Rave exhibition to be held at Salt & Tar in celebration of Quadrant Park’s 35th anniversary

Queue Up And Dance (QUAD) is a brand new exhibition opening at Salt & Tar to celebrate the legendary Bootle nightclub Quadrant Park, the UK’s first legal all-night rave.

Although the club was short-lived, growing popular in early 1990 and closing at the beginning of 1992, it played a pivotal role in the evolution of club culture in the North West and beyond. Demolished in 1992, and with nothing at the site now hinting at its rich history, the story of Quadrant Park ran the risk of being lost.

QUAD is a project celebrating the legacy of the legendary club and the vital role it played in cultural history. Over the past year, people who went to Quadrant Park in its heyday, along with young people living in Bootle today, have been invited to collaboratively develop an archive of photographs, flyers, leaflets, and other ephemera. The project also included digital music production workshops with young people and interviews with those who contributed to the archive.

To celebrate the 35^th anniversary of Quadrant Park, QUAD have collaborated with Quadrant Park Reunions to bring the party Back to Bootle, hosting an exhibition at Salt & Tar alongside the reunion party in Bootle for the first time since the venue closed. 

Bringing together displays of archival material and a timeline of how the style, graphic design and music developed in Quadrant Park’s short lifespan, visitors are invited to find themselves in the crowd in the photographs, learn about this explosive moment in the development of club culture and celebrate Quadrant Park together. By no means a definitive history, the project brings together the myriad memories and histories that make up that brief and explosive cultural moment. Join us to celebrate subculture’s place in the archive. A book will be available later this year, drawing together the archival materials and interviews with those who went to Quadrant Park. 

Dave Evans, lead artist said:

“Working on this project to archive material relating to Quadrant Park has been a real privilege. The material that has been contributed really captures the energy of the club and it’s great to know it will be safe and accessible for the future with Sefton Libraries. The Quad community has been so generous and it’s given me a real insight into how pivotal that time and place was in so many people’s lives.”

Over the last year, young people aged 16-24 have taken part in music production and DJ skills workshops with Melissa Kains, DJ, producer and founder of female and non-binary DJ collective Sisu Crew as well as a 6 week course with Melissa and Scrapyard Studios CIC. Visitors can hear some of the music made in these workshops on the archive which will launch on 24^th of May on the library website.

There will also be screen printing with Rhonda Davies of Liverpool Community Print Station CIC, making t-shirts and other exclusive merch. 

Original QUAD DJs John Kelly and Andy Carroll will be playing alongside special guests for the reunion party. Tickets are available here. 

The exhibition will be open at Salt & Tar on 24th May and be open for the rest of the summer. Open to all ages. 

Queue Up And Dance is a collaboration between Sefton Libraries, Rule of Threes Arts and lead artists Dave Evans and Melissa Kains. It builds on conversations between Dave and the original Quadrant Park DJs, Mike Knowler and Andy Carroll, and the vibrant and active online Quadrant Park Reunions community on Facebook.

Funded by Historic England’s Everyday Heritage grant programme, celebrating working class histories. Made possible with The National Lottery Heritage fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.

Find out more about the 35th anniversary of Quadrant Park, check out the Queue Up And Dance website. 

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