The Orbit

Morley is a market town and civil parish within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England.

Orbit nightclub hosted the world's biggest techno, trance and hard house DJs. During the late nineties, the club became a mecca of Northern rave culture until its sudden closure in 2003.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morley,_West_Yorkshire


Went there once but it had a lasting effect November 1998 I saw Westbam do a 4 hour set there and to this day it's still one of the best sets I've ever witnessed :)

Only 400 capacity if I recall, the layout was a bit like Utopia in Leeds where they used to have Sundissential, big circle with balcony all the way round. Mad-for-it crowd all up for a good time, no trouble, pleasant bouncers....loved it!
Lazarus
http://www.matthardwick.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20626

For all the clubbing i've done in my time - england, ibiza, continent, america / shed load of clubs... nothing nothing comes close to this place. i last went in about 2002. i'd be going since 1991. nothing comes close to this place (did i just say that). it was by far the best club i've ever been to. music, people, sound system. we used to make a night of it driving through from brid ..by hell it was something special. i have searched for other great clubs i've been to on the web and guess what.... only orbit is big on comments like the love that is shown on here. come on morley.....tell you what my throat hurt after shouting that all night. brilliant.

stewarta32934

http://leeds.myvillage.com/place/the-afterdark-club-morley-leeds

Used to love this place. As did all whoever went, (asides from the few mates I dragged along now and again who were more into Basics at the time (!)

My earliest memories are of seeing Dream Frequency live with these mad ghosts dancing on stage at the front.

Hardest night - Tanith

Messiest night - many, but one of Joey Beltrams earliest nights has to go down in personal history. The bass was so heavy on "9 millimeter" that immediate sledging occured and time was spent in the arms of a lovely girl (stranger) on one of the many flights of stairs up to the original chill-out room in the sky.

Best entertainer - Sven Vath (by a mile) numerous cans of Stella, bottles of Vodka and whatever wasn't visible to the naked eye used to go hand in hand with his set.......(then he stopped all that during '94.)

Favorite track and moment of sheer Euphoria - when the bass drops back in halfway through

Hardfloors 'Acperience'

Strangest experience - Seeing the long massage trains of the early nineties for the first time. And also many peoples faces.

Other good things - The Car Park, The Queue, Lasers, and pre-charlie amazingly friendly crowds of the early early nineties.

Oh to do it all again!
Adam Beer (barrington)
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=5508

I like to think I've kept my ear to the ground when it comes to techno. I've got Suburban Knights "The Art of Stalking" and Dave Clarke "Red 1" and "Red 2" on vinyl. I managed to eventually visit the current mecca of techno, Berghain in Berlin and saw a storming Dave Clarke set in March this year. So imagine my surprise to have stumbled across The Orbit - a night that ran from 1991 to 2003 - at Afterdark club in Morley, Leeds. I have to admit, when I'd been flicking through the pages of Mixmag back in 1999 i'd be looking out more for the likes of Paul Van Dyk and Mauro Picotto than Jeff Mills and Marco Zaffarano but how could I have missed it! I used to read that mag cover to cover.

Anyway sure enough a quick look at Mixmag November 1999 reveals that Thomas Heckmann, Justin Robertson, Ben Sims, CJ Bolland and Billy Nasty all turned up to spin some no doubt heavy shit.
A night that had Robert Hood, Jeff Mills, Derrick May, DJ Hell, Christian Vogel, Joey Beltram, CJ Bolland, Dave Angel, LFO, Marco Zaffarano and David Holmes all playing in the space of a month (December '95 - January '96) gives you some idea of it's pedigree. What really strikes me though, having had an extended cruise through Youtube is the degree to which the crowd "had it".
http://www.collectlondon.com/blogs/collect-london-blog/8086745-legendary-techno-club-the-orbit-at-afterdark-in-morley-leeds