Warehouse Project 21st April 2011 Review
The former air raid shelter under Manchester’s Picadilly Station cleared out this Easter weekend to welcome 4 special shows of Warehouse Project favourites and special guests. Dubbed ‘the northern club leviathon’ by MixMag, tickets are always hard to get hold of as clubbers from around the UK want to start their Easter party in the best kind of way & the first night of the four was no exception.
Simply called ‘Welcome Back’ on the event’s Facebook page; Thursday’s line up boasted a double belgian bill of dance supremos 2ManyDjs & Aeroplane with Mixhell (That’s right, the one with the drummer from Soulfly in) & Paul Chambers topping the bill amongst others – and it was heaving.
Aeroplane’s popularity has been growing as steadily as their experimentation with rock riffs and disco melodies, producing brilliantly delicious dance beats that have even the most frigid of festival goers tapping their feet and swaying within the first few bars. 2010’s September release of their ‘We Can’t Fly’ album won rave reviews and Vito DeLuca’s DJ sets deliver on every ounce of promise that his own material musters. The familiar mix of 80s disco and Balearic beats hit me when squeezing my way into the sweaty main hall of the befitting industrial backdrop. By 11:30pm Aeroplane’s mixture of 80s throwback electronica and soulful disco anthems had filled the floor & set the crowd in motion with non-stop dancing and boogying which had everyone beaming and doing their best to sing along.
Of course, as popular as Vito’s Aeroplane are getting, the majority of the Easter weekend crowd had come for the headliners. 2ManyDjs are no strangers to the Warehouse Project and the belgian duo’s fusion of pop, dance and electro-rock powered the party atmosphere through to 4:30am. Notorious for DJ sets containing everything from the very cheesiest of pop – through to the electric power riffs of Justice & Daft Punk, they did not disappoint. If anything, Thursday’s setlist was filled with more mainstream dance tracks than usual, probably catering to the ‘holiday crowd’ that the Easter season attracts.
But I saw no disappointed faces as Zombie Nation reverberated around the Victorian brickwork arches, with the whole room – a sea of sweat and dancing bodies. Other highlights included Daft Punk’s ‘Aerodynamic’ and MGMT’s ‘Kids’ coming towards the end, both refueling even the the weariest of limbs with renewed vigor for the dance floor.
With a cold beer in hand as your only salvation to the heat of so much dancing – this was the perfect way to see in the Easter bank holiday and the ringing in your decimated ear drums – proof enough that Thursday night at the Warehouse Project really was that good.