Venue Focus: Bowlers, Manchester

As rave culture engulfed the country in the mid eighties, one of the most iconic venues to continually give home to the burgeoning scene was massive 4500 capacity monolith Bowlers. As time has passed, rave culture in this country has in part seemed to have lost its potency, with the original soul and spirit being lost along the way.

The same cannot be said of Manchester's Bowlers.

Resolutely purveying everything that made rave culture great, Bowlers continues to host the biggest, most audacious rave ups that regularly fall into legendary status. It's with that in mind that we take a little look ahead to see what the rave giants have planned for the coming months.

Totally Lost It - Valentines Massacre

Friday 14th of February sees Bowlers invite 'Totally Lost It' to curate a darkly enticing twist on Valentines Day, with their attention grabbing 'Valentine's Massacre' party.  Forget the usual fare of taking your loved one out for a meal, or enjoying a nice quiet romantic date somewhere exotic - 'Totally Lost It' instead enlist the cream of the hardcore and hardstyle scene for an all guns blazing assault on your senses.

Angerfist, Gammer, MC Whizzkid and Re-Con all line up to destroy the main arena, whilst gabber, industrial and hardstlye impresarios The Demon Dwarf, Jay Prescott, Joey Riot and Unix Clan take over 'The Cave', primed to tear you a new one. 

These tickets are on sale for Totally Lost It - Valentines Massacre. Skiddle.com is an official ticket outlet for this event. All credit card purchases you make at Skiddle.com are encrypted through our Secure Server Technology

Ticket sales from Skiddle

Bowlers 22nd Birthday

Saturday 1st of March sees our beloved venue turn the ripe old age of 22. Age hasn't slowed the pace of the infamous locale, with everyone involved proving to be more ready to party than ever. All five arenas will be crammed with old skool royalty as the birthday party unleashes itself on the Bowlers faithful.

Favourites like Stu Allan, Ratpack, Paul Taylor, Rob Tissera and Mark XTC takeover the main room for a blistering selection of Old Skool classics. Elsewhere expect to witness the very best in happy hardcore, bounce, drum n bass and straight up house as Bowlers parties its way into its 23rd year of operations.

These tickets are on sale for Bowlers22 Bowlers 22nd Birthday Party. . Skiddle.com is an official ticket outlet for this event. All credit card purchases you make at Skiddle.com are encrypted through our Secure Server Technology

Tickets for sale from Skiddle

Fifteen Years of Sidewinder

At the heart of the grime scene since 1999, Sidewinder has over time established itself as perhaps the most important urban night outside of London. As up and coming grime artists left the confines of London to hone their skills in the wider world, Sidewinder became one of the most pioneering spirits with forward thinking underground music.

Some of the biggest names in the scene have cut their teeth at Sidewinder. The likes of Dizzee Rascal, Lethal Bizzle and Wiley have all been involved in the night's illustrious past. Having grown from a small 300 person venue to a mammoth 3000 capacity home in milton keynes, Sidewinder has certainly made its name at the epicentre of grime, garage and bass music, with audiences continual enthralled by the countries finest MCs as they battle it out in spectacular displays of linguistic dexterity.

Their 15th birthday sees Luck & Neat, Cameo, Pay As You Go, Martin 'Liberty' Larner and Trudos headline the Main Arena, with Bassline bosses Jamie Duggan and DJ Q leading the way in in the Down:Load arena next door. Deep house too will be on the menu in the ShapeShifter Arena, with Lance Morgan, Arun Verone and Spice getting the dancefloor bouncing.

These tickets are on sale for SIDEWINDER 15TH BIRTHDAY | BOWLERS MANCHESTER | 5000 CLUBBERS | 35 DJ'S & LIVE ACTS . Skiddle.com is an official ticket outlet for this event. All credit card purchases you make at Skiddle.com are encrypted through our Secure Server Technology

Tickets for sale from Skiddle

s2s Festival - Battle of the Brands

The mighty Sunrise 2 Sunset party starters are next on Bowlers' guest list. Despite this only being their fourth event, previous sell out appearances at Blackpool's North Pier (below) and their massive Winter Wonderland party at the finale of 2013 announced the arrival of a new raving superpower.

Making their eagerly anticipated debut at Bowlers, S2S have hooked in a killer line up of some of the North West's biggest and best promoters to hail their Manchester arrival in emphatic fashion. As for the music, Kissy Sellout, Julie McKnight, The Wideboys and Majestic are among some of the dance music luminaries to take to the main arena.

Beat Freak and Fresh are at the controls in Arena two, with a fresh line up of Electro and Jackin ambassadors taking centre stage. Arena three welcomes a scintillating deep house and bass music bill courtesy of Sanction and Abyss, and Old Skool Manchester legends Stu Allan, K-Klass and Butty & Recca headline the Bowlers Vs Back by Dope Demand, with a jam packed roster of house music hedonists at the helm.

These tickets are on sale for S2S Festival - Battle Of The Brands. Skiddle.com is an official ticket outlet for this event. All credit card purchases you make at Skiddle.com are encrypted through our Secure Server Technology

Ticket sales powered by Skiddle

Keep up to date with all the latest news by joining the Bowlers group here.

Looking into what Festivals to do this summer? We are too. Keep your finger on the festival pulse at our special section right here.