this is --so-so-so--good,--i wish i could have been there to groove to this vibe

The gift that keeps on giving. Every single time

I remember watching you on The Tube 1984/3   early days 😴

I remember this set! Such an ace night 🔥

Full recording from The Social in London's West End, 18 years on from my previous appearance there, soon after I’d started DJing again, for the launch of the Don Letts 'Dread Meets B-Boys Downtown' compilation. With its recent refit, The Social surely stakes a claim to being amongst the best small venues in the land. Great close-up atmosphere and a wicked sound system in a compact 150 capacity space. 

There's a short video clip/photo montage over at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ_yi_vqRoC/

It provided the perfect opportunity for me to debut a bunch of new edits I’ve held back for the right occasion, which I thought would be The Riot at Depot Mayfield in Manchester on New Years Day, but that fell victim to the covid uncertainty. I struck lucky though - there couldn’t have been a better environment for this than The Social, complete with a fully vibed-up crowd emanating an extra special atmosphere, which, with January’s Ministry Of Sound gig (where I focused on tracks from my recently re-broadcast Essential Mix) sets the tone for 2022.

THE SOCIAL LONDON  11.02.22 (greg wilson live mix)

On the Thursday night of Glastonbury 2022 Greg Wilson brought the funk to Funkingham Palace!

GREG WILSON - Live From The Rabbit Hole's Funkingham Palace - Glastonbury 2022

ESSENTIAL MIX - JAN 2009
Uploaded on 17.01.10 and exclusive to SoundCloud. Available for the first time without voiceovers and jingles,12 months on from original Radio 1broadcast on 17.01.09.


EMAILSHOT A FEW DAYS AHEAD OF MIX BEING AIRED:
2009 kicks in for me this weekend with my first gig of the year for Udio (1st birthday) at The Gramaphone Club in Shoreditch, London on Friday night, which coincides with the airing of my only just completed in the nick of time Essential Mix on Radio 1, made up of 43 tracks in just under 2 hours.

Given that the 5th anniversary of my DJ comeback has only just passed, I decided to take the opportunity to make the mix totally representative of this period, with all the selections being amongst the biggest tracks I’ve played since I made my second debut at Music Is Better in Manchester.

Five years represents a significant package of time, a fixed point from where I can reflect on what’s been a continually snowballing sequence of events, set in motion when Danny Webb asked me to appear in Manchester on that December night back in 2003.

There were less than 100 people there that night, but they were the right people, and I was taken aback by the response to my return, both on the night itself and during subsequent days, when people who were there began to post on the forums. I’d never expected all the feedback be so totally positive!

I’d figured that I’d play that night, using the combination of laptop and reel-to-reel for the first time, then go away and think about what worked and what didn’t before I made my next move. I would never have believed that things could come together so immediately, it was as if I’d hit a completely unexpected hole in one, especially when two of the people who were there, Ralph Lawson, DJ from Back To Basics in Leeds, and one of my fellow DJ’s that night, Richard Hardcastle (Solid State) from Society in Sheffield, both asked me to play at their nights no sooner had I finished my spot.

One thing kept leading to another and, in Sheffield, I was approached by Tony Daly to play at the now legendary Tyneside Cinema party in Newcastle, a bespoke event where he took on the substantial risk of presenting me in a city I’d never DJ’d in previously (unless you count the 1983 TV appearance on The Tube, which was filmed in the Tyne Tees studio). Then, of course, there was London, where Steve Kotey and Bill Brewster booked me for their parties, bringing me to the capital within the first few months of my return for Ouch and Low Life.

The bookings kept coming, and I found myself driving up and down the country on an increasingly regular basis. Later in 2004 I was approached by Sav Remzi, from Tirk / Nuphonic, with the idea of putting together an edits album, which would be issued the following year as ‘Credit To The Edit’. This would help bring my name to the attention of people outside the UK. There was soon a need to step things up further, now that I was receiving enquiries from Europe, and so began a fruitful relationship with my agent, Matt Johnson (Matty J), who’s done a wonderful job of representing me during recent years.

