#311. Ecstasy Explosion in London's Criminal Underworld - Joe Wieczorek
Eventful Lives Podcast
Dodge Woodall
5 • 857 Ratings
🗓️ 9 July 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
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Summary
Joe Wieczorek was at the heart of the UK’s rave explosion in the late ’80s and early ’90s. As the founder of the legendary Labyrinth parties, he helped shape the underground scene that defined a generation. In this episode, Joe takes us back to the acid house era — from warehouse missions and pirate radio to police raids, clubland wars, and the untold realities behind building one of the most iconic rave brands in the UK.
This is the eventful life of Mr Joe Wieczorek
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What was it like throwing illegal raves back in the late 80s? |
| 0:03.0 | Huge sound system, bar too big for the venue, lost an absolute fortune and absolutely loved it. |
| 0:09.0 | It was brilliant. |
| 0:10.0 | What was your journey like before you got to become a rave promoter? |
| 0:13.0 | I'd had a pub for the three years prior. |
| 0:15.0 | There was murders there. |
| 0:17.0 | There was gunfighting. |
| 0:18.0 | Someone coming one night on a motorbike through the door. |
| 0:20.0 | I don't think I've one regular, I would say, oh he's a straight guy. |
| 0:23.1 | They're all crackers. |
| 0:24.1 | As soon as you talk about a pan, though, things change. |
| 0:26.6 | And here I was at Wembley back in the dressing. |
| 0:28.1 | People coming in left, right and centre McCartney, Elton John, Bowie. |
| 0:32.1 | The madness of everyone getting boozed up, having tear-ups and fights, and then all of a sudden, in late 80s, people found ecstasy. |
| 0:42.3 | Welcome to the Eventful Lives podcast. I'm your host Dodge and I'm the founder of Bournemouth Sevens, the world's largest sport and music festival. |
| 0:49.3 | On this podcast, I speak to proper characters of all lived eventful lives. Do us a favour and hit that follow button |
| 0:55.3 | and be sure to check us out on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at Dodge Woodall, where we've |
| 1:00.6 | now had over 100 million views. Joe, welcome to the show, mate. Yeah, thank you. Let's roll all the way |
| 1:07.7 | back. What was it like throwing illegal raves back in the late 80s? |
| 1:11.8 | It was brilliant. |
| 1:14.5 | The cat and mouse, you know, the stuff that went with that, you know, you're doing something very, very different. |
| 1:22.2 | You're a little bit green, a little bit naive because, you know, as much as I've done, you know, stuff involving, you know, music and |
... |
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