Greg Wilson is an institution. One of the early residents at Manchester’s Hacienda club, the Northern Soul scene’s Wigan Pier resident and the first British DJ to mix live on British television, he was a pioneer of fiddling about with outboard equipment to compliment the usual basic DJ set up. The reel-to-reel tape recorder (remember them?) is still his weapon of choice, creating sound-bending effects to complement his set. Being a DJ, producer and promoter myself, the bar was set high for my birthday night visit to Audio to see this legend play.
Well, first of all Audio ain’t a bad venue. The best thing about it is that they’ve got an old, but properly maintained, Turbosound sound system. This suited Greg’s set perfectly, as the system comes from the same era as him, and the music he was playing; a sort of mishmash of 80s electro and current trendy disco edits. He opened with a lovely dub version of Sister Sledge’s ‘Thinking Of You’, which dropped away in the middle to bass-heavy dub, just bass and vocal.
From there he kept on with nice chunky, dubby dance from way back. Edits of Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ and Gwen Guthrie’s ‘Ain’t Nothin Goin On But The Rent’ were standouts. The only problem I had with it was that he didn’t jack up the tempo for most of the set; it chugged along at about 105 bpm.
The other great thing about the night was the punters. Oh how refreshing to see a room (mainly) full of old, beautiful, ugly freaks like me. It’s reassuring to know that along with the young and trendy things gracing the club review pages of SOURCE in their Barbour jackets and sporting shiny teeth, the older crowd will make the effort to come out and give grassroots support to a true pioneer. Reputation well deserved Greg.
Audio, Friday 25th February 2011
Words by Sam Moffett
