Blue Monkey: The Sunderland nightclub which had the 'wow factor' and still has reunion nights in tribute
It was a Sunderland nightclub which gave Wearside a completely new offering in the 1990s.
And even to this day, hundreds of people attend reunion nights in which they remember the days of the Blue Monkey.
A new kind of clubbing experience
In episode 7 of our Sunderland’s 90s Nightlife series, we look at the ‘new kind of clubbing experience’ which arrived in the city 30 years ago.
DJs Jason Bushby and John Shaw discussed how it changed people’s lives as they look at the early 90s rave scene.
John Shaw DJed in Sunderland at the time and now is involved in reunion nights, including a recent one in tribute to the Blue Monkey where 850 people turned up, many in their 50s.
The atmosphere was memorable
“The early 90s rave scene was popular then and is absolutely huge now,” he said. ‘Old clubbers came from literally all over the North East.”
The original DJ from the Blue Monkey did an hour-long set and John said the atmosphere was ‘memorable’.
Jason recalled that, while other nightclubs had a mainstream offering, the Blue Monkey ‘was one of those clubs that played different music.’
“It was at the right place at the right time.”
Six other episodes to enjoy
The chequered history of the club is addressed in our latest video clip but its main focus is on the music which, for many people, meant a ‘wow factor’ going in there for the first time.
Our series is now well under way and here’s a reminder of the first six episodes which you can catch online.
First up was episode 1 called Old Skool. Our interviewees discuss their memories of music back in the 1990s including what was popular, including Nirvana, rave, dance and trance, and what went down well in Sunderland’s nightclubs.
In the second episode, the very people who ran Idols and Annabels have spoken to the Sunderland Echo to share their memories - and there were lots of them!
Coming up next in our series
In a packed third episode of Sunderland 90s Nightlife - the new video series brought to you by the Sunderland Echo - we asked people for the first thing that comes to mind when they thought of the 90s night scene in the city.
Episode 4 was a look back at Chambers, particularly through the eyes of John Shaw who was a DJ there in the 1990s.
Then came episode 5 called The Safety of the Pack. We looked at the places where people met before going to their favourite nightclub.
Look out next week for episode 8 in which we look at the loss of a sense of a community.