The Warehouse Project

Last updated

The Warehouse Project
Exterior of Manchester Mayfield.jpg
The current Mayfield venue, pictured in 2020
The Warehouse Project
Location Mayfield Depot (2019–present)
Store St., Manchester (2014–2018)
Victoria Warehouse, Trafford (2012–2013)
Store St., Manchester (2007–11)
Strangeways Brewery, Manchester (2006)
Type Nightclub
Genre(s) House, techno, Trance, electro, live concerts
Capacity 10,000 [1]
Opened2006
Website
www.thewarehouseproject.com

The Warehouse Project is a series of club nights organised in Greater Manchester, England, since 2006. Unlike most other clubs, it has a limited seasonal approach rather than running all year. Each year's season runs from September through to New Year's Day, plus occasional one off dates such as Bank Holiday weekends. This period corresponds with the busiest time of the year and the student calendar. [2]

Contents

History

Warehouse Project events were held underneath Piccadilly station (Store Street) from 2014 to 2018, and were also previously held there from 2007 to 2011. Piccadilly Station Manchester - geograph.org.uk - 692981.jpg
Warehouse Project events were held underneath Piccadilly station (Store Street) from 2014 to 2018, and were also previously held there from 2007 to 2011.

The Warehouse Project was initially started as a joint venture by Sacha Lord and Sam Kandel, who both had previous involvement with the Sankeys nightclub in Manchester. [2] It began operations in the disused Boddingtons Brewery in Strangeways, and then moved into a space under Manchester Piccadilly station, on Store Street, which previously served as an air raid shelter. [3]

On 14 July 2011, The Warehouse Project announced that the 2011 season would be the last ever WHP event at Store Street. [4] This was followed by a later announcement on 22 March 2012 that the 2012 season would be based at the Victoria Warehouse, to the west of Manchester city centre in Trafford Park, near Old Trafford football stadium. [5] The club remained at this location for the 2013 season as well. In late 2013, rumours started that The Warehouse Project was due to move to the disused Mayfield Depot next to Manchester Piccadilly station from 2014 but a planning application was subsequently withdrawn in September 2013. The Warehouse Project's 2013 season drew to a close at the end of the year, with a final closing party on 1 January 2014 at the Victoria Warehouse venue. [6]

Despite the announcement made in 2011, the 2014 season returned to Store Street, in a move described by the organisers as returning to their "spiritual home" for one last year. [7] During this time, the owners of Mayfield Depot decided to redevelop their site rather than retaining it as a cultural venue, [8] so the 2015 season was again located at Store Street.

The 2017 season was announced in July 2017, with 31 shows at Store Street from September that year. [9] [10] The "last ever" event at Store Street was held in 2018. [11]

In 2019, the events moved to a refurbished Mayfield Depot. [12] [13]

Music and artists

Since its foundation, the club has played host to numerous internationally acclaimed DJs such as Carl Cox, Sven Väth, Aphex Twin, Richie Hawtin, Deadmau5, Annie Mac, Pete Tong, Armand Van Helden and Erick Morillo, and musicians such as De La Soul, Happy Mondays, Chic, The Prodigy, Disclosure, Basement Jaxx and Foals. [14] In 2007, The Warehouse Project was voted by dance music magazine Mixmag as the best club in the United Kingdom. [15] In 2013, The Warehouse Project was voted by DJ Magazine as the "Best Club Series" in the magazine's Best of British Awards. [16]

The Warehouse Project is noted for placing international DJs alongside less established artists.

Awards and nominations

DJ Magazine's top 100 clubs

YearPositionNotesRef.
201319New entry [17]
201426 [18]
201512 [19]
201628 [20]
201717 [21]
201827 [22]
201926 [23]
202011 [24]
20219 [25]
20228 [26]

Fatalities

Two high-profile deaths have occurred at The Warehouse Project, those of Nick Bonnie and Souvik Pal, alongside several reports in the media of near-misses. [27] [28] These incidents resulted in calls from local councillors such as David Acton and Mike Cordingley for the licence to be revoked or reviewed. [29] However, police statements have countered this, with high-ranking officers supporting the club and its management. [30] Sixteen individuals were hospitalised during the first weekend of the 2013 season from taking drugs at the venue, [29] and also included drug dealers at the club who attempted to avoid arrest by swallowing all their stash. [27]

Souvik Pal

At the end of the 2012 season, on New Year's Eve, Souvik Pal was escorted out of the club. [31] He was subsequently found dead in the adjacent canal later that month. [32] [33] The unexplained death was later reclassified as a murder investigation after reports of Pal being seen leaving the area with an unknown individual after being thrown out of the club. [32] Although the death did not occur on the premises of the club, local councilors questioned whether the security at the club was sufficient. [31]