The last few months have been, to say the least, manic for me, with 25 flights, including 6 long haul, taking me to gigs in the US, Japan, Australia, Brazil and Europe. From a personal perspective I still find it remarkable the way everything has developed, pretty much organically, since I made the decision that I was going to be a DJ once again – had I concocted some sort of comeback masterplan, it could never have worked out anything like as well as it has. It’s definitely been a case of ‘from small acorns’.

It still never ceases to amaze me that people from another continent are interested in my DJ past. Back in the early 80’s, before I went into retirement for 20 years, the furthest I travelled (with the exception of the appearances I made in the South of England as part of The Hacienda Review in late ’83) was to places like Birmingham and Nottingham, when I played at All-Dayers, so to find myself in clubs on the other side of the world is pretty nuts!

Anyhow, I’d like to wish everyone all the best for 09. Big thanks to all the promoters who booked me and everyone who danced to the tunes I played during ’08 in Adelaide, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Birmingham, Blackburn, Brighton, Bristol, Dublin, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fukuoka, Glasgow, Hamburg, Leeds, Lisbon, Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, Manchester, Melbourne, Milan, New York, Newcastle, Nottingham, Paris, Porto Alegre, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Sheffield, Sydney, Tokyo and Warsaw. Also the festivals and special events that I appeared at - Bestival (Isle Of Wight), Big Chill (England), Camp Bestival (England), Garden Festival (Croatia), Ibiza, Lovebox (England), Notting Hill Carnival (England), Rockness Festival (Scotland), Sonar (Spain) and the Southport Weekender (England).

Hope to see you soon.

Greg


FORUM POST DURING FOLLOWING DAYS:                                                        
Thanks for all the positive words. The feedback has been pretty phenomenal, far exceeding what I’d hoped for, especially on the BBC page, where I’d expected that some people would criticize the amount of older music included - the Radio 1 audience is used to current stuff ('in new music we trust'), so I’d anticipated a more mixed reaction. What’s particularly pleasing is that they were all made without the people seeing what each other wrote (they all came online at once, having been checked first by whoever moderates the BBC pages, I presume for swearing etc following the Ross / Brand controversy).

You always hope something you've done will be well received, but the response to this has blown me away.

Greg


ANSWER TO POST RE MIXING PROCESS:                                                      
It was quite a laborious process. Before I could start the actual mixing part I had to edit every track to a coherent length of around two and a half minutes average, inclusive of in and out points. I had a pool of about 90 tracks that fitted the criteria I'd set (a representative selection of the biggest tunes I've been playing during the past 5 years). It wasn't as straightforward as just editing the 43 tracks I ended up featuring - in order to have the necessary options once I started to piece the mix together I needed to have all the tracks at my disposal, just as I would have if I was out deejaying in a club, so the only thing to do was edit all 90 to the required length, even though I knew that only half would make the cut .

Once that was finally done they were all taken across into my laptop, enabling me to vari-speed them via PCDJ whilst I recorded across to my home computer into Cool Edit Pro, where I put the mix together track by track, before adding overdubs (fx, samples, textures) in a similar way to what I do live using the Revox (reel to reel).

I could quite easily have spent another day, tweaking bits here and there and adding more overdubs (the older I get the more finicky I become), but I had a deadline to work to, so, as it moved ever nearer, it became a race against time, with me doing as much as I could before the cut off point arrived.

Greg
                       

Greg Wilson - 2009


ESSENTIAL MIX (by greg wilson for bbc radio 1 2009)

The music that rocked our 30th Birthday Boat Party... the live recording.... Matt Brown & Jimmy K-Tel all night long... 😊

Our 30th Boat Party Celebration - April 30th 2023

Definitely a highlight of my year so far, my 90 minute mix from the Supreme Standards stage, at Love Supreme Festival in East Sussex.

Taking place within a huge big top, which held a couple of thousand or so people, I started from a blank canvas, the crowd dispersing when the day’s programme of live acts came to a close at 10.30, with a half hour wait before I started.

There’s always a bit of trepidation in this moment, looking out at a great big empty space and trusting it will soon fill up again. I needn’t have worried, as it was bulging with party people in no time, and the whole thing ignited perfectly.

LOVE SUPREME FESTIVAL EAST SUSSEX 01.07.23 (greg wilson live mix)

Live mix from Wow! stage at Glastonbury 24.06.11.

