The Factory Opens For Business

Redeveloped, recrafted and entirely redesigned for the start of a new decade, Factory Records infamous central Manchester offices reopened as the city’s newest rock and roll live venue last Friday 5th February with the debut performance of Peter Hook’s The Light, a supergroup featuring many of Hooky’s cohorts and compadres.

With tickets sold out in six minutes, devoted fans lucky enough to get tickets were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime performance as Hooky was joined by Mani, Rowetta, Howard Marks and Freebass lead singer Gary Briggs to perform a retrospective of his thirty year career, including songs from New Order, Joy Division, Monaco, Revenge and the world debut of his new project Freebass.

Proceedings rightly kicked off at 9pm sharp with Howard Marks on stage delivering his state of the world monologue on Freebass track “Dark Starr” and Mr Nice was joined by Freebass mainstay Mani of Stone Roses / Primal Scream fame as the precursor to The Light’s set. Another Freebass debut was to follow with Gary Briggs taking over the vocals for next track, “You Don’t Know This About Me”, and both tracks are set to feature on Freebass’ debut EP, Two Worlds Collide.

Mani, Howard and Gary retired after this intro and Hooky took the rest of the band, his son Jack Bates, guitarist Nat Watson, and drummer Paul Kehoe aka Old Leadfoot straight into a typically energetic run through of many of his favourite and classic tracks. Opening up with spirited and reworked versions of “Dreams Never End” and “Ceremony”, long term devotees were delighted at the choice of the third record, “Sister And Brother”, an unreleased New Order track that saw Hooky afficianados and The Factory Family gasp in amazement.

Straight into Monaco hit “What Do You Want From Me?”, midway through the set Hooky introduced old friend Rowetta (Happy Mondays) who redelivered her anthemic and individual version of “Atmosphere”, first premiered at Versus Cancer last December and Rowetta was to remain with The Light to perform “Insight” as her second number.

A crowd pleasing journey through lower profile classics followed next as Hooky and The Light took apart the room with “Shadowplay”, “Warsaw”, an unreleased Joy Division track, “Pictures In My Mind” and rounded this section of the set with an moving, immense and near divine experience of New Order fans fave “Sunrise”.

With the room at fever pitch, it was time to roll out the big guns from Hooky’s arsenal. A manically received “Transmission” made perfect sense and to close The Light caused a mass sing along to the iconic Manchester hymn,” Love Will Tear Us Apart”.

Never one for long encores, yet the screams, shouts and pleas from the audience yielded an impressively remixed and reworked “Blue Monday” which veered far from the original to close the set on a sense of occasion for a special Manchester moment.

The Factory’s Second Ever Night / “New Mancunia” 

Saturday 6th Feb with The Whip, MAY68, Lonelady and a special surprise guerrilla gig from The Drums

With The Factory director Peter Hook’s debut show out of the way, The Factory’s focus on its second night turned to new and cutting edge bands bringing three of Manchester’s finest new groups together for a very modern bill featuring The Whip, MAY68 and Lonelady.

Unbeknownst to the audience, this was to be followed later on by a special surprise guerrilla gig from The Drums who took the stage at 2am for a brief set after their two previous Manchester gigs that evening at Sound Control and The Academy.

As part of The Factory’s commitment to nurturing young talent and properly representing the local music scene, the first to take the stage were Lonelady, an up and coming Manchester band hotly tipped for success in 2010. Their elegantly distinguished, kinetic sound warmed the room from 8pm with tin pan alley percussion allied to melodic keys and a warm bass sound. A three piece, Lonelady’s enigmatic female lead singer’s insouciance and delicate vocals put the audience in mind of Liz Frazer from The Cocteau Twins and The Breeder’s Kim Deal, a great opener for the second night at The Factory.

Next to rock The Factory’s bassment floor and Funktion One Soundsytem was MAY68, whose insurgent electro pop deftly takes its name from the Parisien riots in May 1968 and combines this to a post punk nonchalance somewhat similar to Soulwax produced band Das Pop. One of the hit names at In The City last year, MAY68’s darting, swinging, musical indie pop takes in early 80’s influences and given the heritage of the club, many New Order and Joy Division sounding riffs in big numbers such as “I’m Too Much” and “The Prisoner”. With soulful nuances and carefully crafted hooks, MAY68 are another band destined for a lot of attention this year.

With the room at capacity and near fever pitch awaiting the homecoming of local heroes, The Whip, who had broken off recording their second album to headline only the second ever night at The Factory and to premiere many new tracks for the very first time. With an 808 State referencing acid house intro to the crowd pleasing “Divebomb”, The Whip took the stage to air punching and a rapturous reception, an atmosphere which continued throughout the set. 

New track “Secret Weapon” up next with its check your head bassline and indie progressive groove showed how The Whip’s sound has been developing since their first album “X Marks Destination”. In another special show for the fans at The Factory, The Whip were in town and having it big time as this and another new track “Metal Law” saw the room go right off.

“Blackout” and “Fire” from The Whip’s earlier canon came next and as lead singer Bruce’s confidence grew and grew, he began to charm and interact with the crowd, leaning over the front row from the intimate staging at The Factory. With the sweat rising in the room to the lyrics “can’t feel the heat”, the progressive rock tinged debut of  “ Master Of Ceremonies” with its loose cannon, dangerous, lose control riffs was euphorically received while following track “Best Friends” combined hints of early hardcore like Shut Up And Dance into a dancefloor destroying treatise on modern indie with samples and drops combining to prove how far The Whip’s sound has come along recently and how much acclaim will await them when the new album drops.

Finishing up on the newly sprung Manc anthem “Trash”, The Whip had delivered a masterfully complete and rocking set, one which will live on in Manchester music memories for many years as they utterly and completely defined the progressive, no looking back, forward thinking music policy that will shape The Factory.

As the crowd moved across The Factory’s three floors following The Whip’s gig, Peter Hook and Shaun Ryder took to the decks in the top floor boardroom, playing a room shaking mix of indie remixes, classics and modern progressive but the surprises for the night were not over......and not by a long shot.

On what may prove to be a historic night, around half past one, New York band The Drums pulled in their tour-bus outside the venue and asked to play what was their third Manchester gig of the night. Admiring their dedication to duty as one of the hottest bands of the moment, they took to the stage about 2.15 to deliver a four song guerrilla gig for The Factory faithful which was ecstatically received and a very special surprise for the Manchester music lovers.

Start as you mean to go on, they often say in this city and with the New Mancunia night of local bands, the appearance of The Drums and local legends, Hooky and Shaun also in attendance, The Factory laid down a marker for future events to be of the highest standards.