Yes, you read the title right! Boyband heartthrob turned World class house DJ will be gracing the DJ booth at Venus Nightclub in Manchester this Sunday for a night of sexy house music, backed by an awesome roster of DJs from The Squatters, Frater & Stent (the guys behind DMM’s tune of the week, “Oooshuaia“), Alex & Jay, Martyn Russo and Paul Nag.

Returning to Manchester for his first DJ set in the city for 9 years to show the Venus faithful his skills behind the decks after leading the party with regular gigs at superclubs across the globe, including Judgement Sundays at the World famous Eden in Ibiza. Here’s hoping that the Ibiza sun stays in the North West for another sizzling weekend and that Howard brings his best summer tracks on Sunday.

Two of the funniest DJs in the industry, Oliver Portamento and Alex Powell  aka The Squatters,  will bring their experience as event organisers, producers and ridiculously memorable DJ sets, bringing their old skool, hip hop, dubstep and electro inspired house music with choppy vocals and immense breakdowns to the party. Headliners in their own right, the decision to invite The Squatters to Venus this weekend was as good as their Ibiza dress code policy last weekend!

Venus heroes, Frater & Stent, Martyn Russo and Paul Nag will top off the weekend, with Manchester duo Hale & Jay rounding up this incredible showcase of Manchester talent. This is why we love Manchester.

You know how amazing Manchester will be this weekend, as always DMM will be at the forefront of it all, raving in the middle of the dance floor so you know where to go the weekend after. Feel free to get in touch on our Twitter / Facebook for the latest news, events and lineups. Drop us a message on @dancemusicmcr if you need any advice on where to go in Manchester!

As Manchester bathed in the incredible sunshine over the last few days, the atmosphere in our awesome city has been on fire. Gorgeous outdoor venues at Spinningfields, Castlefield and beer gardens from Didsbury to Oldham have been packed, with people enjoying the Mediterranean climate. With this in mind, Venus provided a club night suited as much to Ibiza as Deansgate, with DJ after DJ raising the roof with red-hot tracks, bootlegs and remixes.

Friday’s The Bitch Show on Unity 92.8 FM started our weekend with an incredible injection of excitement, our speakers actually fell off the shelf during one of the bass heavy tracks but we weren’t complaining one bit. Pixel Cheese, Mr Cheese to us mere mortals, smashed his mix on air, topped off the already buzzing enthusiasm for Bitch, so DMM were excited to head down to the club.

With the mercury hitting 25/26 degrees over the weekend, the guys behind Bitch Events & the Venus management decided to relax the usually strict dress code, opting to go with an Ibiza club look, it was hotter in Manchester than it was in San Antonio yesterday after all! What a decision this was, the crowd still looked smart but at least this way we were cool and could focus on the party rather than the heat!

When DMM arrived at the Blackfriars Rd venue, the legendary Lempo was already smashing out the beats, playing a variety of tracks, several from his own label, Applique. Getting the early revellers dancing to the Lempo & Japwow tech house release, “Mercy Kill”, their brilliant dance bootleg of Far East Movement v Missy Elliot & Ciara – G6 Step (a DMM favourite) and their recently released and aptly named remix of “Funky Beat” by U.M. Project. One thing we love about the Bitch nights at Venus, is the fact that whoever starts the night off, always has the first clubbers on the floor dancing.

Joshua Roberts, the man behind the incredible “15 Minutes of Madness Minimix”, took to the decks and as usual, he didn’t disappoint. Having the privilege of seeing his setup in the DJ booth, we were fascinated by what was referred to as “The Starship Enterprise”, a mad collection of unmarked buttons that Joshua seemed to actually feel, rather than play. Technically great, different and crowd pleasing, Mr. Roberts’ set went down nearly as well as the free ice-pops, circulating around the club!

The first section of Pixel Cheese’s set, although cracking in it’s own right, didn’t seem to be right for the Venus crowd. We were enjoying it ourselves but the lack of familiarity from the Venus faithful seemed a little too much. However, the sign of a quality DJ is the ability to switch a set around completely and do what is commonly referred to in the club scene as, “smashing it”. Very, very well played, doing his native Poland proud.

