The Cheat’s Guide to New Year’s Eve Where to head in Liverpool and Manchester to avoid breaking the bank, your resolve and your long-standing relationships
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or us Brits, New Year’s Eve is a night of perennial anti-climax. We can all picture the scene: there’s the usual booze drought at the local offy, dealers are enjoying the festive season with their grandparents, booking a taxi becomes nigh on impossible, and so most of us end up staggering around on the street before getting into a shouting match over who hailed a passing cab first. This is all before 11 o’clock. Still, it’s infinitely better than being stuck in the house, waiting for Jools Holland to boogie-woogie his way through the countdown and sharing our first snog of the year with a leftover turkey sandwich. With that prospect in mind, why not cross arms, join hands and raise a cup of kindness with The Skinny as we serve up your best options for the most eagerly anticipated New Year’s Eve since this time last year. After the hoo-ha surrounding last year’s Albert Square firework display – funded by bighearted businessman Gary Gore (don’t let the villainous name deceive you) and his £20,000 horde of Catherine wheels and Roman candles – it’ll be interesting to see what Manchester City Council have planned for this year. Meanwhile, if you’re on the lookout for some good clean fun in Liverpool – yet keen to avoid a strained neck – then why not take that special someone to see the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform a medley of classic tunes from Hollywood repertoire (Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, from £17)? Showbiz is the order of the day: the glittering hit parade includes everything from Disney to Die Fledermaus, James Bond to John Williams, and Grammy Award winner Richard Kaufman will be making the trip over from California to conduct the show; he’s a bona fide Tinseltown big shot, having worked as Music Coordinator at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for nearly 20 years. For those more accustomed to the deviant side of jocularity, there’s a relative smorgasbord of clubland offerings designed to ring in
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Words: Daniel Jones Illustrator: Lewis Loughman
2014 with sweaty aplomb. Over 2,000 revellers will cram into Manchester’s recently renovated Albert Hall to bear witness to the heavyweight American triumvirate of Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson and Todd Terry (£25). They join Haçienda legend Graeme Park for an evening of hijinks and debauchery in a converted chapel; even Bez gets a place on the bill as the night’s official ‘vibe provider’. Over at 2022NQ, another former Fac51 resident and acid house co-conspirator is on show in the form of Jon Dasilva. Penny-pinchers take note: £5 earlybird tickets are going like hotcakes. Alternatively, you may think it worthwhile to spend four times that amount in order to catch original garage head MJ Cole living it up in the Joshua Brooks basement (£15). Vibes all round. Club action in Liverpool sees Circus mainstay Lewis Boardman take the helm at The Shipping Forecast, again for the measly price of a fiver. He’ll be spinning alongside long-time label compatriot Scott Lewis. Elsewhere in the city, Chibuku join forces with Abandon Silence to take over East Village Arts Club. Details on the line-up are still unannounced as we go to print, but such undeniable promoting clout will surely deliver an enticing array of talented jocks – and again, for just £5. Back in Manchester, you also have the option of a Friendly Fires DJ set at Gorilla (£17.50). Support comes from yet another ex-Haçienda selector Dave Haslam, as well as notorious party starter Will Tramp! Gorilla are currently advertising their £150 ‘King Kong Package’, which includes a three-course meal, an access-allareas wristband and, ahem, a glass of Prosecco at midnight. Remake Remodel is back at The Ruby Lounge, promising an evening of all Kills no Killers (£5), and their drink offers look more promising than most. There are plenty of hiphop shenanigans to be had courtesy of Juicy, who’ll assuredly be going ham in the intimate
Roadhouse basement (£10) – or, you can get your gladrags on for the From Manchester with Love 12-hour shindig at Aura, which guarantees casino-inspired antics and champers by the bucketful (tickets start at £20).
“It’s infinitely better than being stuck in the house, waiting for Jools Holland to boogie-woogie his way through the countdown and sharing our first snog of the year with a leftover turkey sandwich” The Warehouse Project looks set to dominate NYE proceedings once again with an unnecessary amount of DJs playing for not very long each. James Zabiela, Tensnake, Pedestrian, PBR Streetgang and Waifs & Strays all feature,
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alongside 22, yes, 22 other acts (£39.50). You do the math. The New Year’s Day bill is a tad more manageable, yet heavy on the back-toback front; Dixon & Ame, Ben UFO & Joy O, Paul Woolford & Midland, Jackmaster & Oneman all team up for your pie-eyed pleasure (£37.50). Elsewhere on 1 January, Venus bring in house edit supremo MK for their inaugural social of 2014 (£17.50), whereas South mark the first date on their brand new calendar with the prolific Darius Syrossian (£15) – but if you’re still geared up for round two, the best value for your buck is probably back down the M62 at the Kitchen Street pop-up party. A plethora of residents from some of Merseyside’s best selected clubnights – including mUmU, Hustle, Get Down and Shelter – will be playing 12 hours straight, from 2pm to 2am. Entry comes at the reasonable price of £7. Bargain. Of course, there are other New Year’s Eve choices if you wish to venture away from Manchester and Liverpool. Stockport hosts the Night Owl Soul Club at The Masonic Guild Hall, where there will be two rooms of Motown chart busters and Northern stompers – over 25s only (£7). Chorlton has the Prohibition Yuletide Party at The Nook, keeping the punters happy with 1920s swing and no door charge – and Knotty Ash’s Mecca Bingo hall welcomes awardwinning comedy group Schooner, with their variety of topical impressions and slick sketches. The £25 ticket apparently includes your transport home (though a phonecall is required for further details on that). Prudent. So there you have it – more than enough choices for your festive spirit to mull over. Whatever it is that you end up doing, have a very Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals, and, yes, a Happy New Year. Ticket prices are advance unless otherwise specified; some events may be more on the door
THE SKINNY