Review: WHP presents Bugged Out with Boys Noize live, 12/10/12

Skiddle returns to the Warehouse Project for a Bugged Out party featuring Boys Noize live.

Jayne Robinson

Date published: 17th Oct 2012

Friday night was upon us, and after throwing away our Crunchie wrapper we headed to Manchester for the heavy-weight of all nights – The Warehouse Project. For this particular evening, the prodigious techno party, Bugged Out was in charge of providing the entertainment.

The new venue for The Warehouse Project is simply the biggest thing you’ve ever seen. As we arrived early, the place was almost empty and it was very easy to wonder how it would fill up. As the crowds arrived however, the rooms filled with ease and the dancing began.

After seeing the last few minutes of Spank Rock’s set (which climaxed with a leap off the stage, over the crowd barrier and onto the concrete floor - with no broken ankles) Detroit’s Jimmy Edgar took the stage. As electronica’s poster boy, Edgar is an act who many people we're sure would be confused by. Nevertheless, the funktronica-sex-musician was on top form. Later on - to a larger crowd - it may not have gone down so well, but the early-arrivers were no doubt thrilled to see him nonchalantly bring his unique form of techno to Manchester.

The tech-savvy boys from Simian Mobile Disco were up next, and having only ever seen them play DJ sets for the past few years, it was great to be spoiled by their live set. For a while it was like watching two switch-board operators with OCD as they plugged and unplugged their way into a bleepy Nirvana, the crowd making a football-chant style facsimile to the fan favourites.

Seeing a huge skull on stage is not something to expect at a techno night. But having said that, Boys Noize tends to walk down a different path to most techno producers. The whole show was amazing. Everything from the lights, tune selection and performance to the reaction of the crowd. Ridha is at the top of his game. Cleanly switching between new album tracks and old classics, it is apparent that his tunes have always been waiting to be played this way.

After briefly watching Chicago legend Green Velvet show no apparent difficulty in following the night's headliner, we squeezed our way through to the second room to finish the night with Fake Blood and Erol Alkan. It was business as usual for both of these lads, but the entertainment factor was still very much up there.