Last weekend at Warehouse Project in Manchester proved to be one of the best nights out we’ve ever had. Essentially a day festival, curated entirely by one of the most legendary electronic producers of all time, Four Tet, it provided endless entertainment from each stage. Depot Mayfield really showed how incredible of a venue it can be with the right acts behind the decks (and we get to go back for Jamie xx’s evening which hosts just as crazy of a line-up next month).
The evening promised magical sets from acclaimed DJs like Sherelle, Champion, Boys Noize, DJ EZ, Joy Orbison, Koreless, Goldie, and so many more. Unfortunately, we just missed Anz, and arrived shortly after Floating Points & Ben UFO finished up their 5-hour opening set, but this gives us an excuse to catch them all soon. It would have been a dream to hear Floating Points drop his remix of ‘Back To Basics’ or watch the crowd erupt as soon as ‘Bias’ plays (that’s if he even played them). There should be plenty of opportunities to see these guys at events and festivals over the next year (we hope), considering it’s just been announced that Four Tet and Floating Points are going back-to-back at Avant Gardner in New York – if our student loans were coming in any sooner, we’d be on the next flight.
Our night started off at the Concourse stage to catch some of Hunee, the fantastic DJ from Korea who started us off with a bang. We were eagerly anticipating Champion, who also delivered a setlist of non-stop bangers, he had the whole crowd under his spell. We briefly caught a glimpse of Koreless, before heading back to the Depot stage so that we could see Boys Noize deliver a mesmerising set of tunes, including fan favourite ‘Mvinline’, the disco influenced tech house tune that I’m sure everyone at least recognises. Everyone seemed to be delivering at 110% tonight, it was clearly an important evening, at an even more important venue that’s been so essential for music and rave culture.
We had to stop by the legend that is Goldie, albeit briefly as we shortly exited to get a couple drinks. After a quick break in the smoking area, we realised two of the most important acts were about to play, so we had to split our time between Sherelle and Joy Orbison. They were definitely two highlights of this excellent evening, after months of wanting to see both of them in a setting like this.
DJ EZ took hold of the venue at 11pm, one hour before the eagerly awaited Four Tet set. Dropping constant garage classics and crowd favourites, he did not let us down. It had been such a perfect evening of music so far, walking in between stages, stumbling around a bunch of equally sweaty music-heads was quite the experience in my first time at the iconic venue. It had the same atmosphere some of the best festivals carry, but with less open air and more trips to the designated smoking area. Constantly surrounded by flashing lights coming from every direction, it was an intense environment when paired with the constant sounds of some of the most creative techno, house, breakbeat, dubstep, garage, and UK bass. It was a perfect combination of sounds and with three stages housing insane talent, we were spoilt for choice and never left bored.
Closing the night was Four Tet himself, and what a special end to the night it was. His sets seem to drift between dreamy ambience and heavy hitting electronic vibrations that are as calming as they are energetic. Kieran Hebden (real name) delivered another flawless performance, which was quite similar to his Parklife set, which had us entranced in Manchester just a month ago. He played an immense array of tracks, from Overmono’s ‘So U Kno’, PinkPantheress’ ‘Break It Off’, his own single ‘Baby’, to a fantastic edit of Sugababes’ ‘Overload’ which had the whole venue hypnotised – he also previewed this track at Lost Village, and we hope it gets an official release soon. It was such a varied set that everyone was constantly left guessing what he would play next – constantly teasing unreleased material, like this trippy track he sampled at both Parklife and Lost Village this year (and was even teased by Jon Hopkins at Parklife too).
We hope Four Tet returns to Warehouse Project soon, if this night was any indicator of what he’s capable of. It should be known by now why he is such a special producer and DJ, this was just further proof. Make sure you check out the rest of Warehouse Project’s upcoming events here.