It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since we last gave you a list of New Year’s Eve parties, but time marches on and it’s already time to ring in another new year.
As is usual with Manchester, there’ll be lively celebrations going on in all corners of the city, from the tiny club nights that go til dawn to the world-famous series drawing tens of thousands into one room.
Some of the city’s biggest parties – like The Warehouse Project’s New Year’s Eve club night at Depot Mayfield – have already sold out, but there are plenty more events to sink your teeth in to.
There’s loads going on in Manchester on 31 December, with tickets still available for a lot of the city’s biggest parties.
One of Manchester’s best-loved club nights will be taking over the newly-reborn New Century for an almighty New Year’s Eve party.
Homoelectric’s NYE party promises ‘an evening of cosmic grooves, street soul, slo mo dance, boogie, black heart disco, us garage, house, technoid outerspace sonic science and bass buggin’ rawness’.
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They say: “It seemed perfect timing to host a very special Homoelectric at this venue on New Years Eve and do something completely different from our normal dark basement back street affair.
“This our last Homoelectric party of the year. To say we are excited is an understatement.”
Famed for its all-in lavish parties, The Refuge won’t be holding back as it rings in 2023, promising to ‘turn up the heat a little’.
They’re promising to add a dash of tropical energy to Manchester, with afro-latin music, deep house and disco, explosions of colour and immersive performances.
Artists will include Hannah O’Gorman and Isaac Williams a.k.a. DJ collective, Nossa, and Levi Love.
Dine and Dance tickets are sold out but you can still get Let’s Dance tickets £30 here – including a glass of prosecco if you rock up before 9pm.
Dance into the Future at Ramona
Credit: Ramona
Fast becoming a fan favourite for a night out is Ramona and the Firehouse, located in an old MOT garage just of Swan Street.
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By day it’s pizza and margaritas, but by night, it’s glitterballs and catwalks.
31 December will be their ‘biggest party yet’ in the Ramona festival tipi, featuring live performances including Age of Glass, guest DJs and dance tents.
Tickets cost £27.50 and are available through See Tickets.
One of the city’s longest-running club nights is getting stuck in to all the New Year’s Eve action, right through to 4am on 1 January.
Funkademia has been running since 1995 and is heading back to its spiritual home Mint Lounge with disco and funk bangers all night long.
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From Michael Jackson to Aretha Franklin to James Brown to Chaka Khan to Stevie Wonder to Snoop Dogg to Prince to Diana Ross to Chic and Sister Sledge and everything in between, you’ll absolutely not want to leave that dance floor.
Tickets start at £6.60 if you’re quick – visit Skiddle for yours.
Disco Dancer at Bundobust Brewery
Bundobust Brewery. Credit: Supplied
Bundobust Brewery, easily one of Manchester’s coolest restaurants and bars, is keeping the doors open and the vibes going until 1am on New Year’s Eve.
Their Disco Dancer event – theme is Bundobust Brewery goes to Bollywood – will have entertainment, projections, and a party soundtrack from Andy Votel.
Starting the party will be Niamh McGuinness from Angel Meadows Soul Club, one of Manchester’s rising clubnight heroes. Expect rousing Northern Soul, Motown, and R&B selections 6-9pm before Andy takes over the decks.
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Tickets are just a tenner, which includes two drinks. Would be rude not to. Get yours here.
Keep It Unreal Nye: Mr. Scruff + Mc Kwasi at Band on the Wall
You know it’s going to be a good Manc knees-up when Mr Scruff is on the bill, and especially when that bill is taking place at the legendary Band on the Wall.
Alongside MC Kwasi, they’ll bring in the new year with a six-hour DJ session of jazz, soul, hip hop, funk, disco, deep house, reggae, afrobeat, latin, electro, techno, new wave and ‘plenty of goodies that don’t fit into any category’.
Band on the Wall stresses that all are welcome to party, ‘regardless of age, nationality, mobility, gender or sexuality’ – which is what we like to hear.
