but that didn’t matter, and strangely, it didn’t seem that loud.”
One of the scenes he, along with kids with Kodak Instamatics, captured was the Casino dance contest, where Vernon Pryce of Bradford triumphed over John Nelson of Glasgow, winning £100. “I love that picture of them holding their hands together in a spirit of unity,” says Mellina.
“That was the beauty of it for me, that it was a genuinely working-class movement. They lived for the weekend and danced their bloody ass off all night long. It was an escape from the humdrum life of northern England, or for that matter all of England!”
With Casino DJs Russ Winstanley and Richard Searling providing forewords, the book will fascinate Northern soul fans who never got to spin at the Casino and original faith-keepers who still haven’t got over the Wigan’s Chosen Few record being a hit. To both constituencies, Mellina’s shot of an exhausted dancer sleeping it off as the night wound down is a poignant endpoint.
“I could see the emotion that night,” says Mellina, who recalls 1,500 clubbers emerging into the daylight. “People were really upset, sat on benches, some genuinely crying, because they knew it was over. Unfortunately, by then I’d finished my bloody film! I understood, that’s how I felt when [Liverpool punk venue] Eric’s closed… I couldn’t claim to be one of the Northern soul [cognoscenti] but I at least got to experience it. I made the right decision. I stayed all night.”
For Last Night Of The Casino ordering details, go to www. march-design.co.uk