So it's Saturday 13th of February, midnight and I’m on the top floor of the Manchester Academy attending Mantra Festival 001. The mood is high, the sound is dirty and many jaws are already swinging. It was at this time that I caught eyes with the one and only Jack Banner, my heart sunk as encounters with him normally involve a camera and result in footage appearing online where you're captured spangled out of your mind and trying to get the most out of your 5 seconds of fame. Subsequently, your whole friend list gets to see what a mess you were and a fair chunk of any remaining dignity is removed. Anyway, it was to my relief that Jack didn’t want a shout out nor did he want to hear my favourite joke. In fact, he wondered if I would write a blog post about the night for the Bloc2Bloc website. I said "of course" and made a quick exit before he got out his Go Pro! Now, before you continue reading please understand that when I spoke to Jack I was most definitely not sober and I had no plan of slowing down any time soon...
We arrived at the venue at about 11pm and were greeted with the queue from hell, and when I say this queue was huge, I'm not exaggerating. It was like some black Friday type of shit, the sort of queue that you'd only find at theme park like Alton towers (or Thorpe Park if you're a southerner). However, once in we found it moved quickly and it was a good chance to finish off any remaining drink and purchase some provisions from Manchester’s finest drug vendors.
Once in, we headed straight up to Academy 2, hosted by Ram Records, this room presented a whole variety of DNB. Featuring some big boy artists such as: Noisa, Rene LaVice, Load Star and Frankee. The djs were supported by some of Manchester finest Mcs including Tonn Pipper and T Man. The only problem with this floor was that the music occasionally ventured out into areas that definitely weren't my cup of tea. At one time, I recall a DJ mixing Skrilex and other hard core EDM. However, the great thing about Mantra festival was, if you weren't feeling the sound in one room, there were two other banging rooms to choose from!
Academy 3 was the Swamp 81 room, with regulars: Loefah, Benton, Joker b2b Plastician, Chunky and Zed Bias b2b Paleman. This room was set to go off but unfortunately I didn't spend much time in this room and don't remember seeing Zed Bias, Loefah or Benton. I think this was due to the fact that the journey to the room involved navigating your way round the bright white corridors of the student union and trecking up 2 flights of grooling stairs. That's a lot when you're fucked!
Last, but definitely not least, was the Club Academy. Hosted by Contact, this room's genre was Dub and Bass music. The notable names were Youngsta, Khan & Neek and Digital Mistikz. The combination of the lighting and sound system created an incredible mood that complimented the dubstep sound nicely. As soon as I entered the room, the drugs took over and I was in paradise. Club Academy was located right next to the smoking area. This was far too convenient and I spent most of the night journeying between them.
So, to conclude, I would say that Mantra Festival's first night was an absolute success. I can't remember much of the evening except having a sweet, sweet night. I'm hyped for the next one!
Video: Rob Glass @ glassmedia.tv