Shelley's Laserdome
Encyclopedia
Shelley's Laserdome was a night club
in Longton
, Stoke-on-Trent
, Staffordshire
. It was at the heart of the house
and rave
scene of the late 1980s and early 90s too, helping to launch the career of Sasha
and featuring regular appearances from Carl Cox
, until it was eventually shut down by Staffordshire Police
.
and Sasha were resident, who later found fame and success on a global scale.
The most popular event was named "Delight" and the club gained many of the crowd from Manchester, who were formerly patrons of The Haçienda
.
The friendly nightclub has since become legendary because of the diverse crowd (Shelley's was half way between Manchester and Birmingham), quickly making its mark on clubbing history with help from first-rate, pioneering DJs of the emerging UK house music scene.
Before becoming a hit with ravers the Shelleys building had been used as a roller rink in the early part of the 20th century, before becoming the Panopticon Theatre, and then later Alexandra Palace Cinema. After closing as a cinema in the fifties, it housed bingo and shops.
At least two dance music videos were filmed there and it was the scene of the now legendary performance from Altern 8 outside on the car park, which was halted by police sometime after Shelleys closed at 2 am.
The club was blighted by drug dealing and regular (albeit mostly underground) violence between rival gangs. In the early 1990s, there were fights, shootings and drug arrests and in the end Staffordshire Police
succeeded in closing it down.
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
in Longton
Longton, Staffordshire
Longton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...
, Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. It was at the heart of the house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
and rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
scene of the late 1980s and early 90s too, helping to launch the career of Sasha
Sasha (DJ)
Sasha is a Welsh DJ and record producer. Sasha began his career playing acid house dance music in the late 1980s...
and featuring regular appearances from Carl Cox
Carl Cox
Carl Cox is a British techno and house music DJ.-Biography:Cox grew up in Oldham, Lancashire, before attending Glastonbury High Boys secondary modern school on Glastonbury Road in Morden. Cox began his career as a hardcore and rave DJ in the mid 1980s...
, until it was eventually shut down by Staffordshire Police
Staffordshire Police
Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England...
.
History
The club's heyday, circa 1991, saw a number of DJs at the beginnings of their careers: both Dave SeamanDave Seaman
Dave Seaman is a British dance music DJ and record producer. He was formerly a member of the DMC Publishing, and editor of music magazine Mixmag. He formed one half of Brothers In Rhythm with Steve Anderson, doing production work for Pet Shop Boys and Kylie Minogue. He has since founded Audio...
and Sasha were resident, who later found fame and success on a global scale.
The most popular event was named "Delight" and the club gained many of the crowd from Manchester, who were formerly patrons of The Haçienda
The Haçienda
Fac 51 Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was labelled the most famous club in the world by Newsweek magazine...
.
The friendly nightclub has since become legendary because of the diverse crowd (Shelley's was half way between Manchester and Birmingham), quickly making its mark on clubbing history with help from first-rate, pioneering DJs of the emerging UK house music scene.
Before becoming a hit with ravers the Shelleys building had been used as a roller rink in the early part of the 20th century, before becoming the Panopticon Theatre, and then later Alexandra Palace Cinema. After closing as a cinema in the fifties, it housed bingo and shops.
At least two dance music videos were filmed there and it was the scene of the now legendary performance from Altern 8 outside on the car park, which was halted by police sometime after Shelleys closed at 2 am.
The club was blighted by drug dealing and regular (albeit mostly underground) violence between rival gangs. In the early 1990s, there were fights, shootings and drug arrests and in the end Staffordshire Police
Staffordshire Police
Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England...
succeeded in closing it down.