The Haçienda werd eigenlijk per ongeluk het epicentrum van al wat cool was. De gasten van New Order richtten de club op in 1982 om bevriende bands een plaats te geven om op te treden en om een clubhuis te hebben waar ze in konden feesten. De inrichting van de club was een miljoen jaar voor op al de rest en heeft de twee decennia clubarchitectuur die erna kwamen zwaar beïnvloed. Nadat groepen als The Smiths, OMD en Cabaret Voltaire er optraden werd de club de thuishaven van acid house en Ecstasy en ontstonden er groepen als The Stone Roses en The Happy Mondays. Nogal een belangrijke plek dus…

The Haçienda moest uiteindelijk sluiten vanwege slecht financieel bestuur en omdat al het geld dat verdiend werd uiteindelijk in de handen van de dealers belandde die de zaak zowat beheersten. Om de 25ste verjaardag van de opening te vieren, geeft New Orders bassist Peter Hook vanavond een groot feest in Urbis. We spraken met Hooky om te zien hoe het zit…

The Haçienda was recreated for 24 Hour Party People. Did seeing a mock up of the place not make you want to re-open it?
If we were to try and do it again it would have to be on our terms and
you just can’t really do business like that anymore. Look what happened
the first time around: financial fucking black holes and villains all
over the place. The place was my little baby though, whatever happened.
When they built that set for the film a company put an offer in to buy
it just before it was due to be knocked down. The demolition balls were
literally about to swing and the call came through over the walkie
talkie to stop them. But the builder on site misheard and gave the
wrecking crew the go ahead. I was over the fucking moon. Seeing the
club in the hands of someone else would have been like watching someone
shag your missus. Nightmare.

So what can people expect on Wednesday night?
A massive fucking rave with everyone getting off their tits. No two
ways about it. You don’t want bands when you’ve got DJs, mate. We’ve
enjoyed doing this one so much that we already have one planned for
August.

So you are DJing at the party, no bass solo sets?
Nah. I’m really into DJing now. It really re-vitalised me at a point
where I was pretty fucking jaded. Mani out of Primal Scream had some
cunt let him down so I stepped in. I never really appreciated how
technical playing records was, I just though they were loner guys who
liked being alone in a DJ booth but there is a real fucking art to it.
I play everything from 77 onwards and you have to make it all work
playing stuff for the dancefloor and stuff to please yourself. I play
anything from punk through to hard dance and LCD Soundsytem. It’s also
a great way of getting paid to get pissed.