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Manchester’s legendary nightlife scene will soon be live-streamed across the globe

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 30th May 2022

A new live-streamed clubbing series has been announced for Greater Manchester, which will beam our world-famous nightlife scene into living rooms across the globe.

MainRoom is the latest series from not-for-profit platform StreamGM, which comes from team behind lockdown favourite United We Stream.

Episodes will be broadcast live from dance floors, nightclubs, rooftops and basements around the city-region.

It’s all been created to capture Manchester’s legendary underground club culture and will shine a spotlight on the DJs and promoters operating in the city.

MainRoom events will take place monthly, over the course of three or four hours.

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Escape to Freight Island will host the first MainRoom event in July

The first event, She’s In Control, will be streamed from Escape to Freight Island on 24 July and will put women and people of marginalised genders front and centre.

Taking part in the She’s In Control livestream will be Jade Li, Edie, Danielle Moore from band Crazy P and Homoelectric resident, Gina Breeze.

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The collaboration will raise awareness and funds for Brighter Sound, a local organisation aiming to help underrepresented people develop careers in the industry.

StreamGM’s MainRoom series will be presented by Rebecca Swarray aka DJ Mix-Stress, who is the founder and curator of Manchester based events and arts collective, RebeccaNeverBecky and co-founder of queer DJ Collective, Queer Latifah.

Rebecca Swarray. Credit: Supplied

Episodes already lined up include collaborations with La Discotheque, Not Bad For A Girl, Mixing Mates, Black Gold Arts and Band on the Wall.

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Co-founder of StreamGM Laura Graham said: “Greater Manchester’s clubbing scene is historic, and renowned as THE destination city for a night out. This is partly due to the region’s vast clubbing tapestry, amazing super clubs, and major venues across the city, but also because Greater Manchester has always maintained a thriving, progressive and influential, grassroots clubbing scene, and it’s this scene we want to identify and explore.

“MainRoom will provide visibility for Manchester’s local clubbing culture, with a strong emphasis on inclusion, accessibility, empowerment, and most of all – fun times – for marginalised groups.

“We will collaborate directly with promoters and take amazing local talent and new clubbing concepts beyond the venue walls with our online audiences.

MainRoom’s first event posted. Credit: Supplied

“MainRoom will also give viewers a sense of the latest music, dance and fashion trends, straight from the club vibes and dancefloors.

“People all over the world will be able to use MainRoom to dip into Manchester’s epic clubbing scene, use our streams as soundtracks to house parties, or watch them to research future nights out in the city.

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“During United We Stream, our team were overwhelmed by messages from people for whom live streaming had given them access to events they would never normally be able to attend for myriad reasons, from disability and caring responsibilities to location or cost. MainRoom will open Mancunian clubbing to EVERYONE.”

Read more: The Manchester Flower Show will return to the city centre this week

MainRoom host Rebecca said: “MainRoom is a vital and exciting platform that will showcase exactly what the real creative essence of Manchester is.

“Platforming people on the ground, creating spaces and places for the under-presented and less visible is vital for cultural identity. This city has a melting pot of diverse talent, and I am honoured to be involved in MainRoom and look forward to speaking, showcasing, and interviewing some amazing people doing amazing things.”

StreamGM recently partnered with FAC51 The Hacienda for their landmark 40th Birthday party, and livestreamed their entire eight hour event, direct from the carpark of the Hacienda Apartments on Whitworth Street.

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The first live event is on July 24h at 9pm at She’s In Control – Freight Island.

Featured image: Supplied

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Eurovision costumes, props and instruments are being auctioned off – and it’s a mad collection

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Hannah Waddingham and Graham Norton's Eurovision desk is up for sale at auction

Items from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest are being sold at auction this week, from iconic costumes to enormous props. 

It means that fans of the massive event – this year held in Liverpool – will be able to snap up a permanent piece of Eurovision history. 

Have you ever looked around your living room and thought ‘You know what this place really needs? Those giant purple hands that Kalush Orchestra danced on this year’?

Or ‘I hate this jumper. I wish a had a green one with a face on like those Daði Freyr Eurovision dancers’?

Or even ‘A set of fluffy pink and yellow heart-shaped cushions would really brighten the place up’?

Well now there’s an auction you might be interested in, with bids opening from just £5. 

The original props, costumes, and even instruments are on sale now, until 11 June. 

Kalush Orchestra's hands are in the Eurovision auction
Kalush Orchestra’s hands are in the Eurovision auction
The Daði Freyr jumpers
Credit: BBC

You could be turning the actual lectern thing that Graham Norton and Hannah Waddingham stood behind for the results show into a cool bar, or decorating your pad with the drums used in Sam Ryder’s powerful performance. 

The top bids currently, just a few days after the auction started, stand at £500 – that’s for the presenter’s lectern and for the Daði Freyr jumpers.

Someone else has bid a whopping £250 for a set of fluffy cushions.

There are more than 60 items available to buy, including parts of the set, which were designed by Julio Himede and unveiled by the King and Queen.

The BBC has reported that 20% of the money raised will go to two different charities, split between ACC Liverpool Foundation and BBC Media Action, with the remaining 80% going back to BBC Studios to fund programmes and services.

Sally Mills, head of sustainability at BBC Studios said: “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, both on and off screen.

