Wigan Casino Ticket

Hello,
Does anyone have an old Wigan Casino ticket i could see a photo of please? If anyone could advise the rough dimensions of the ticket, i'd appreciate it!
Thanks

Pics of some here
LINK

Thank you First Mate!

"Plans to celebrate 50th anniversary of Wigan Casino in full swing"

LINK

Rather two faced that, because Wigan Council were instrumental in the Casino closing.

“Plans to slide into Northern Soul’s 50th anniversary year are underway”

What a load of shite that is!

The BBC are even celebrating the 50th Anniversary with 'Northern Soul at the Proms' on BBC2 tonight at 19.45.

Pity that Wigan cannot do something proper with the music instead of just a few photographs!

Was not impressed with the prom.

What did you think?

Ena

I forgot it was on last night, but decided to watch it after seeing your post, but I fell asleep almost immediately, and have finished watching it this afternoon.

So

Putting my music critic head on, the good stuff 'first'

Well done the BBC Concert Orchestra for creating the Northern Soul Sound in a live setting in 2023, it cannot have been easy, and I bet it took months to set up, and visually in the Albert Hall I thought that was excellent too.

The bad stuff.

I thought that the choice of singers was awful, the music may have been there, but the vocals were not, and the choice of songs could have been better, and although some of the Northern Soul classics were there, a lot of the songs were bland songs, sung by bland singers, the audience just wanted to 'bounce' the Casino used to 'bounce' so that middle bit of that concert was awful, because they didn't sing any 'bouncy' songs and that is why I fell asleep, the end of the concert was OK, but it would have so much better with better singers.

Wigan Casino got a lot of mentions, so it was good to hear Wigan being mentioned so much in a setting like the Albert Hall.

But I must admit that at the time in mid 1970s, when my peer and age group was creating history by going to the Casino Allnighters, I myself had no interest in Northern Soul, although for my sins I did visit the Casino once on a weekday night, when it was open as bar, but I was a rocker, and I thought that Soulies as we called them were weird and a bunch of poofters.

Well said, Tommy.

I could not have put it better.

By the time The Casino entered its Northern Soul era, I had long since left Wigan, so I also did not participate. I did catch a little of the earlier trend in the late 1960's in Manchester. (Twisted Wheel)

Northern Soul dancers were just a bunch of POSEURS, everyone look at me, sort. The music was crap as well.

The first time I went to Wigan Casino was some time in the 50s, long before Northern Soul. I was about eight years old and it was a dance night.

My mother told my older brother to take me with him, but he said he wouldn't unless mum bought me something nice to wear, so she bought me a lovely little suit. It was turquoise with a brown velvet collar and cuffs, which met with his approval.

It was there where he taught me how to rock 'n' roll on the dusty floorboards.

Later, in my teens, I went again with some friends to a concert night and there was a group on called Greengage. My word, they were absolutely brilliant, and after it ended, we went across the passageway and into the Palais to see it all over again.

It's a pity that someone somewhere hasn't re-created Wigan Casino as it was back then, with everything authentic, so it would be like stepping back 60 years in time although, unfortunately, drinks and food charges would have to be of today's money.

Mollie

When you went there was it then called the 'Empress Ballroom' ?

Hi Tommy. Yes, but locally known as "The Emp." Not sure when it was re-named the Casino, but when I saw Greengage it was already known as the Casino.

I also saw Russ Abbott's backing group, called the Abbotts, and they were great as well.

If you liked it or not, we should being thankful that the BBC included the 50th Anniversity of Northern Soul in it's programme of Prom Concerts for the country to see which is more than Wigan Council have done with a few photographs.

The fact that unlike many other towns, Wigan does not have a theatre or concert hall to stage musical events might have something to do with any lack of effort by our esteem Councillors!

Got to admit I never went to the Northern Soul at the casino I was a bit too old and it wasn't my scene. However I do like the music. I have just watched 1/2 hour of the Albert Hall concert( that was enough) and to be honest it didn't do anything for me. It just didn't seem to sound the same as the records I would go as far as to say that this music is better listened to on records. I don't think it just the music that was so attractive to the people who went to the Casino It was the whole atmosphere of the place and the dancing. Sorry but it was NIL POINTS for me

I must say I thought they did a decent job. You will never recapture the sounds as they need to be blasted out of speakers, but the music I loved needed to sound tinny.

OC

Does Wigan really not have any suitable performance venues?

I guess it is all made worse because increasingly, commercial aspects trump all else: the promoters want to place the artists were the revenue obtained is greatest.

I have already mentioned 'Twisted Wheel' in Manchester in 1960's, it was a tiny place, but names such as Ike and Tina, Junior Walker, Mary Wells, etc etc, at the height of their fame, all turned up to play there.

"The fact that unlike many other towns, Wigan does not have a theatre or concert hall to stage musical events"

lectriclegs

Thank you for the reply as like I suspect most people in the Wigan area, I did not know anything about the exsistance of the Edge as a music concert, theatre show, conference venue as I have never seen any big crowd pulling events ever advertised for it.

From what you have shown, it was ideal for a 50th Anniversay Northern Soul Concert promoted by the Council!

The information was most welcome!