Banana Hill presents Gilles Peterson at Hidden review

Image: Hidden

Banana Hill has always been associated with Sheffield, making the city its own through years of curating the best parties in the Steel City. It has been a little over a year since the duo behind the night decided to undertake a new venture across the Pennines in the rainy city.

Arriving in Manchester with a stellar reputation and the bookings to back it up, they set up shop in Soup Kitchen’s basement, and the event has gone from strength to strength since that inaugural northern party back in October 2014.

Now onto their twelfth party in Manchester, the brains behind the global sounds operation that is Banana Hill decided to take a step away from the gloomy depths of Soup Kitchen for a trip across the city to the shadows of Strangeways and the new challenger to the throne of Manchester club’s - Hidden.

It was only suitable that they secured a Banana Hill favourite - the mercurial and effervescent Gilles Peterson, who over a long and illustrious career has crafted a status as one of the best selectors and tastemakers on the planet. Be it through his DJ sets, his radio show or his Worldwide record label - if anybody knows, Gilles knows.

He opened up with seventies Turkish guitarist Selda’s 'Yaz Gazetici Yaz' before segueing into a more hip-hop focused direction with Brooklyn’s Rockamouth with his 2014 release 'Dirty Dancing' (above). He weaved seamlessly through his vast library of tracks, captivating his audience as he went along.

We have never seen a whole crowd reach for their Shazam at the same time like they did at the drop of Ogris Debris ‘See The World’. A set highlight though was DJ Spinn’s collab with Rashad and Danny Brown, 'Dubby' saw the crowd gun finger in unison. He brought a masterclass of a club set to a close with a touching tribute to the late Maurice White with Earth, Wind and Fire’s 'Africano' (below).

Gilles has built a career on being eclectic in every sense of the word, seamlessly moving between genres that not many other names on the scene could successfully meander through. It is a skill that has seen him crowned a legend, a title that he cemented even further with this whirlwind set.

Other names on the sold out line up, Cooly G and DJ Marfox, highlighted the strength of the bill even further, something which is testament to the guys behind Banana Hill, Cervo and JVC, who also had the unenviable task of following Gilles in the Blue Room. 

Manchester’s scene currently is awash with played out house and techno events, Facebook friend requests lists tell you everyday that a new promoter is bringing something 'brand new and exciting' to the city. It may be new, but it is hardly ever the latter.

That is where Banana Hill comes into its own. You may hear a 4x4 here and there, but it is what is between those beats that makes Banana Hill so unique. Expect jazz, afrobeat, soul, kwaito, kuduro, tropical disco, funk, garage and little bit of anything really. Above all, it's smiles-across-faces music. 

Catch Gilles Peterson in Sheffield on Friday 19th February for the next Banana Hill event