Incredible music, crowd full of trance lovers who were there for one thing. To party to a quality line up of dance music at 140bpm. DMM sent two Venus virgins down to one of the North West’s coolest clubs to have their cherry popped by the likes of Craig Connelly, Alex M.O.R.P.H, Andy Moor, Greg Downey and more.

Alex M.O.R.P.H. - Destroyer of nightclubs

Slightly hidden at the top of Deansgate, lies a venue created by clubbers and dance music lovers, built to carry on Manchester’s quality legacy of music in the City. Safe in the hands of RONG Audio, we turned up to a club where the dance floor was already packed full of clubbers, dancing to the incredibly talented DJ Craig Connelly. Being a trance night, the crowd were there for the music, not the scene, which made for a great atmosphere of people purely there to enjoy their shared passion for the genre.

If you like really class trance music, get your arse down to the next Rong event in June. It’s all about the music

The venue itself is well laid out for nights like this and the incredible Bitch nights (the next one is tonight and we can’t wait). You’re immediately in the club as you walk in the dance floor to the right will be packed with happy revellers. There are good areas for a chillout drink, at pretty good prices for a club, and another room full of trance addicts at the back, with another bar. The bar staff are quick and friendly, just what you need for a sneaky 5 minutes off the dance floor to recharge.

As for music, if it’s good enough for Gareth Emery, it’s good enough for DMM, Mr Emery’s casual appearance being a credit to the night and the venue. We’re no strangers to Craig Connelly, he smashes the clubs everywhere he goes and last night was no exception. The main room was bouncing to his every beat and he seemed to enjoy himself too. (There is nothing worse than a DJ who looks bored, CC was definitely not that!)

The insanely gifted Alex M.O.R.P.H took the reigns for our other highlight of the night, his first track took a minute or so to kick in but when it did, he tore Venus up. Very friendly bloke too, plenty of pics with clubbers, banter and the rest. This is what we love about trance, people are there for the music and the DJ’s love the people back because of it.

The next RONG night @ Venus, is in June. Be there! The guys from RONG are also sending trance fans to Ibiza for some incredible packed 6 nights of VIP clubbing, 5 free parties, 4 superclub admissions, 3 star hotel, 2 meet & greet events and an insane boat party from as little as £269pp.

Massive thanks to both RONG and Venus for last night, top event, top club and top people… We’re fans.

Bitch at Venus tonight 28th April 2012, with Gina Star and co

Tickets for RONG’s Island of Trance, Ibiza in September 2012

Warehouse Project 2012 - New Venue

So, Easter Bank Holiday Weekend is nearly upon us and wow what a massive weekend it’s set to be in Manchester. Birmingham has Circoloco, Liverpool has a huge night at Cream but the Mancunian clubbers clearly have the pick of the lot.

Benny Benassi @ Sankeys, Thursday 7th April
The legend that is Mr Benny Benassi is hitting Sankeys hard on Thursday to kick off the Easter weekend in style, alongside Belguk and friends. Tickets are still available, £12 each  but order quickly from Skiddle.

Warehouse Project – Good Friday
One of the biggest nights of 2012 so far, Good Friday promises to be an absolute belter. Massive names in the World of dance music / house music, including fellow Swedes Axwell and Eric Prydz, DMM regulars James Zabiela (listen to his download from December’s WHP here…), John Digweed, Joris Voorn, Nic Fanciulli (tipped by Pete Tong to be riduclously big in 2012) and WHP residents of Krysko and  Greg Lord, joined by Lewis Boardman in room 2.

The first night in the new Trafford Wharf Road venue and the first WHP event since the close of Store St, (R.I.P. Forever in our hearts … ) should be an interesting one. No doubt the venue will be red hot and the line-up immense but will the legendary atmosphere remain? We think it will, so bring it on! DMM will be down on the night, so expect a solid review before Sunday’s next installment!

Tribal Sessions @ Sankeys  with Steve Lawler, Francois K and more – Saturday 7th April
Yet another quality, World class line up at Sankeys, (how do they do it week in week out?) when Steve Lawler leads out the Tribal Sessions crew onto the infamous Manchester nightclub’s decks. Tickets are for some reason still available online, at a respectable £12 from Skiddle, so order now to not be disappointed.

Music @ Dawn, Bassment Club, Manchester  - Saturday 7th April
Relatively new, early morning house night M@D hit Dance Music Manchester by storm at their last night, we shared their fantastic podcast on Soundcloud via Twitter yesterday (listen online / download now!) so we figured we just had to include them in  our Easter Weekend preview. Why not head down after Sankeys, it’s only down the road? View the M@D Facebook Page for more information.

Nina Kraviz - WHP Easter Sunday 2012

Warehouse Project Easter Sunday
At the end of what promises to be a messy Manchester weekend lies a corker of a night, again at the new Warehouse Project venue on Trafford Wharf Road, near Old Trafford. Sold out months ago, the incredible line up includes Loco Dice, Jamie Jones, Carl Craig presenting 69 Live, Maya Jane Coles, Claude Von Stroke, Benoit and Sergio, Phillip Jung (M.A.N.D.Y), Julio Bashmore, Heidi, the incredibly talented (and drop dead gorgeous, see the picture on the right..) Nina Kraviz, Scuba, Eats Everything, XXXY and residents Krysko, Damu, Greg Lord and Andro. Wow. *Pauses for breath.

*(Both WHP nights open at 7, finishing at 4am)

The incredible and eclectic Gareth Emery, founded the Garuda label three years ago and to celebrate, Emery and his legendary team touch down at one of Dance Music Manchester’s favourite spots, Sankey’s, this March with a selection of artists who’ve featured on the label since 2009 alongside some of the North’s best local talent. This will be Garuda’s ONLY show at Sankeys in 2012 making the party even more unmissable.

In Sankeys the line-up speaks for itself: alongside Gareth Emery we welcome a very special headline guest in the legendary John O’Callaghan for his first ever Garuda show. If you’ve ever caught a JOC set in the past, you’ll know the devastation he’ll be unleashing on Sankey’s Funktion 1 system. Alongside them, we’re lucky to have caught Texas based Tritonal on one of their rare UK appearances. This North American due are one of the hottest acts in the world of trance right now and for their Manchester debut they’ll be showing us why.

Next up is Jochen Miller who we felt we needed to bring back to Manchester after his stunning performance supporting Armin van Buuren at The Warehouse Project in September, and Garuda young gun Ben Gold, who’s debut album will be dropping this year. Finally, Garuda’s own Craig Connelly completes the line-up with his UK debut, and where better to have it than Manchester?

In Spektrum, Godskitchen and Global Gathering resident Mark Eteson headlines. After delivering one of the biggest vocal trance records of 2011 with ‘Breathe On My Own’ we look forward to hearing what new production he’s got in store for us for 2012. Three of the North’s hottest upcoming DJ talents support.

Sankeys

GARETH EMERY
JOHN O’CALLAGHAN
TRITONAL
JOCHEN MILLER
BEN GOLD
CRAIG CONNELLY

Spektrum

MARK ETESON
HIDDENAGENDA
SAM MITCHAM
JAMES RIGBY

Gareth Emery - Garuda's 3rd Anniversary - 30th March 2012 - Sankeys, Manchester