Bitch resident Martyn Russo followed the young Pole, using his Venus experience to have the crowd enthralled by every beat. With the atmosphere in the club being as hot as it was in Spinningfields on Saturday afternoon, Russo had a tough job of turning the heat up but as we’ve come to expect from Martyn, he made it look easy. We lost track of the amount of people who complimented Russo after his set, testament in itself to his ability to please the clubbing masses.

Paul Nag finished off the night, filling in for Chris Frater and kept the 6am clubbers on their feet until the end of what was another great night at Venus. Definitely the right call with the Ibiza dress code, a top lineup of DJs and the freindly, open atmosphere that really defines the nightspot’s culture and a reason in itself to head up to the top of Deansgate.

Bitch returns to Venus on the 30th June, with the incredible Felix Leiter and the remix genius of Kim Fai gracing the booths for what promises to be an absolute cracker. Adding to this, Bitch are dubbing the night their “Music Label Launch Party”, so we’re very excited to find out what’s in store.

On Sunday, Venus hosts Take That’s very own Howard Donald, a talented, respected and crowd pleasing DJ in his own rights, independent of his boy band fame. As always, DMM will be covering the best club nights in Manchester, so we’ll see you on the floor!

So last night, Venus Nightclub in the heart of Manchester, played host to their monthly classic, sexy house night, “Venus Classics”. For those in the know, Venus Classics needs absolutely no introduction, bringing an incredibly soulful soundtrack of classic house anthems, with the stunning live vocals provided by Lisa Millet, live sax with Adrian Hicks and a class line up of DJ talent from Dave Ellis, David Dunne, John Steward and Mark Tillotson. Marry this with the warm, friendly party atmosphere the venue is known for and reasonably priced drinks (especially for a club) and you have a night that we can’t really fault.

While you shmuks were running the 10k, I was recovering from one of the best nights ever @VenusManchester!! 
@cara_blundell via Twitter

When we arrived, the whole of the main room was bouncing to the beat, the majority of the venue singing every word of the anthemic playlist.  The crowd was slightly more diverse than the usual scene, with a slightly bigger age range, ravers from 10-15 years ago partying with the new generation, side-by-side. As usual, the door policy at Venus meant there were absolutely no muppets around, unless you count the DMM lads’ wild dancing as being muppet-worthy.

A few clubbers mentioned to us how amazing the difference is to the club, the atmosphere and the night in general by having such talented performers live, alongside the usual array of DJs. The legendary Lisa Millet’s soulful voice resounded around the main room, we doubt there were any people who didn’t have their hands up during at least one of her famous vocal driven choruses. Adrian Hicks melodic, tuneful saxophone provided that classic, sexy jazz sound to the records, topping it all off nicely.

We’re genuinely struggling to fault Venus at the moment and running out of superlatives to describe the nights. Massive thanks to Ben, Davo, the bar staff, door staff, DJs and everyone else at Venus for providing us with an absolutely class venue, week in, week out.

The next installment of Venus Classics is on Saturday 16th of June, with Dave Ellis, David Dunne, John Steward and Mark Tillotson joined by Tony Walker of Love2Be and once again, Adrian Hicks providing the sax.
More info on the Venus website…

Next week at Venus, the monthly, completely insane, Bitch night takes over and it will be a sell-out as Pixel Cheese leads the lineup of what promises to be another ridiculous night. Trust us when we say, if you can get down to the club on Saturday, get your tickets early and head down. You will not be disappointed.

Before you say it, baby faced Justin Bieber was about 4 in 1999, so swap with Take That fans, Backstreet Boys groupies or Spice Girl wannabees and over the years all have been converted by the incredible atmosphere and vibe that only house music brings to a club and last night was no exception.

