The very first Madchester was held on a Thursday "student" night way back in 1994 at The Mission / Shady Lady's (the bottom floor of what is now Espionage). It's fair to say that it rocked the spot, and several round about it too! February 1995 saw another event being held and as a result a regular monthly slot was spawned. The interest in the club snowballed through 1995, word of the unbelievable atmosphere had spread and the place was packed out with mad baggies gettin' their rocks off! A move to a bigger venue was inevitable as Oasis et al turned on a whole new squad to the musical delights of the late 80's / early 90's.
So off we all swaggered down to The Music Box (now The Liquid Room) and a new fortnightly slot. Many, many kickin' nights were had by everyone who turned up, and people came from far and wide to hear music which hadn't been played out like this in years. Northside came up and played to a crowd they themselves described as "Fookin' Mental", You nutters all got well in to a bit of stage divin' that night! At the cash desk we started to hand out freebies, 1000's of Chupa Chups, jelly lips, Cream Eggs and who knows what else (Madchester chewing gum anyone!). There was one night in particular that sticks in the memory, In winter 96 after a Gyres (christ! the Gyres) gig in The Venue (R.I.P.), so many people turned up that there was a queue of 400+ people waiting to get in after the place was already full. You cats sure dig the music!
After a very enjoyable stay in The Music Box, we upped sticks again and headed down to open The Jaffacake (now Stereo). A much bigger, brand spanking new venue. A second room was introduced, full of cushions, excellent chilled out tunes and even films too! The freebies got (a wee bit) classier with Curly Wurly's plus Madchester pin badges, and a membership scheme was introduced at last count over 2,000!!! A big screen playstation was also set up for your enjoyment, we're sure that we were one of the first clubs in the UK to do that!
As a result of Madchesters now ledgendary cool, it had started to become a real nightmare trying to flypost for the night.The posters were being taken down as fast as we could get them up... the problem! No, not good old Edinburgh council but our loyal following who were desperate to get their hands on the hilarious images of Shaun and Bez in their latest disguises, the BeeGees and StarTrek were very desirable as was the most recent incarnation Lou and Andy. Shaun himself was most impressed when he heard through the grapevine that Edinburgh had a rather "handsome" Santa Claus one year!!
Madchester in The Jaffacake was always good fun and the crowd always up for it. The dynamic of the typical punter changed a bit around this time and after a while it was time to take things back to true Baggyness. A brief stay in The Gallery / Gilded Balloon was followed by a move to fortnightly Friday nights in La Belle Angele (R.I.P.), true Weekenders! La Belle was one of the best club venues in the Edinburgh and is deservedly missed by many of the Capital's clubbers. During the two years or so we were there we had nights that could only be described as mental. It was so much fun, the quality music, crowded dance floors, playstation action and huge quantities of (ahem) alcohol consumed all helped to make it an experience that, like La Belle itself, will never be forgotten. It was in La Belle that the Madchester fifth birthday party took place. Guest DJ's Mani and Phil Smith joined us for an evening of fun that lives long in the memory (just!).
After this time came a phase where the charts seemed totally void of any decent tunes,and as a result we decided to end fortnightly Madchester on a high note, sticking to our yearly spectacular Boxing Day Bash events now back in The Liquid Rooms. Everyone of these Boxing Day nights has been a massive success, even the (minor) problem with the sound system a couple of years ago couldn't dampen your, or our, attitudes. 2003 will always be remembered for Shaun Ryder's appearance. Those of you who were there will all have had your own viewpoint on the night's proceedings, it was definitely one for the memoirs! It also convinced us that we had to keep doing this, the music's just too good to be left at home!
2004 marked ten years of Madchester club nights in Edinburgh and we reckon it was possibly one of the best yet. 800+ of you turned up to help us celebrate and we were really happy to see so many old faces in the crowd, as well as lots of new ones too. The fact that there were still around 300 of you going mental at 5am says it all!
Last year we had the one and only Bez show up to do his thing and what a night that was. Cabaret Voltaire sold out with people still mad for getting in! Bez was everything we had hoped he would be, getting the whole place bouncing and singing along to all those magic Mondays classics... but it was the Big Bro winner's entrance to "Show me the way to Amarillo" that went down a storm! Does anyone remember the newspapers headlines on Monday? Bez, where's me trainers?
As a result of the continuing success story that is Madchester, and by public demand, we now offer you the chance to sample a piece of club history and become part of the story.
Madchester is back!!!