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

GLASTONBURY WOW! 24.06.11 (greg wilson live mix)

Recording from my second Glastonbury 2015 appearance in the Beat Hotel 28.06.15.

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

GLASTONBURY BEAT HOTEL 28.06.15 (greg wilson live mix)

Full recording from the Freeze promoted party at The Garage in Liverpool on 05.12.15 to mark the 40th anniversary of my first club appearance on December 6th 1975. For further info: http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2015/12/40th-anniversary-weekend-recorded/

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

5 HOUR 40TH ANNIVERSARY @ THE GARAGE LIVERPOOL 05.12.15 (greg wilson live mix)

Live Greg Wilson recording from Melting Pot @ Queens Park Bandstand 08.07.18.

Three hour mix available to stream/download, recorded earlier this month at the Melting Pot takeover of Glasgow’s Queens Park Bandstand amidst the UK's summer heatwave, which was fortuitous given this was an outdoor occasion, my slot on a Sunday evening between 7pm and 10pm.

It was still very warm but slightly overcast when I started, but the sun, I’m told, broke through with the Confidence Man mix I’d just done with my son, Ché, which I debuted – its lyrics perfectly coincidental, people later messaging me to ask what the ‘sunshine’ track was. This is the one – just made for this weather:
https://soundcloud.com/confidenceman/confidence-man-out-the-window-greg-wilson-che-wilson-mix

Kicking off with ‘Reality’, the Late Nite Tuff Guy rework of Soul II Soul’s ‘Back To Life’, I played 31 tracks in all, 32 with a ‘one more tune’ inclusion, which I went back to hastily put on a couple of minutes after what I thought was my final track had finished (I edited the gap out in the recording to spare you the wait). The Glasgow crowd got their way, but how could you refuse them, it had been such a joyous 3 hours, not to mention the previous 2 hours with Andrew & Simon from Melting Pot hitting the right vibe, as ever, with the tunes they played.

It’s pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to Melting Pot, they really know how to set up a DJ and make sure that’s what’s going out of the speakers sounds as good as they can possibly make it – it was no surprise when they were brought in a number of years ago to assist in setting up Davis Mancuso’s London Loft parties, working with the most meticulous of sonic perfectionists. The spirit of The Loft still continues via Lucky Cloud, with Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy, a frequent Melting Pot guest, playing a big part.

Their approach to hi-end sound rightly sets the bar high, and whilst you’re DJing you know that they’ve got a close ear on everything, not just when you start, but right up until the final note of the very last tune you play – they really pride themselves on their sound system, and it shows, Loud & Clear Hi-Fi helping give them that special edge.

Having run their parties for 17 years, DJs throughout the world cite it as a favourite stop-off. The Melting Pot crowd know their music, there’s a whole history now to what’s been cultivated in Glasgow during this time. As they say themselves, they provide the setting for a DJ to play whatever they feel.

It’s the type of environment where it’s easy to introduce new stuff you’ve been working on (providing it grooves, of course). Along with a trio of tracks I’ve been busy on with Ché, there are also a couple of ‘70s singles I’ve reworked with Henry Greenwood, Marshall Hain’s ‘Dancing In the City’ and El Coco’s ‘Mondo Disco’.

The Confidence Man track suggested me finishing with Primal Scream’s ‘Movin’ On Up’ (or at least I thought that would be the case), referencing, of course, the band’s origins in the city. However, the one before this, the Flight Facilities rework of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ was played completely without knowledge that the great singer/songwriter was appearing in Glasgow just a few days later as part of his farewell tour.

I won’t name the last track – a spur of the moment choice, but one that felt so right as it played out for those last few minutes before we all made our way back into the night, my drive home to Liverpool with Primal Glyn accompanied by that fluffy feeling of satiation, having shared a memorable musical evening with a wonderfully receptive crowd.

MELTING POT @ QUEENS PARK BANDSTAND GLASGOW 08.07.18 (greg wilson live mix)

Recording from a special Essential Mix 10th Anniversary appearance at XOYO in London on 26.01.19. More at the blog:
http://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/2019/01/essential-mix-10th-anniversary/

ESSENTIAL MIX 10TH ANNIVERSARY @ XOYO LONDON 26.01.19 (greg wilson live mix)

The final of my four appearances at Glastonbury in 2019, recorded at Stonebridge on the evening of 30.06.19.