DMM ventured into the city centre to one of our favourite spots, Venus taking two friends of ours, pop-crazed, Justin Bieber / The Wanted fanatics who could not understand how or why we loved dance music so much. “You can’t dance to house music”, one stated, quite confidently. If your body tingles at the thought of a quality house track, blasting from nightclub speakers, you’ll understand why we simply had to introduce them.

When we arrived at Venus, the very first thing they noticed was the friendliness of the crowd. Several people said hello on the way in, one of the girls was complimented by a completely random lass and the vibe was instantly a lot more relaxed than their usual hangouts. Score one for Venus.

We hit the dance floor almost immediately, the incredible Sonny Wharton smashing it out to a busy crowd of revelers and within seconds the girls were both dancing away like seasoned-veterans of the house music world. Well played Sonny! His set was an absolute corker, a mixture of uplifting, hands in the air house and dirty, melodic beats, the crowd loved him as he tore it up at the Manchester night club.

The Sick Elektrik lads took over at about 230 and the crowd went crazy. Some of the moves being thrown in the DJ booth rivalled ours on the floor, in a very energetic, well thought out set. They did incredibly well to mix in the Venus’ crowd pleasing vocals with quality underlying beats, something we talked about on Wednesday at their studio. (Interview to come soon…)  I couldn’t get the girls off the dance floor if I wanted to as Ben and Jon grabbed the night and smashed it to pieces, track after track. Another awesome set from two very talented DJs and producers; check out their latest offering, “Crash” on Soundcloud, you will not be disappointed!

Frater & Stent topped our night off with our track of the night. We know it’s been done before but Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams took off. It might be an oldie and a classic but if done well it can still destroy dance floors. Cheers again to Chris (Frater) for shouting out on Unity FM before the gig. Definitely worth a listen every Saturday 92.8fm (or online) between 7 and 9pm, great pre-club show to get you in the mood.

In conclusion, hats off to Venus, another quality night at one of Manchester’s finest venues. Tonight has Junior Jack and Kid Creme hitting the main room, with the legendary Venus Classics in the back. We don’t need to stress how good tonight will be, so just get down there and see for yourself.

J, DMM

After last weekends incredible Rong and Bitch nights at Venus Nightclub, Manchester, we have high expectations for another. With the UKs finest and in demand House DJs and Producers, Venus never fails to impress. The Facebook page states, “The Venus that you know and love is NOT changing, it’s simply evolving.” We can believe that.

This weekend welcomes back the awesome Sonny Wharton with the ‘Skint Back To Boutique’ World Tour, alongside Venus residents Frater & Stent and the incredibly technical, electronic music wizards who go by the name Sick Elektrik, Saturday promises to be another sweet night in Manchester.

With Skint’s announcement of the launch of their new compilation series, “Back To The Boutique” early in the year and the  World tour to coincide, this isn’t just another club night but potentially an absolute cracker. If the music is half as good as we think it will be, the crowd are as cool and friendly as last Saturday then Venus will be the place to be on Saturday night.

MUSIC
Vocal House / Uplifting House / Big Room House

Lineup
Frater & Stent
Sonny Wharton
Sick Elektrik
Mark Ingham

Opening Times
11pm till 6am

Tickets
£10 Venus members
£12 11pm till 3am
£5 after 3am

STUDENTS
£5 NUS till midnight
Guestlist
davo@venusmanchester.co.uk

Booth Bookings
If it’s your birthday we have 6 booths to reserve in the club. The is a free service and is available for groups over 8. With every reservation you will receive a free bottle of champagne to make the birthday that little bit more special courtesy of Venus the Club.

Also with your reserved area you can purchase the following drink packages from behind the bar:

Bottle of Eristoff Vodka plus 6 cans of Red Bull – £75
Bacardi Originals Mojito/Cuba Libre Sharing Suitcase – £10
Bottle of House Champagne – £25
Bottle of Moet/Veurve Yellow Label – £45
6 x flavoured shots – £10

(Try the Bacardi slushes, they’re awesome!)

Evolution with Sonny Wharton on Facebook