Wigan Empire Allnighter 2019

I'd been looking forward to this one for some time, I think anyone would admit this is probably the most hyped event in the country at the moment; I got my tickets months back and was dying to see if it lived up to the fanfare. Most people I mentioned it to had been to at least one but I guess, being only an annual event, it's difficult to get a consistent opinion of it. 

Massive great venue - amazingly atmospheric, lounge with bar, hot food, best range of merchandise and sellers I've ever seen, loads of seating, huge car park. Perfect lighting - mainly dark with ultraviolet lights

In the main room were a good range of DJ's, mix of tunes, very little repeats - I think maybe 2? and as my mate Mick (also from Birmingham) said - this is not the kind of stuff you commonly hear in the Midlands. It's proper Northern (even if not actually billed as such), not so much slow stuff, no disco (and I don't mean that as a derogatory term) and not a lot of Modern, some rare, a high proportion familiar and mostly uptempo; bleeding suits me though! Stand out was Bobby Williams, towards the end of the night. 

The second room was more varied, I didn't go in there until after midnight but it's always great to have the two rooms and for the last two hours I flitted between the two most of the time. There was some modern, R&B, crossover and a lot more besides, so you can't say this event is not progressive.  

The absolute standout for me though was young DJ Mattie Holme in the second room - sweet mother of God, I've rarely heard anything close to the quality of this set - one after another rare but brilliant, alternative versions, new stuff, things so unusual that you can forget Shazam, I think I knew two songs and loved them anyway everything else was a totally new experience. Not big headed with it either and I loved the way he introduced the Royal Knights.  Just mind-blowing stuff, the only other DJ I think comes close to this is Johnny Weston or maybe Butch? (my opinion of course).

On the minus side the floor was a bit hard work in places and the sound was a little echoey, but it's such a huge space that it's almost inevitable. The second room could also have been bigger (don't know how that would happen though unless it was a Tardis) but only because it was so popular. 

So overall the experience was absolutely first rate, the plusses way outweighed the minuses and this is up there with Aaron Williams' Macabre Soul in my top two events of 2019. The only way it could be bettered would be to put Mattie on in the main room  

Did a sketch of the main room, one of a well known dancer and another of Mattie Holme (although I need to finish that one off).

I rarely give 5 stars - I've noticed that often reviews are by people connected with the event who inevitably give 5 stars to everything. I am trying to be objective.