Manchester’s modern club scene continues to be world renowned, from the days of the Hacienda to the forward-thinking powerhouse that is The Warehouse Project. Both those names have redefined the clubbing experience, but the busy bees behind the city’s nightlife continue to drive their own projects forward, each week bubbling with new ideas and developments in established events.

Putting a night on in Manchester is an attractive prospect for promoters from outside of the city, who can be confident that hungry audiences await new musical experiences. Brands such as Fiesta Bombarda, Jungle Jam, Worried About Henry and Applebum have all brought their parties to the city from elsewhere and have been received with open arms.

Why Manchester?

Hip-hop party Applebum runs successfully in London, Ibiza, and various other UK spots. Last year, they touched down in Manchester and co-founder Jordan Hallpike found a unique vibe waiting for them. “We are originally from London and started our parties there. London has a huge heritage of being a creator and tastemaker of culture influenced music – the same has to be said about Manchester. Manchester as a city is extremely important to us and ever since we did our first show there, it’s been one of our biggest events in the country.”

Back in 2009 (and quite unbelievably in today’s musical climate), it was rare to hear solely hip-hop on a night out in Manchester. Juicy filled that niche nicely for the student crowd and beyond, eventually extending their brand to London and Liverpool, achieving sell-outs on a regular basis. Co-founder Christos Eleftheriades, aka Wiggie Smalls, reflects:

“For me, it was the opportunity to be a part, however small, of one of the best club scenes in the world.”

Eleftheriades also points to an inclusive attitude making things ‘a lot less scary’ when you’re starting out: “This is easy to take for granted until you see how things work in other cities”. It’s not unusual to see promoters pushing other events on social media, even if it’s something that clashes with their own night.

“I think so long as you’re doing something different and musically sincere, Manchester will embrace it. So long as you have a good idea and a have-a-go attitude, there really is very little holding you back from just putting a night on in Manchester.”

Crowd response

“Manchester is diverse and bumping, with an incredible amount of collective energy,” says Medallion Man, one of the founders of London/Bristol-originated music and arts collective Loose Lips.

In Manchester, they’ve already packed out venues putting on hip-hop label Blah Records in the Whiskey Jar basement and electronic producer Shackleton in Salford’s White Hotel. “We always find there’s a great reception from people in the build-up to an event. In some other cities, especially the capital where I live, the number of nights and constant Facebook event pages mean that special aggregated feeling which can come about in the build-up to events becomes a bit diminished. In terms of dancing and ‘whoop whoops’, Manchester’s a good ‘un as well!”

Christos concurs: “The crowds and vibe are always positive in Manchester although, unsurprisingly, expectations can be pretty high! When you can just walk into a random bar and see someone like Rich Reason (Hit and Run, Levelz) or Jonny Dub (Hoya:Hoya, Levelz) – who I regard as two of the best DJs in the country – playing great records for free, I think that kind of quality just gets normalised. From my experience, Manchester is always up for the party but as a DJ it’s hard to ever really relax – if the crowd don’t like what they hear, you’ll soon know about it pretty quickly!”

“Manchester is probably one of the most receptive cities we’ve ever played at,” adds Jordan, ‘The crowd is always musically educated, they know the old tunes but also have a real thirst for new music. The energy we get from people in Manchester is about as good as it gets!”

What makes Manchester unique?

“We have put on most of our Manchester events at Antwerp Mansion – now that is a unique venue,’ says Jordan. “When I first stepped inside (when the venue was empty, with just bar staff setting up), I thought I’d stumbled into a squat. I thought there was no way this was going to be a good venue. How wrong could I be? We had some of Applebum’s best nights there and it will be a real shame for the city when it’s gone. But, what is unique about Manchester is the ability to unearth some really cool spaces to throw parties, so I’m sure there will be another space that will fill the void soon. Our next events will be at Gorilla and Hidden, which are two of my favourite venues in Manchester.”

The diversity of the city seems to be a key component to the success of nights across the board, making Manchester unique in terms of putting an event on. Medallion Man recalls:

“I remember once coming up in the car to Manny with an older acid house crew who were in their fifties. They were all talking about Levelz and the talent across the musical spectrum in the new Mancunian generation. This was so exciting to hear because all stereotypes, age barriers, and genre barriers were just not present. Music is music!”

“Without sounding trite, it really is the camaraderie amongst Manchester DJs and promoters that makes it,’ explains Christos.

“Manchester is a big village, and the degrees of separation in the scene are minuscule. Everyone knows everyone’s business, but thankfully everyone’s there to push each other on rather than bring them down.”

Jamie Groovement