More 90s vibes now – because why not – as the beautiful Albert Hall is turned into a nostalgic dance party.
90s Baby will feature a wide range of the decade’s biggest live acts and DJs, from Alex Party (best known for her massive hit Don’t Give Me Your Life to Baby D (Let Me Be Your Fantasy).
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Rounding off the star-studded line-up is N-Trance, Phats & Small and K-Klass with some throwback DJ sets.
Final tickets, priced £28.00, are on sale now through Skiddle – and there’s a group discount of four tickets for the price of three if you round up some mates.
Hidden NYE at Hidden
UK Garage will be the order of the night at Hidden, one of Manchester’s most-loved clubbing venues.
Explore the four rooms, from the courtyard through to the graffiti-covered walkways that lead to the basement den, a Blue Room and Hangar Space, while you count down to midnight (and beyond).
Legendary DJ John Digweed will be rocking up at Joshua Brooks with his even more legendary club night Bedrock.
John has been a pioneer of electronic music for more than three decades thanks to his technical mixing style, while Joshua Brooks has cemented itself as one of Manchester’s post popular nighttime venues.
Featured image: Photography by Rob Jones (www.instagram.com/hirobjones)
Feature
Meet Larishka – the DJ making her mark on Manchester’s Garage scene
Emily Johnson
It’s time to meet Larishka – Audio North’s Artist of the Month for October.
For Larishka, music has always been around her in some form. Growing up surrounded by classical and rock music, she never expected her route into electronic music to begin with a Parklife set from Carl Cox, before eventually becoming a DJ, promoter, and co-owner of Manchester’s Ghosts of Garage.
Today, she runs events, DJs across House, Garage and Bass, and is helping build a community around one of Manchester’s most exciting electronic music brands.
From promoter to DJ
Larishka actually started out as a promoter while doing an apprenticeship at a music booking agency. She always knew she wanted to work on the events side rather than bookings, but felt like she wasn’t going to make many connections within the industry while living in Oldham.
Her plan was to go to university to study music, with the hope of learning to produce while also moving into Manchester and making connections within the city’s music scene.
Quite quickly into her studies, she joined Ghosts of Garage. After about a year, she had something of a lightbulb moment.
Meet Larishka, the DJ making her mark on Manchester’s Garage scene / Credit: Supplied
“I was studying music, I run my own nights, and I was always on the aux at house parties, so why have I not learned to DJ yet?” she explained.
That realisation came while she was sitting on MATTIK’s living room sofa, where she asked if he would teach her. Before long, she was calling him every day asking if they could go to the studio and practise mixing.
“I owe it to him really, he was a brilliant teacher.”
“I get it” – the Parklife moment that changed everything
Larishka’s introduction to electronic music wasn’t exactly the traditional one.
“I grew up on classical and rock music – my dad was a sound engineer in the 70s so that was his thing really, and my mum played the piano every single day so that’s what I was constantly around.”
She first heard house music when she was around 15 or 16, after a friend sent her a track they had found on SoundCloud.
“I listened to it out of my phone and didn’t really get it, it was too repetitive.”
A few years later, everything changed. After hearing Parklife from her window every year growing up, Larishka eventually went to the festival for the first time and watched Carl Cox close The Valley. He played ‘Finder’ by Ninetoes, and it was the first time she had experienced electronic music on a huge sound system.
“I remember being in absolute awe and turning to my friend and saying ‘I get it’ and from then, I was just absolutely hooked.”
It became a genuine turning point.
“I had my A Level exams that following week and when I was revising all I was listening to was house music and I remember my Dad coming in and saying ‘Is this you forever now?’ and I said ‘Yeah I think it is'”.
Larishka is Audio North’s Artist of the Month for October / Credit: Supplied
Why Manchester means so much
“I mean it’s home, and always has been.”
Having become part of the city’s music scene, she says she feels incredibly lucky to have found a community around her.
