I have a lot of respect for JFK, Garbo and Genix, I had a lot of respect for Mark and Eric but I do not honestly beleive that under the current regime (owners) and due to the credit crunch Passion will always now be known as a has been.

Once a month
Sub Standard Line Ups
to be frank the list is endless

the promotion powers and techniques employed by JFK are second to none and are respected through clubland, that said is he essentially flogging a dead horse.

Mark and Eric made a wise move by selling and left richer men, the pikeys that took over, to be frank saw a cash cow and got a white elephant.

If this was a PLC I would be shouting to sack the board as it is not i only have one suggestion... CLOSE THE CLUB, DUMP THE BRAND AND GO OUT ON A REASONABLE LOW !!

Storm on the other hand... new venue... would be amazing!

Discuss..

Yeah its something you never want to see. Even more so when your with the missus.


I never when when passion was in its high days so couldnt really comment. But Since I have been going its not getting worse its just the odd night where its full of bellends.

I think as long as there is a good few true clubbers going things will always be ok. Its when the true clubbers stop going out thats when where in trouble. What the clubbing scene needs is some youths that are into the music not the youths that are just going out for the sake of it.

Excellent point there mate, but there's hope! Not so long ago I played at a mate's little brother's 16th birthday bash. Before you laugh, our mate helps with all the PR for our label and his little bro by definition is therefore exposed to a huge amount of good quality dance music so wanted a "proper" DJ. I was amazed to find that over the course of a 4 hour set that progressed from electro to hard trance, I was being asked by these 16 year olds for really obscure remixes, tunes you wouldn't imagine they would know, let alone love. That gives me great hope for the future and their enthusiasm is something we need to embrace and engage.

Thanks. Good to hear.

I think if we could get a decent quantity and quality of new generation clubbers (like you good self by the sounds of it) with as many of the old timers as possible, everyone would have a great time and ensure the passion magic never dies.

LUCKY GIT!!

Sadly i was a few years to young!!

What years were Armin and Ferry residents??? And Tony De Vit!!

TdV was there 97/98 when we used to go all the time. Truly inspiring. I remember one amazing Passion (a few others on this site were there too) when Sonique finished her set, handed to Tony and then did live vocals over his set - it was amazing!!

That pretty much sums up why paSSion has the rep it has today

i think you have told me that before, unreal!! If only you could turn back time!

what about armin and ferry, do you know what years they were resi's??

Think if I remember correctly a couple of years later. That whole period in clubland was amazing. But I have a feeling with this recession coming, something similar is not too far away!!

The best thing with Passion is seein the same faces month after month, u don't get that anywhere else.
Passion Classics this month was 1 of best...
We travel 100 miles round trip. We go to other clubs for the best line up's, top dj's but 4 passion we go 4 the residents...
Tiesto was most amazin nite of my life tho!!

LONG LIVE PASSION !!!

even though im 21 (which i feel is oldish) i would say that im a part of the new youth...

Im from manc and was really into electro a couple of years back and then when it got commercial i went off music for a bit... then tiestos set at paSSion really got me back into music.

I did global and creamfields this year and if you went to them you know how good both weekends were, some people saying the best festivals they have been to ever, and i feel lucky to be a part of that. and then to see Sean Tyas and Giuseppe for £12 (whish is like the same price as a shit club or an oasis tribute act), i mean how fuckin amazing is that. I thats what i hate is that people dont understand the following, or how big these djs are, they just see it as another saturday night, get wasted, have a fight, have a shag, standard... where for me all that counts is the music.

TBH now with all this reflection, i think we just have to support paSSion through its tough times, and just make the best out of it. fuck the knobheads, just rave lol

btw...there isnt a clubbing soc at the uni anymore lol but we still have a passion crew that taxi up every month!!

Outrageous!!!!

NUS rules may have changed since I was at uni 10 years ago but it's worth checking the situ for Society funding. Back when I was at uni, if you had 30 members or more, and an elected board of chair, secretary and treasurer (TBH just make up the job shit) you are then officially a society and eligible for NUS funding to help in your "activities". And back then it was around £1500 a time - mugs!!! They paid for our wrecking spree coachtrips hahahaaha!!

i think things have changed quite a lot since then, socs have to find there own way of getting money, a soc of 200 people would be lucky to get £100 off the uni.

