Metalheadz | Joshua Brooks Manchester

Metalheadz comes to Joshua Brooks on Friday 4 December. One of the most important names in drum and bass takes over the newly refurbished basement under the arches on Princess Street. 10pm till 4am.

Thirty years of Metalheadz

Metalheadz was founded in 1994 by Goldie alongside Kemistry & Storm, and it has shaped the sound of drum and bass ever since. The label opened its account with a double A-side twinning Doc Scott's V.I.P. Drumz with Goldie's V.I.P. Riders Ghost, and followed it with Goldie's Timeless, the album that carried the music out of the clubs and into the charts.

In July 1995 the label launched its weekly Sunday Sessions at the Blue Note in Hoxton. That night is routinely named by the genre's own luminaries as the single most important party drum and bass has ever had, the room where the sound was sharpened week after week and then sent around the world. Three decades on, the skull logo still means the same thing: no filler, no nostalgia act, just the deepest and heaviest end of the music.

On the night

Benny L is one of the most in-demand producers of the current era, a reliably devastating selector built for a low-ceilinged room like this one.

J Majik goes right back to the beginning. He was one of the youngest artists ever taken into the Metalheadz stable, releasing on the label as a teenager in 1994, and his records remain some of the most elegant the catalogue holds.

DRS: In Session (ft. Dogger) brings it home. Delroy Pottinger is Manchester's own, an MC whose debut album landed on Soul:R and whose voice has been part of this city's drum and bass identity for twenty years.

Diverge completes the bill.

The newly refurbished basement

Joshua Brooks has been a cornerstone of Manchester nightlife for over twenty years, and the basement has just had a full refurbishment. Brick arches, low ceilings and a system with the weight to do this music justice. It is the right room for Metalheadz.

Tickets

First release £10, then £12, then £15, with a final release at £17. A limited allocation of 25 student tickets is available at £8 with valid student ID. Earlier tiers are limited, so they will move quickly.

Essential information

• Friday 4 December 2026
• 10pm until 4am, last entry 11:30pm
• Joshua Brooks, 106 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6NG
• 18+ only - valid photo ID required for entry