Haçienda 40 – a time capsule, and fantastic tribute to the heydey of Manchester nightlife

Have you ever longed about the heyday of Manchester nightlife? Sad you didn’t grow up the same time as your parents to see rave culture flourish? Wished you could teleport back to the rise of dance punk, new wave, acid house, and hear the sounds of Blue Monday bellowing from a sound system? Well, these are things I often think about, so, naturally, Haçienda 40 was the perfect celebration of all things Madchester.

Of course, in name, a tribute to the Haçienda nightclub, owned by label Factory Records, and New Order, which opened in the early 1980s and was home to a generation of young ravers coming of age – many of whom were likely at Haçienda 40 – it was refreshing to see a mixed crowd of students and the older generation, united by sounds and vibrations straight from the 80s and 90s.

The Haçienda unfortunately closed its doors in 1997, leaving fans of the venue devastated, and outraged at the venue being replaced by ‘The Hacienda Apartments’. Despite being demolished in 2002 and replaced by flats, people have clearly been desperate for some sort of a renaissance, whether that be by bidding on demolished bits of the building at auctions, or even going as far as to raving in the car park of the Haçienda flats.

Despite its closure, luckily ravers still had converted warehouse The Republic (renamed Gatecrasher One) in Sheffield from 1996, but unfortunately even they had to close their doors in 2007 after a fire.

40 years on from the Haçienda’s opening, there’s still a silver lining – we may not even have the Warehouse Project without the legacy of the Haçienda, and they’re helping to keep its name alive. On the 12^th November 2022, the Haçienda time capsule came to life, as everyone raved till the early hours of the morning with likeminded youngsters and gravers, embracing the youth culture of the 80s and 90s.

The celebration party had some huge live performances to add to the authentic feel of the era they were striving for – booking indie-dance icons Happy Mondays, the ever fantastic, trippy Oribital brothers, UK legends 808 State, and US royalty CeCe Rogers.

Whilst missing out on some fantastic names like Chad Jackson, Todd Terry, and Kerri Chandler, we did get to see some fantastic talent that made it an overwhelming salute to all things Manchester. The first act we were lucky enough to see was 808 State – synonymous with the golden era of acid house and their set of euphoric jams at the Depot stage did not disappoint.

CeCe Rogers made a splash next at Concourse, and it felt like we were in the presence of dance music higher powers as he worked his way through a set of crowd pleasers, interacting with the crowd and constantly hyping up the whole audience.

We made a brief appearance for the House Gospel Choir, a group I’d wanted to see for quite a while, with their unique tribute to house classics. They were for sure highlights of the evening, but maybe not quite as ecstatic as the party Happy Mondays provided.

Happy Mondays powered through a set of absolute classics, including but not limited to Step On, Kinky Afro, and Twenty Four Hour Party People. It was like being in the BBC show Life On Mars (coincidentally set in Manchester), except if you fast forwarded 15 years as everyone experience the rise of Madchester together, united by the boundary pushing, ground-breaking music. Seeing Bez gleefully smile as he played the maracas and joked around with Shaun Ryder joke around on stage was certainly a highlight of this year (having previously only seen Shaun come out for his pal Damon Alburn at Gorillaz shows).

Maybe the best set of the night, was the last one we saw – Orbital. The Techno legends made 2 hours seem like 10 minutes as they got through a monstrous set of glitchy classics, as the speakers rattled our skulls and vibrated our whole bodies. The light show and stage set up was mind blowing, as we peered up at the duo on their throne of decks and visuals. It was a truly incredible way to end the evening and has me holding out for Haçienda 50 already.

Although the golden era of Hewan Clake and acid house is a distant memory, Haçienda 40 was what I imagine the closest thing to stepping into a time machine and soaking in the sounds that defined a generation. I can only assume though, the club was opened and closed before I was even born.

Clearly, the cities thriving underground music scene lives on through establishments like the Warehouse Project, housing hundreds of versatile names in the enormous venue. Check out the rest of the Warehouse Project’s calendar here.