You poor sod lol

People may think im wrong on this but i think this could be the last numbered days of big clubs because we are seeing well run smaller nights starting to grow and develope into amazing events for example Digital society in Leeds who have Will Holland, Activa, Rav, Kane and paul as resi's, its fresh and new and the following is just getting stronger and stronger even Godskitchen coudnt beat them when they started a night @ mission on the same night. (Feb. DS sell out, Gods 300) In the big clubs we see the same dj's over and over but smaller nights bringd the fresh talent through like Off The Rails who have Sean Tyas, Andy Baggers, Kryztow De fier and Art Of Noise as residents. This is the turnaround the scene needs as its getting stale.
Well thats my theory on the matter. . . . :)

Armin was resident in the early noughties for sure, but not certain when he first became resident.

It is weird to think back now that you could turn up at Passion week after week and see him, along with JFK and other top DJ's guaranteed.

I felt when he came back for the first time for 4 years last year it was a really special night - like one of your own, one of your old friends had gone off, done really well for himself and was now home to catch up with everyone and remind us all why we loved his sets, his style and his enthusiasm.

He loves Passion as much as we do - a bit like Guy Ornadel as well - that's the ultimate reason they will always be Passion favourites.

I agree with you Lee, Nights like Digital Society are what the future is all about! The night is just growing stonger and stronger, and as you mentioned even Gods were no competition for them!!
Which is an achievement in itself!
As someone else mentioned earlier its not only PaSSio that has the same ppl month after month at nights Like DS you do see the same ppl month after month its amazing how ppl really follow music that they love!
Without the proper clubbers i think any night will just turn out into some p1ss up for all the ppl that just go out for the sake of it!

So keep on clubbin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o)

I can see where you're coming from and I agree that it dipped while he was away and picked up again when he got back, but it's a major weakness for a night to rely so heavily on one man. This is essentially saying that PaSSion is JFK and JFK is PaSSion, which shouldn't be the case, the night should be able to stand on it's own right and not rely on one person to make it what it is. Going by this link, if Jason's on form then PaSSion is good, and if he's not on form then it's shit, which to a degree seems to be the case. Quality residents are important but I can't think of any other trance night in the country that relies so heavily on one man. Personally I think the best thing that's happened for PaSSion recently is getting Genix onboard too, he's a superstar in the making...

AGREED!! The bigger clubs are starting to bring in the dick heads that arent even bothered about the music that just spoil it for the rest of us. The prices of certain bigger events are also enough to put people off too. And then you can have a really awesome night at OTR for a fiver with an NUS card.....you cant go wrong!!

However, i would be devestated if Passion came to an end. Its were my clubbing began and have lots of great memories of the place.

Not-so-passionate is, i'm afraid to say is a crack addict. Granted it hasn't been as full recently but it's had the world's number 1 and 2 DJs play at it this year. You cannot say it's even near dead... Fool. Everyone there loves it and it has loads of supporters... COME ONNN PASSSIONNN

Passion doesn't rely on JFK; rather, he is the nucleus around which it grows and thrives - the foundations if you like.

The quality of the nights obviously depend on so many things, not just Jason's set. If that were not the case, then why bother booking all the top DJ's at all, if no matter what they did, the night would simply be judged on Jason's set? A bit of a daft notion, if you don't mind me saying.

JFK is so important to Passion because he's been there from the start - he's the driving force behind why it became the night everyone loves so much - and moreover, the reason it's hard to think of another club in which one person has such a dominant effect on proceedings, is because other clubs do not as a matter of course have the same resident since day one, encompassing a time period of more than a decade.

The only way to reduce the influence Jason has on Passion to this day is to rewrite history, which can't be done. So acceptance and appreciation of the way things are is the only way forward.

After all, it's acknowledged that things 'dipped' when he was away - I think 'plummeted' would actually be a more accurate description - illustrating beyond any doubt that the influence he has is overwhelmingly a positive one.

That being the case, why would we want to reduce such an influence - you've seen what happens when he's not there.