Review: Electric Chair presents the End of Year Riot 2012 @ Legends

It seems there is one event placed by Jesus to fill the void between Santa’s birthday and New Years’ Eve. This is normally a time of eating yourself silly and listening to your Auntie’s dated views on immigration and the “attitudes of young people today”, but Manchester’s Electric Chair have a yearly plan to better this - the annual End of Year Riot at Legends which, over the past few years, has cemented itself as a must-do Yuletide event.

Arriving in a giant group I was pleasantly surprised by the greeting from the door staff. Smiling bouncers are not commonplace in Manchester and it was a refreshing change to be greeted with politeness and patience - a theme which continued for the rest of the night. Now this was my first time in Legends and by the time I left I still couldn’t figure out which way round the rooms worked or which corridor led where. The place is a delightful maze and it’s such a shame that it’s shutting down. Luckily the group I was with knew their way around, so we wandered into the Voodoo House Chamber for Chez Damier.

Chez produces and plays the perfect brand of dance music for me. It’s always good to hear the sounds of the Windy City in rainy Manchester. He kept a keen crowd entertained with a bass-heavy set, swinging from one rump-shaking bassline to another. That said, there wasn’t too much variation or anything played that was particularly of note.

With the help of more friendly staff we made our way into the main room for Crazy P. This was a much funkier affair, with a more soulful, nu-disco vibe mixed in with the house groove. It was at this point where the mood reached its climax - garments clinging to sweaty, grinding bodies in a room where no-one was too cool to dance.

The style and atmosphere continued towards the close with the Unabombers mopping up at the end with a perfect, floor-filling set. The Electric Chair legends know exactly how to work their home crowd and the scores of eager dancers were still keen to carry on for a good five minutes after the lights came up.

This was to be the last night at Legends and I hope that Electric Chair find a venue as unique and perfect for next year’s event. Whatever happens though, you can be sure that we will definitely be going.

Words: Joseph Sheridan-Ruddy

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