“There’s a certain camaraderie that exists here that I don’t know that you’d find anywhere else.”
For her, that sense of community is what makes Manchester’s music scene so special.
“Seeing people you know everywhere you go, you kinda feel like you’re never alone and that you’re actually part of something.”
That spirit extends beyond electronic music, too.
“And it’s not just in electronic music either, that spirit exists across all genres – Manchester music history is so rooted across such a broad spectrum of genres, and to see that still prevailing today is something we should all be proud of.”
Building Ghosts of Garage
It’s impossible to talk about Larishka’s journey without talking about Ghosts of Garage.
She’s a co-owner of the brand, having joined in 2021, and works across its marketing, bookings and creative direction alongside Rich Reason. For her, one of the biggest things that makes a Ghosts of Garage night stand out is its commitment to the music.
“The music and lineups truly never miss, which is a credit to Rich. The guy knows how to program a lineup.”
The team makes a conscious effort to champion new talent, often including at least one Manchester or UK debut on a lineup.
“A big part of each event is making them unique while keeping the brand consistent – each event has to have its own USP or else the nights get boring and people think they can just skip this one and go to the next and it’ll be the same.”
For Larishka, music has always been around her in some form / Credit: Supplied
Community is a huge part of the brand.
“We’re also big advocates of community and want to create the gap between audience and DJ as little as possible, so try to get the crowd involved as much as possible through things like our WhatsApp community.”
The aim is to make people feel like buying a ticket means becoming part of something bigger.
“We want people to feel like if you buy a ticket for our event, then you’ve unlocked a key to be part of something.”
Larishka’s advice for getting into Manchester’s music scene
For anyone hoping to break into Manchester’s music scene, Larishka’s advice is simple – go out.
“I’m way more likely to book you if we’ve met and we’ve had a good chat because it means I can put a face to a name and I know what you’re like.”
For her, being part of the community is about more than simply sending messages and asking for opportunities.
“Being an active member of the community means you’re already part of the night, so booking you to DJ just makes you even more part of it than you already are, rather than someone I’ve never met before who’s in my DMs.”
Ultimately, it comes back to the same thing that has shaped so much of Larishka’s own journey – showing up, meeting people, and becoming part of something.
Featured Image – Supplied
Feature
Manchester’s first banana pudding bar has opened in the city centre
Clementine Hall
Make sure to save room for pudding…because one of the city’s most-talked about dessert brands has found a new home.
Buttercup launched last summer, creating little pots of the hit US dessert made famous by the iconic Magnolia Bakery.
Each dessert features vanilla custard whipped with cream, soft sponge, and fresh banana, which you can then customise with rotating flavours and toppings.
And after a brief disappearance from the Manchester foodie scene, Buttercup is back with a bang with their beautiful new home on Deansgate.
Images: The Manc Group
And when we say beautiful, we really mean it.
Glossy burgundy tiles, butter yellow walls and sleek chrome furniture make up the space beneath the huge arched window, and there’s even a few seats for you to enjoy your pud and watch the world go by.
Open daily from 10am til 10pm, the menu includes three puddings on rotation ready to scoop.
Images: The Manc Group
Choose from the classic banana, indulgent tiramisu and an ever-changing seasonal special, alongside a wall of toppings for you to customise your own pud.
Each recipe has been perfected in-house and the proof really is in the banana pudding…because it tastes just as good as it looks.
Since launching, Buttercup has served around 50,000 puddings, hosted sell-out pop-ups across the city, collaborated with some huge brands, and built a loyal following around its signature build-your-own pudding bar.
Image: The Manc Group
With this new standalone space, you’ll of course be able to indulge in its signature banana pudding, as well as breakfast yoghurt bowls, coffee and matcha.
Officially opening tomorrow Saturday 26 September, the first 50 customers will get a free topping and sauce with the purchase of any pudding, plus a free lip gloss from Manchester-born beauty brand REFY.
Daisy Jackson -
21st December 2022 