Nick Bonnie

On the very first night of the 2013 season, a group of friends from Gloucestershire attended the opening event at The Warehouse Project. [30] During the course of the night, one of their party fell ill and had to be taken to hospital, where he later died due to an overdose of an illegal drug he had consumed at The Warehouse Project. Initially, it was believed that Bonnie had purchased the drug inside the club from a dealer, largely due to testimony of his friends, and this led to police and media fears of a "bad" batch of ecstasy, possibly laced with PMA. [29] However, in subsequent court proceedings, the friends admitted to having invented this story to cover that they had brought the drug into the club themselves. [34] The fall out from the death led to further calls for the club's licence to be reviewed, [29] and in the following days further hospital statements contributed to media reporting that the club itself had become an unacceptable risk. [35]

The club responded to this by increasing in the number of medical and security staff at the venue. [28] Various national politicians, including the then Prime Minister David Cameron, commented on the incident and the dangers posed by people taking illegal drugs at clubs such as The Warehouse Project, calling it a tragic death. [36]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Digweed</span> British DJ, record producer and actor

Thomas John Digweed is a British DJ and record producer. DJ Magazine voted him the World No. 1 DJ in 2001. As well as achieving success as a solo act, he has collaborated with Sasha as Sasha & John Digweed, and with Nick Muir as Bedrock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rave</span> Dance party

A rave is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance music scene when DJs played at illegal events in musical styles dominated by electronic dance music from a wide range of sub-genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, trap, break, happy hardcore, techno, hardcore, house, and alternative dance. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Haçienda</span> Former nightclub in Manchester, England

The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England, which became famous during the Madchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Knuckles</span> American DJ and record producer (1955–2014)

Francis Warren Nicholls Jr., known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of music that began in Chicago during the early 1980s and subsequently spread worldwide. In 1997, Knuckles won the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical. Due to his importance in the development of the genre, Knuckles was often called "The Godfather of House Music".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gareth Emery</span> British music producer and DJ (born 1980)

Gareth Thomas Rhys Emery is a British trance music producer and DJ. He is best known for his three studio albums Northern Lights, Drive and 100 Reasons to Live, and winning the prestigious A State of Trance Tune of the Year award three times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twisted Wheel Club</span>

The Twisted Wheel was a nightclub in Manchester, England, open from 1963 to 1971. It was one of the first clubs to play the music that became known as Northern Soul.

<i>DJ Mag</i> British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs

DJ Magazine is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Latin America, China, South Korea, Brunei, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Russia, Belarus, and the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Wilson (DJ)</span>

Greg Wilson is an English DJ and producer associated with both the early 1980s electro scene in Manchester and the current disco/re-edit movement. He is also a writer/commentator on dance music and popular culture.

Electronic dance music (EDM), also known as dance music, club music, or simply dance, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres made largely for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. It is generally produced for playback by DJs who create seamless selections of tracks, called a DJ mix, by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Star and Garter, Manchester</span>

The Star and Garter is a pub in Manchester, England, with a room upstairs for club nights and gigs, on Fairfield Street behind Piccadilly railway station. If has been a Grade II listed building since 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Mayfield railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Manchester Mayfield is a former railway station in Manchester, England, on the south side of Fairfield Street next to Manchester Piccadilly station. Opened in 1910, Mayfield was constructed as a four-platform relief station adjacent to Piccadilly to alleviate overcrowding. In 1960, the station was closed to passengers and, in 1986, it was permanently closed to all services having seen further use as a parcels depot.

Acid house is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesizer-sequencer, an innovation attributed to Chicago producer Sleezy D.

Sankeys is a nightclub franchise with its first nightclub in Ancoats, Manchester, United Kingdom. The company formerly operated a nightclub in Playa d’en Bossa, Ibiza and opened a New York City venue in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parklife (festival)</span> Two-day pop and dance music festival in Manchester, England

Parklife is an annual two-day music festival in Manchester, England and takes place in June each year. The festival predominantly features dance and electronic music, as well as pop and hip-hop artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Martinez Brothers</span> American music duo

The Martinez Brothers are a duo of disc jockeys, music producers, and remixers from The Bronx, New York known for their long-term residencies at clubs in Ibiza. In 2014 they were named as DJs of the year by Mixmag, who wrote that "no other DJ or DJ duo encapsulates house music in 2014 like the crown princes of DC10."

Skiddle is a primary ticket outlet and online events guide based in the UK, with offices in Manchester, Liverpool, London and Preston dealing with event bookings, registrations, promotion and online ticket sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Intalex</span> English disc jockey and musician (1971–2017)

Marcus Julian Kaye, better known by his stage name Marcus Intalex, was an English drum and bass producer, DJ and musician. He additionally made house and techno music under the pseudonym Trevino. Between 1993 and 2000 he co-hosted the drum-and-bass radio show Da Intalex on Kiss 102 FM in Manchester. Kaye was the founder of the Soul:R, Revolve:R, and Birdie recording labels, and was active as a DJ, record producer, and touring artist from 1991 until his death in May 2017. His albums included the 2007 release FabricLive.35 and the 2011 release 21.