“We have a responsibility to operate with as minimal an impact on the environment as possible, and are always looking for innovative ways in which to further engage audiences with our content, and extend the life of our sets and costumes.

“What better way to do this than to give fans the opportunity to own a piece of Eurovision history?”

The Eurovision auction is live here until 11 June.

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Featured image: BBC

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Slam Dunk festival apologises after fans complain of queues so long they ‘didn’t eat’

Sophie Smith Sophie Smith Slam Dunk Festival

Slam Dunk, a huge rock and punk festival, has issued a statement apologising to fans for ‘issues’ on site.

Festival organisers address a range of problems at the site – which takes place simultaneously in both Temple Newsam in Leeds and Hatfield – ranging from traffic flow, car parking, food vendors, toilets, accessibility and queues.

The lengthy statement said that the Slam Dunk team would ‘conducting a thorough investigation, whilst working extremely hard to rectify all problems for future events’.

It comes after hundreds of festival-goers complained of poor organisation and ‘overcrowding’ at both sites – though Slam Dunk has sought to assure people that it was not oversold, The Hoot Leeds reports.

A common complaint amongst fans was the huge waits for food traders, with many reporting that they gave up and didn’t eat.

This year’s festival was headlined by Enter Shikari, The Offspring, and Billy Talent, drawing in thousands of music fans from across the north.

One person said: “Had a great day today at @SlamDunkMusic but definitely lessons to be learned – queues everywhere were a joke (1hour+ minimum) and people were going hungry and without water or drinks because of it. Got to be sorted out for next year.”

Someone else posted: “Three hour wait for food so we abandoned the queue. Now queueing for ice cream as a meal substitute while only hearing Flogging Molly. Got us trapped here all day with not enough of anything: water points, food, toilets, routes in&out. F*cking sh*te.”

One festival goer commented on Slam Dunk’s Instagram page: “I’ve been going to SlamDunk for years now but this year has to have been the worst! And might have possibly put me off for ever returning. It’s amazing seeing the festival grow, but when it reaches the point where people’s safety it as risk it might be worth reconsidering everything.”

Others followed with similar comments like “Luckily we left early because we were starving, the amount of people I’ve seen that have been complaining about waiting 2-3 hours to get out of the carpark or waiting 2 hours for a taxi is shocking. This used to be my favourite festival of the year, it’s my 6th slam dunk and now I’m having serious doubts of ever coming again just due to how poorly organised it was.”

However, there have also been plenty of comments from those that attended the festival highlighting different experiences.

A comment left on Slam Dunk’s Instagram statement read: “Bloody great weekend guys. Don’t let the internet ruin it”.

Slam Dunk’s full statement about the 2023 festival

“Slam Dunk Festival would like to address issues which have been raised across the weekend.  

“We recognise there were problems and that some customers did not have an experience to the standard which they expected.  We would like to apologise for the issues which occurred and reassure our customers that we are committed to improving the event.

“We would like to assure all customers that neither event was oversold, and customer safety is, and always will be, paramount to the festival.  Like all other major events, all our event plans were reviewed by local authorities and are in line with industry standards.

“In response to the car parking and traffic issues, as previously highlighted there was an unprecedented number of cars arriving to the festival site who hadn’t pre-booked car parking.  This alongside other external factors created a traffic flow issue which inevitably caused delays into the festival site.  As a measure to combat the traffic flow issue we made the conscious decision to stop checking passes for parking to increase the rate of entry to the car park and to prevent further delays.  Keeping this in mind, we have made the decision to no longer provide on the day car parking, from next year only those who have pre-booked their car park tickets will be permitted to park on site, along with other measures we are looking to implement, we believe these will create smoother entry into event. 

“We also recognise the issues surrounding food vendors and queues.  We were assured that we had an adequate number of food vendors for the expected number of attendees, however, we recognise that this wasn’t the case, and we are committed to increasing the number of traders at future events, along with where they are located.

“Similarly, we recognise related issues surrounding toilets and water points.  We would like to reassure customers that these facilities are in line with industry recommendations and have been increased from previous years, however this is something which we will increase further for future events. 

“We are also aware of access issues, and we will be contacting our access customers directly for their feedback. 

“We recognise there are other issues not highlighted in this statement.  We will be conducting a thorough investigation, whilst working extremely hard to rectify all problems for future events.  We have always been committed to increasing customer experience and we welcome feedback to do this.  We encourage customers to complete our post event survey to assist us with this.

“North – https://forms.gle/jPNFE4w2icfGxGtC7

“South – https://forms.gle/3nV9zJQnC4dkhz558

“Slam Dunk Festival 2023 would like to thank everyone who has provided their indispensable feedback so far. If you haven’t already, please raise any concerns with us directly through our post-event survey.    

“We are sorry about the issues that were encountered over the weekend, we take full accountability, and we are committed to improving our service. 

“It is with your feedback, as registered in this survey, that we will be able to consider all concerns when planning future events. We apologise that some of you did not have an experience that was up to the standard you expect when you attend Slam Dunk Festival

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“We are listening to you. We will be updating you on our plans to improve Slam Dunk Festival 2024 later this summer once we have collected all of your feedback. 

“Team Slam Dunk”.

You can leave your feedback for the Slam Dunk North Festival on this Google Form from organisers here.

Feature Image – Slam Dunk

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