GLASTONBURY STONEBRIDGE 30.06.19 (greg wilson live mix)

Bookings: matt@thepool-london.com 
Promos: promo@gregwilson.co.uk 
DJ Dates: https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/upcoming-dj-dates/
Greg began DJing in 1975 and is regarded as one of the most important figures on the UK dance scene. He enjoyed hugely popular residencies in the early eighties at Wigan Pier and Manchester’s majorly influential Legend, having originally started out in his hometown, New Brighton. A pioneer of mixing in the UK, he became the first ‘dance music’ specialist hired for a regular weekly session at Manchester’s now legendary Haçienda club in 1983. Greg was instrumental in breaking the new electronic, post-disco records coming out of New York, a sound he has dubbed ‘Electro-Funk’.

In 2003 he set up electrofunkroots, a website documenting this crucial era in the evolution of dance culture. After a two decade hiatus from the booth, he returned to DJing and soon welcomed bookings throughout Europe and, subsequently, worldwide.

Greg was the first DJ to mix live on British TV, putting together the first UK radio mixes of their type for Piccadilly 261 in Manchester and showing a certain Norman Cook (later Fatboy Slim) how to scratch.

Nominated by DJ Magazine for outstanding contribution, and also named amongst their top twenty remixers of all-time, Greg’s remix credits include Grace Jones, The XX, Groove Armada, Bryan Ferry, Confidence Man, Gilberto Gil and Simian Mobile Disco, whilst he’s edited tracks by A Guy Called Gerald, Talking Heads, O.M.D., Electronic, Imagination and Missy Elliot.

In January 2009 Greg’s reputation was further enhanced when his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 received almost universal acclaim and was selected as one of 10 classics that spanned the show’s near 17 year history.

Greg’s Blog, ‘Being A DJ’, was launched in June 2010 for observations on various aspects of club culture now an online touchstone for an ever-increasing amount of dance enthusiasts and aficionados.

In August 2010 he co-curated areas at the inaugural Vintage Festival at Goodwood, which was named ‘Best New Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards.

He has produced a series of documentary podcasts, Time Capsule, Random Influences and Early 80’s Floorfillers, as well as the long-running blog series, Living To Music.

Greg has given talks on music and DJ culture at a number events at venues The Tate Gallery in Liverpool and London's Southbank and Institute Of Contemporary Arts, whilst in 2013 he was invited onto a panel alongside legendary figures Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder @ ADE in Amsterdam. 

In 2014 he unveiled the multi-media label Super Weird Substance, focusing on recording and live events. In 2015, the label released 8 vinyl singles, brought together in the 2 CD comp, 'Greg Wilson Presents Super Weird Substance'. September 2015 saw a memorable Festival No.6 Happening in Portmeirion and Greg rounded off the year with the Liverpool-based celebration of the 40th anniversary of his first club date in 1975 as well as being presented with DJ Magazine's Industry Icon award.

Greg launched his Credit To The Edit club collective at 2016's Festival No.6 and since then has taken it to Liverpool, Berlin, Brixton, Bethnal Green and finally back to Portmeirion for Festival No.6 2017.

2017 saw his label host the epic 14 Hour Super Weird Happening at Liverpool's Florrie, following a mixtape collaboration with Alan Moore, who also appeared at the Happening, whilst it also saw the digital release of The Super Weird Society's 'Gone With The Vibe', released the following year on the first Substance Select 12" vinyl alongside 'The Ghosts Of Watling Street', 'The Best Is Yet To Come' and 'Summer Came My Way'. 2018 also saw the release of Vol.3 in Greg's long-running Credit To The Edit compilation series.

After a handful of further releases, the label was put into hibernation with the onset of covid. Diversifying, ‘Greg Wilson’s Discotheque Archives’ was issued during 2020 lockdown as a limited run paperback, with more books, both Wilson’s own projects and by other authors, now planned.

GLASTONBURY WOW! 24.06.11 (greg wilson live mix)

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