Sacha John Edward Lord is a British co-creator of the Parklife festival and The Warehouse Project. He is also the Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, appointed by Mayor Andy Burnham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printworks (London)</span> Venue in Rotherhithe, London

Printworks was a nightclub and events venue in Rotherhithe, South London, located in the former Harmsworth Quays printing plant, which printed newspapers including the Daily Mail and Evening Standard until 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoom</span> 1987–1990 dance music event

Shoom was a weekly all-nighter dance music event in London, England, between September 1987 and early 1990. It is widely credited with initiating the acid house movement in the UK. Shoom was founded by Danny Rampling, who was then an unknown DJ and record producer, and managed by his wife Jenni. It began at a 300-capacity basement gym on Southwark Street in South London. By May 1988, its growing popularity necessitated a move to the larger Raw venue on Tottenham Court Road, Central London, and a switch from Saturday to Thursday nights. Later relocations were to The Park Nightclub, Kensington and Busby's venue on Charing Cross Road.

References

  1. "The Warehouse Project Manchester | Events and tickets for The Warehouse Project in Manchester". Skiddle.com. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Five minutes with... Sacha Lord-Marchionne and Sam Kandel, founders of the Warehouse Project | Interview". EN for Business. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  3. "The Warehouse Project". djmag.com. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  4. "Latest News: Composit Music". Skiddle.com. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  5. "History". Victoria Warehouse. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  6. Blake, David (28 August 2013). "Manchester Mayfield railway station". Manchester Confidential. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  7. "Warehouse Project announces 2014 season launch party". Manchester Evening News. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  8. "Warehouse Project plans to move into Mayfield Depot scrapped after owners pull out". Manchester Evening News. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  9. "The Warehouse Project 2017 Lineups Announced".
  10. Daly, Rhian (19 July 2017). "The Warehouse Project reveals full line-up for 2017 edition". NME.
  11. Heward, Emily (25 July 2018). "Warehouse Project tickets on sale for final Store Street line up". Manchester Evening News.
  12. Pellant, Georgina (18 September 2019). "Inside Mayfield Depot - The Warehouse Project's new home for 2019". I Love Manchester.
  13. Paine, Andre (25 June 2019). "Warehouse Project moves to Depot, unveils 2019 season". MusicWeek.
  14. "Topic: News In Efficient Options For Garcinia Extract". 4clubbers. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  15. "Manchester's most influential club in the last five years: The Warehouse Project". Viva Lifestyle. 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  16. "Best club series: The Warehouse Project". 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  17. "Top 100 Clubs 2013". DJ Mag.
  18. "Top 100 Clubs 2014". DJ Mag.
  19. "Top 100 Clubs 2015". DJ Mag.
  20. "Top 100 Clubs 2016". DJ Mag.
  21. "Top 100 Clubs 2017". DJ Mag.
  22. "Top 100 Clubs 2018". DJ Mag.
  23. "Top 100 Clubs 2019". DJ Mag.
  24. "Top 100 Clubs 2020". DJ Mag.
  25. "Top 100 Clubs 2021". DJ Mag.
  26. "Top 100 Clubs 2022". DJ Mag.
  27. 1 2 "Suspected drug dealer critically ill after swallowing drugs at Warehouse Project". Manchester Evening News. 29 September 2013.
  28. 1 2 "Woman hospitalised after taking drugs at Warehouse Project comes out of coma". Manchester Evening News. 7 October 2013.
  29. 1 2 3 4 "Warehouse Project: Revealed, shocking full toll of drug horror at death club". Manchester Evening News. 1 October 2013.
  30. 1 2 "Warehouse Project tragedy: Man from Gloucestershire dies and five others hospitalised after taking ecstasy". Manchester Evening News. 28 September 2013.
  31. 1 2 "Missing Manchester students father arrives in UK from India to help search". The Guardian. 8 January 2013.
  32. 1 2 "Mystery man on bridge may hold clue over death of Warehouse Project clubber". Manchester Evening News. 31 October 2013.
  33. "Souvik Pals body found in canal near spot where he disappeared". Manchester Evening News. 23 January 2013.
  34. "Pals of Warehouse Project drug-death clubber Nick Bonnie walk free after admitting lies over tragedy". Manchester Evening News. 20 October 2014.
  35. "Hospital staff left in tears by spate of bad ecstasy victims". Manchester Evening News. 1 October 2013.
  36. "Charity workers drugs death". ITV. 30 September 2013.

53°28′37″N2°13′52″W / 53.477°N 2.231°W / 53.477; -2.231