Stage 3 was my favourite club in the late 70's early 80's and I used to drive 80 miles each way with friends on a Saturday nigt to visit it from North London. We came on the first Saturday with the advertising on Capital Radio promising something special. And it was the first UK disco (I believe) where proper music mixing took place. The opening DJ was Peter Romer, a German DJ who had been trained in the techniques used in New York's Studio 54. He was great at mixing and I always remember Dan Hartman's Instant Replay went down well. The sound system was superb with base coming from four Cerwin Vega base boxes. What was also special was the lighting at the club and the light jockey who used to work alongside the DJ. Rather than just having random flashing lights of a multitude of colours, the different lighting elements were colour co ordinated (eg slower helicopter lights all in red) and the light jock would play them to suit the mood of the music. There were also neon lights and lasers that I hadnt see before. Every so often, smoke would be released from vents on the dance floor to fill the whole place with thick fog (simulated). This gave the place a fantastic atmosphere and made the beams of the lights show up even more. We got friendly with the DJ Peter and he stayed with one of my friends in London before moving back to Germany. I believe my friend went there to work with him, but we lost contact so I am not sure on that. However I am pleased to say that I got the original advert tape for Stage 3 as played on Capital Radio in 1979. Although we stopped going eventually, moving to Xenon in London when Peter Romer set them up too, I was very sorry to hear that Stage 3 had burnt down in 1989. If anyone has some pictures of the old place, maybe even a plan, I'd be very interested to see them
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