Club Review: REPERCUSSION - The official opening event of WHP 2022

This weekend saw the return of Manchester’s iconic clubbing calendar event, The Warehouse Project. Spanning from the start of September until the end of December, The Depot at Mayfield hosts some of the biggest names across dance music genres and I was lucky enough to bag myself a ticket for Repercussion’s opening day and night party.

I’d like to say I’m an avid Warehouse Project go-er- I’ve been to three or four events there each year and have been going for seven years now, so I’ve seen it grow from strength to strength and from venue to venue. From the small car park under the arches of Piccadilly Station to the behemoth disused railway station that is its home now, it’s fair to say it’s evolved over time.

Image credit: The Warehouse Project / Facebook.com

What I loved about The Depot at Mayfield in its inaugural seasons was the space that Store Street didn’t have. Anyone who visited Store Street knows that there wasn’t a great deal of space and it felt oversold and cramped, so when the move to Mayfield happened it was a breath of fresh air to enjoy the music in a much more expansive space.

Having said all of that, The Warehouse Project seemed to have clocked onto this because this event was the busiest I’ve ever seen at the venue. After queuing for an hour to get in and then queuing another half an hour for the toilet, my patience was already wearing quite thin.

With the event being so busy, I thought it’d be a good idea to check out the other stages aside from the main three inside the venue. During the opening parties, The Warehouse Project tend to add extra stages and this year it included The Plant Room, Temperance Street and two stages inside the pub next door, The Star & Garter. One of which, inside The Star & Garter, was hosted by the Boiler Room, so I headed there to check out the iconic platform.

Image credit: The Warehouse Project / Facebook.com

Yet again, I was met with another huge queue winding around the venue that wasn’t moving, so I quickly gave up on that idea too. It’d now been two hours since I stepped into the queue outside the venue and I still hadn’t seen one act.

At this point, I was willing to just see any artist, so I headed towards Concourse. Concourse is my favourite stage at The Warehouse Project because of how intimate it feels; it circles around the back of the DJ allowing you to get up close and personal and see the performance from a different perspective. HUNEE was on when I arrived, and my stress levels that had built up in the last two hours soon melted away as the audience soaked up his feel-good track selection. A personal highlight from his set was mixing remixes of ‘Funky Town’ and Donna Summer’s ‘Bad Girls’, and I would definitely head to see HUNEE again in the future.

Image credit: The Warehouse Project / Facebook.com

After a quick pit stop at the bar, it was Little Simz who was next up on my list in the main room, also known as The Depot. Despite not knowing many of her songs, I was still captivated by her performance alongside her live band. She regularly interacted with the crowd and took time to bounce around each side of the stage, before it was the turn of Fred Again… to take to the stage.

‘It’s Fred’s world and we’re just living in it,’ I said to my mates after his set. This was my third time seeing Fred Again… this year, I’ve seen the crowds grow bigger and bigger each time and I feel so lucky that I’ve been able to see him in spaces like The Warehouse Project as I think that he is rapidly going to become a superstar. His music unlocks emotions inside you that you’d never imagine having listening to dance/ electronic music, he radiates warmth and togetherness and it’s reflected within the crowd too as you find yourself hugging and singing along to his tunes with strangers.

Image credit: The Warehouse Project / Facebook.com

The energy within his hour-long set never dropped and I haven’t witnessed an atmosphere like that in The Warehouse Project for a long time. As his set drew to a close and he bowed out to ‘Loving Arms’, it seemed that everyone suddenly needed a breather outside to cool off.

I have never had to queue to get outside at The Depot at Mayfield venue, but this was something else. Crowds bunched around the exits to the smoking area; it felt like leaving a football game and once we got outside there was no space there either. It feels like they have definitely upped the capacity this year without making the space any bigger and sadly this tainted the experience slightly.

On paper, the huge plethora of artists and stages were extremely inviting for this event, but the constant murmur of revellers complaining that it was ‘too busy’ and ‘oversold’ lingered over the event. Was I a little disappointed? Slightly. But will I return to The Warehouse Project again this season? Most definitely. Its charm still wins me back every time and I just hope that it only felt like this because it was an opening party.

To see the full autumn/winter Warehouse Project programme and to secure yourself tickets to one or more of the upcoming events, simply click or tap - HERE.

Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.

Header image credit: The Warehouse Project / Facebook.com