Club review: Welcome to The Warehouse @ The Warehouse Project, 08/04/12

Easter weekend is quite simply the biggest weekend on the clubbing calendar. From Thursday right through to Sunday, major cities the length and breadth of the country are spoilt for choice as to what night to get to. And of course, Manchester was no different. 

One night stole all the headlines not only Up North but country wide - and that was The Warehouse Project; now in its brand new home at Trafford Park. There was as much excitement surrounding the whereabouts, the size and generally how the new venue would work as there was about the music. The fact that the location of the venue was only released a week before Easter only heightened the hysteria.

On arrival (thankfully we had a mini-bus drop us at the door because god knows where we were!) we were presented with what seemed like organised chaos. It was only 8pm and there were people everywhere - they were being herded through the main entrance like cattle. I think it was a case of getting everyone in as quickly as possible but by the distressed looks on the faces on some people, perhaps a little too quickly. 

Once through the main entrance our group was instantly split up into smaller groups. It’s quite manic at the entrance as it’s the only way in and out, as well as the way to the smoking area and toilets. The first room we walked into was Room Two, which is similar in size to the Store Street main room in that it’s quite long and narrow. We quickly realised it was Eats Everything up behind the decks and as much as we would have loved to see him we ventured off to find the main room to watch Claude Von Stroke.

The scale of the main room is difficult to describe. It’s beyond anything we imagined when setting off for this marathon of a night. It’s an arena rather than a room in a club, yet when the lights behind the main stage were dimmed - as in Claude's set -  it felt intimate. We made our way down to the front. Having seen Claude a couple of times I had high hopes and couldn’t wait for a hit of that Dirtybird sound him and his boys are so famous for. What I especially love about seeing Claude is he doesn’t seem to care about restricting his sets to one genre. He seems to slide effortlessly between Detroit techno into liquid d&b and through to some style I can’t quite put my finger on but definitely has somewhat of a hip hop underlay to it. Such a unique sound.

Off back to the second room for Julio Bashmore then, or so we thought. With the main room being as big as it is, it takes forever to wind your way through the endless ravers having a good time. We got there to catch the end of his set which sounded typically deep as to be expected from a guy who for me is the biggest name in deep house at this moment in time. Never mind, eh.

Next up in the main room was the techno legend Carl Craig, whose label Planet E recently celebrated 20 years. Tonight Carl was performing his 69 live show, so we thought it only right that we go and check it out. We headed back to the main room - avoiding the temptation to be lured into the third room - and managed to catch the end of Maya Jane Coles as she handed over the reins to Carl Craig.  What struck us instantly were the retina popping visuals behind the DJ booth. They’re reminiscent of the old venue but at least three times the size – mind blowing to say the least. It was quite a journey which Carl took us on, toying with us by bringing the beat in and out - and all of this beautifully magnified by the visuals.

Up next was what I personally had been looking forward to the most. I craved the Desolat experience that I knew Loco Dice had in store for us. As much as I love being taken on a ‘journey’ when listening to a set there is nothing like a DJ just playing tune after tune, back to back drops. Loco Dice managed this for a solid two hours. Just when you thought he was calming things down for you to have a break, another Cocoon style beat would bring the party right back up to another crescendo. Things got way too busy (and sweaty) for our liking when Jamie Jones took over the helm in the main room so we made our way to Room 3 for Scuba. 

Having known very little about Scuba before coming to this night I have to say he absolutely smashed Room 3 to pieces, for me pipping the big boys to the post for my set of the night. He played a great mix of tech house leading into 90’s style house at the back end of the set. Even though Room 3 was a lot quieter than the main room we still didn’t manage to escape the sweat. It has to be said, for such a massive venue it is volcanically hot - something for the organisers to look into for the Autumn season perhaps!

We leave more than happy, catching the end of M.A.N.D.Y as we do which is the perfect way to end a night of high grade music. 

The question that everybody wants answering is how the new venue compares to Store Street. For me, it is just on a completely different scale - and with it being the opening weekend there were bound to be a few issues which need sorting out. It’s too early to tell, but it definitely has the potential and has most certainly taken the club scene in Manchester to another level. Fair play, WHP!

Words: Dom Citarella

Photo: Sebastian Matthes, Manox Photography

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