The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Revival of ‘golden era’ for city club nights
Two DJs at the very heart of Peterborough club nights for the ‘Golden Era of 1976 -1987 are staging a very special jazz funk and soul revival in the city next month. Promoter Steve Jason, who runs The Met Lounge in Bridge Street where the event will be held – it was Anabelle’s and Canters in another life – and Steve Allen will be back spinning records on May 7.
“Soul music and Peterborough have always been good partners and after the Northern Soul era that started in 1973 the music around 1976 progressed to Disco and Funk,” explains Steve Jason.
“By 1978, although there were one-off events at places like The Fleet and The Grove, the one weekly club night in Peterborough was on Thursdays at the first ‘nightclub’ in the city – Anabelles – hosted by Steve Allen which become known as The Funky Thursdays.
In between having to play records from Saturday Night Fever, Steve looked after the young ‘Funkateers’ in the city with as much upfront Soul and Funk as he could get away with – in the era when wearing a shirt and tie was essential to actually enter a nightclub.
As Jazz Funk became more popular, Steve started a new weekly Sunday Club night based at The Cresset called Slickers, which ran from 1978 to 1982.
This night really put Peterborough on the national map as Steve, along with guest DJs from around the country, played the very best in new upfront music.
Around this time a ‘young’ DJ called Steve Jason was beginning to make a name for himself around the city, playing various one-off events before, in 1983, starting a new Tuesday night at the then very popular Peterborough pub The Gables – based on Mancetter Square industrial site in Werrington.
Then in May 1984, Steve launched the night that won both national honours for him and the venue – the famous Canters Sunday night sessions that ran through to 1987.
And so, celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Steve A starting Slickers and the 40th Anniversary of Steve J starting out at The Gables, both DJs will be digging out their vinyl for one more time as they join forces to present the special ‘Revival Night’ featuring all the top Disco, Jazz Funk and Soul tracks from the era that the four clubs covered – 1976-1987.
The idea of doing such a night has been on Steve Jason’s mind for some time. As well as owning The Met, Steve also promotes heritage Soul acts – and over past six years has brought the likes of Shalamar, Kenny Thomas, Shakatak and The Real Thing to the city.
“At every gig, the audience has been made up of Peterborough people who were ‘on the scene’ at some point in the ‘golden era’,” he says. "It’s like people come out of the woodwork and the one thing they say is ‘Why don’t you get your records out again and do a night as there’s nowhere that plays the music you used to play at Canters or The Gables anymore.’
“However, I wanted to appeal to everyone who was on the Peterborough Jazz Funk and Soul scene from the beginning and it was obvious that Steve Allen was the trailblazer from the early days. So, I asked him. He said that he was getting asked when he would do a night for the people from his two main club eras. So we just said, ‘Lets go for it!’”
The choice of venue was important too. Although The Met Lounge is probably best known now for putting on Indie and Rock bands, it has put on a couple of Soul/Dance acts in recent months, attracting people who were regulars at both Anabelles and Canters back in the day and they’ve all said the place holds so many memories.“We’ve worked out that between us, the four nights did over 400 sessions to over 50,000 people. We’re just looking for 200 of these people. They’re out there, we’re just got to find them,” added Steve.
So, the event is on. Sunday, May 7. Doors open from 8pm until midnight – replicating the nights’ running times exactly.
Advance tickets are limited and on sale now from www. skiddle.com