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| Life Goal Status: | Completed | Date Completed: 01/02/02 | ||||
To own a night club and run the finest dance music events in Wales. Ideally an old theatre or similar venue to the Rock in Bristol, also known as Bristol Academy.
The Music. In all honesty it was the love of music and the production side of music events that inspired me over many years to eventually target this major life goal.
Inner Rhythm Promotions, a dance music promotions company was setup in 1998 with the aim to promote quality dance music events. The plan is to develop the company through it's various avenues to eventually operate out of a night club permanently. Inspired by the vision and story behind GateCrasher, one of the UK's most prestigious nightclubs.
BBC.co.uk, forward slash, 1 Xtra!
It's quite extraordinary to think that I achieved this major life goal. Not many people can say they've owned a nightclub, let alone be 19 years old and have bragging rights of hosting 2 Live radio broadcast's from the BBC's 1Xtra station, one of which was on New Years Eve 2003.
It all began way back in 1998, when I setup Inner Rhythm Promotions with a group of friends.
My work through Inner Rhythm Promotions had built a good brand name and following, we'd even managed to teach through Pembrokeshire College on the entertainments technology course in the DJ-ing and Club Lighting Systems modules, thanks to Module 8.
Despite this getting to a point of owning a night club was a long long way away and debatably unrealistic. However after doing a lazer show at The Rock, now Bristol Academy in Bristol I was heavenly inspired to own a night club like that. A converted old theatre, with surrounding balconies and a sound and lighting system to dream of.
In late 2001 the opportunity arose when we booked a club in Swansea for a gig hosted by Vinylgroover. The club lease was actually up for grabs and cutting a longer story short, we took the opportunity and took over the lease in February 2002.
The club, named The Palace was Wales' number one UK Garage and Bassline House venues, with a huge following for Hard Dance and Trance music lovers as well. The club was full of character and hosted the best audio system I've ever heard. Based in Swansea is served the south wales dance community and held it's own niche in the market.
The club played host to some of the following artists as well as the two BBC 1Xtra Live Broadcasts in 2002 hosted by The Heartless Crew and V2 Crew; Dizzey Rascal, Pay As You Go Cartel, DJ EZ & MC Viper, DJ Slimzee, Sandy Rivera, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Mark E G, M-Zone, Clarkee, Andy Farley, Vinylgroover, The Producer, M-Zone, DJ Ribbz, Vortex to name but a few.
A few years later I left the nightclub world to setup my own business in Website Design in 2004.
There were many glorious moments thanks to people that I worked with and promoters like Pure Essence, The V2 Crew, Breathe, Juice & Cally.
In summary achieving this life goal was monumental and an experience I'll remember forever. Though it was something I dreamt of doing throughout my teen years and worked very hard towards sometimes not all dreams turn out how you'd like them too. What you learn from that is to have an open mind and ability to adapt. You can easily blind yourself from things you don't want to accept, because your too caught up in the living the dream, or at least the dream you'd imagined it to be. Sadly to find out in the end it wasn't quite as you thought.
Either way the moments where you stood in the wings of the stage watching a capacity crowd shout "Booooooooo" while live on BBC 1Xtra or chanting "Mark E G, Mark E G" at Breathe's North Tour you can appreciate that those moments alone out weigh the bad.
You can read a concise history about the building in the extract below.
The Palace has been part of the Swansea street scene for over a century. Built in 1888, it is a handsome and imposing building in Baroque style of red Ebbw Vale brick and Bath stone. Situated on a triangular island on the busy thoroughfare of High Street, it is one of only two surviving purpose built music halls in Britain. The Palace is unique in a number of ways. It is the only music hall to be built by a tramway company.
When the company was formed in 1874 to construct tramways in the streets of Swansea, it was felt that building plots would have to be sold by the tramways company to defray the building of new roads housing the tramways. The economic climate of the time resulted in sales being too slow and an offer was made to the company by a Mr Almond to build a music hall in return for shares in the company. Such a prestigious development would raise land values in the area and prove a fitting addition to the new road now named Prince of Wales Road.
The quite early and extensive use of concrete in the floors and staircases at all levels led to the building being described as "absolutely fireproof", and safety from fire was one of the primary advertising claims when the building was first opened for business on Christmas Eve, 1888.
The Palace hosted the first ever cinema show in Swansea in 1896. Cinematography was
advertised as the original Lumiere.
Inside, the auditorium occupied the first floor level. The early capacity then was 900 and seating was arranged to allow uninterrupted view of the stage. The concrete floor of the auditorium is supported by cast iron columns and steel cantilever beams. Two steeply raked balconies curved around the auditorium. There is evidence of stage boxes. The orchestra pit and band room beneath the stage accommodated 30 musicians. Behind the stage was the green room. Also at this end the dressing rooms were situated at three levels in the round tower, which overlooks High street. The star dressing room was closest to the stage with the other acts occupying the others in order of prominence. At the corner of each dressing room was a triangular trap door under which a ladder went down to the next dressing room, providing a means of escape for artists in the event of a fire. As a second generation of music halls, the Palace was a quality design and well constructed building. It was for many years run in the style of the great music halls of London and the provincial cities. Many famous stars performed there such as Lily Langtry, Marie Lloyd, The Karno trio (including Charlie Chaplin), Dan Leno, Vesta Victoria, George Robey and Little Titch.
"I did my first professional job there in 1960 with the Theatre of Wales...so, for sentimental
reasons, I would like to support the Theatre... It is of great architectural importance and its
renovation and reopening would be of great benefit to the people of Swansea and
beyond."
Sir Anthony Hopkins
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The Palace Nightclub Photos
Other images can be found on Flickr
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Own A Nightclub - The Palace
