Sankeys Warehouse New Year's Day review

Image credit: Ollie Simcock

Whilst the majority of the nation were nursing their hangovers with copious amounts of junk food and Netflix, thousands were descending towards Salford for a night of dancing to sounds unleashed by some of the biggest DJs known to house music. 

Set in the legendary Victoria Warehouse, previously home to Warehouse Project and now the soon-to-be temporary home to Awakenings, the venue was perfect for new chapter of Sankeys' clubbing journey.

In the past the industrial space has been famed for its long queues, more than likely down to popular demand of the night being hosted. However, with a well organised and efficient team of stewards and security, we were quickly ushered through before being welcomed into the warm with the funky sounds of Boston Bun coming from the main room. 

What was encouraging to see whilst navigating through all four of the rooms was the amount of support for up and coming DJs. The different sections were consistently rammed full of enthusiastic clubbers dancing away to a new wave of sound, highlighting the amount of encouragement that Sankeys give fresh, talented artists attempting to break the industry.

After getting our bearings we settled in to Room 2 ready for a few hours of mixing mastery from Todd Terry. A shout out has to go Sat and Bhav, who kept the energy in the room running high until the latecomer’s arrival approximately half hour into his allotted time slot.

Nevertheless, you were aware of his presence as soon as he took to the decks. Only he would have been able to provide seamless mixes from the timeless House of Pain track ‘Jump Around’ into fiery Queen favourite ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ effortlessly during a marathon three hour run of classics.

The track selections from Terry provided a breath of fresh air from the other rooms, breaking up the potentially monotonous chain of deep house reverberations that could have ensued. For all those that have followed house music from its humble beginnings or even joined the party at a later date, he is a true icon that fully lived up to expectations. 

We managed to catch the end of an electro-heavy set from French dance connoisseur Busy P - it was the perfect reviver that geared the crowd up for the biggest personalities of the night. It's no secret that Basement Jaxx know how to put on a show, and they didn’t disappoint.

Lights streamed from the backdrop of the main room as they unleashed some of their biggest tracks including ‘Red Alert’ and ‘Where’s Your Head At’. It felt physically impossible to stop dancing – every time you felt the need to sit down or go for a break they would instantly drop another floor filler, rendering you unable to move from your spot.  

Basement Jaxx, like very few artists, are able to successfully reinvent themselves to influence a new crowd, and the reception they received at Victoria Warehouse highlighted how profound their musical effect is on both existing and developing fans

To end the new year celebrations, it was none other than the man responsible for the majority of the talent that we see and hear in today’s society - Fatboy Slim. As ‘Star 69’ (below) pulsated from the sound system, the audience began to scream in anticipation for his first drop of the night – appropriately straight into ‘Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat’ causing a tidal wave of bodies soaring through the humid air jumping frantically to the beat of the prominent snare drum.

For those that have never seen him before, what you were seeing was a true craftsman at work, he was exuding passion and determination throughout the entirety of his set. For hose that have previously seen him perform and were looking for something different may have been left a little disappointed with the similarity of the set replicating past shows.

Either way, what you were experiencing was the work of one of most incredibly gifted DJs to ever come out of the UK. Creative renditions of hits ‘Praise You’ and ‘Right Here, Right Now’ helped to mellow the crowd towards the end of the night.

As always, it was a pleasure to be a part of a set so emotional, and it’ll be exciting to see what Fatboy Slim has to offer throughout the duration of his ‘Smile High Club’ concept in the new year.

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