A five weekend month for Sankeys means that the penultimate offering is something of a corker.
The ever expanding rise of urban music from the past as well as the future informs the return of a promotional legend on the Friday to the city, whilst 24 hours later it’s a completely different sound at the fore but one equally as dominated by heritage as it is forward thinking.
Twice as Nice bring grime MC extraordinaire Wretch 32 down with them, the Tottenham stalwart igniting the charts with the heavy ‘Traktor’
Friday sees Twice as Nice as the epicentre. During the heady superclub days of the 90s, Twice as Nice was the urban party or renown. Almost singlehandedly making Ayia Napa a destination to rival Ibiza, they perfected the smoother than smooth mixture of R&B and UK Garage, pre-empting both genre’s domination of the charts and helping push the careers of a cartel of UK pop stars such as Artful Dodger, Craig David and Shola Ama, at the same time making clubbing more upmarket and desirable.
Now Twice as Nice bring grime MC extraordinaire Wretch 32 down with them, the Tottenham stalwart igniting the charts with the heavy ‘Traktor’ which made a backing soundtrack for a series of BBC and other television shows just as readily as it tore up raves across north London and beyond. He’s been celebrated by MTV, Channel U and 1Xtra as one of the leading talents in the scene and rightfully fulfils Twice as Nice’s legacy of balancing the credible with the commercial. He’ll be joined by another chart topping star, DJ Ironik, with Twice as Nice legends Steve Sutherland and Matt ‘Jam’ Lamont adding some old school sensibility.
Then it’s the turn of the Innervisions crew to turn up alongside Mancunian deep house aficionados Treehouse. What else is there to say about Germany’s most dynamic and revered record label? Their wholly unique infusion of stringed-out soul, spacey techno and sublime house music has earmarked them as considerable masters of their craft, building intricate tapestries of sound that divulge effortlessly into the sonic abyss. One of the Innervisions cartel is a worthy achievement, but this evening sees a turn from two.
Dixon heads the bill up, who’s remix of Osunlade’s ‘Envision’ was one of the anthems of Sankeys last year. He’s the master of the elegant groove, and remains the figurehead for everything the label represents. He’ll be joined by a very special live performance from Ame, the duo who added the soul into minimal techno six years ago with sumptuous ‘Rej’ (arguably even making trance sound hypnotic and good again) , who debut their performance in all its analogue glory. Fellow German Daniel Bortz heads up an equally stunning support cast which also includes old Sankeys heads H2 who have recently released on Get Physical and Cecille, Dirty Channels, Beatstreet and Us & Them.
The Full Line-Ups
Twice as Nice
Friday 23th March
Wretch 32
DJ Ironik
Steve Sutherland
Matt ‘Jam’ Lamont
NUS £10 available in Gaffs and O.T.D all night
Early bird £10 / Advanced £12 / Standard £15
11pm – 5am
Treehouse presents
Saturday 24th March
Dixon,
Ame (Live)
Daniel Bortz
H2
Dirty Channels
Beatstreet
Us & Them
NUS £10 available in Gaffs and O.T.D all night
Early bird £10 / Advanced £12 / Standard £15
11pm – 6am
Sankeys
4 Radium Street
Manchester
M4 6AY
Tel: + 44 (0) 161 236 5444
www.sankeys.info
