Ricky Keeps His Hatton For A Good Cause In Manchester
Published
Anybody who was anybody, and thousands who thought they were somebody descended on the Victoria Warehouse in the shadows of Old Trafford last night to support a selection of charities. It was themed as a 10-year anniversary of Ricky's victory in his world title fight against Kostya Tszyu and bought together an interesting selection of bands, celebrity DJ's, Las Vegas style casino as well as Dancers, Fire Eaters, and many other weird and wonderful spectacles.
This was an interesting gathering. Those who loved the music, some who just wanted to be there and those who felt that the opportunity to purchase goods ranging from Black Grape badges and mugs, to a pair of Ricky Hatton's shorts (I kid you not!).
As for the music, well, we were entertained by a number of 'Tribute' acts such as 'The complete stone roses', 'Happy Mondaze' and 'The Oasis Experience'. All are very well versed in replicating their heroes, the pick of the bunch being the latter, who opened the proceedings in splendid fashion, not only sounding like their mentors, but managing to look like them too! (How do they do that?).
The first 'real' band I saw were Northside. Resurrected and back to touring again, well worth a watch if they come to a venue near you. Tonight, the band performed well, but were let down a little bit by a strange sound mix, which seemed to have forgotten that the lead vocals should be audible to those in attendance. Fortunately, as we were in Manchester, the crowd were able to provide their own vocals singing along to their own favourites. The band are getting better each time I see them these days.
Next were the Winachi Tribe. Fortunately, the second stage was much more intimate and had a sound system worthy of a band who attracted a good audience and who found their groove from the start of the set and maintained the quality and momentum from start to finish. Mary Long will be doing a full live review later in the week from the single launch night in London.
Black Grape were the headliners, but to be honest, by this stage of the evening, my age got the better of me and I decided to call it a night.
The crowds came and went, amused themselves regally on the dance-floor, in the VIP gambling area's and supping plentifully at the numerous bars, nothing like the old Manchester days of illegal booze parties in the old railway arches under Piccadilly station back in those heady days of the 80's before Acid House and while the real Stone Roses still wore leather trousers!
This was a well planned and executed event, premium entertainment until the early hours of Sunday morning.
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