CityLife

Globetrotting Taylor back in town

Iain Taylor

AREA 51 interjects its blistering Summer of Love programme, which has seen house hero Sandy Rivera and Balearic spinner Pete Gooding rock the Whitworth Street venue in the past month alone, with a Kaluki all-nighter on Saturday 8 August.

The night will feature sets from Kenny Hawkes, Ellese, Matt Long and more (including the interestingly named Polekatz), in an 11-hour mashup that looks destined to raise temperatures, even if the rain outside keeps pouring in true British summertime fashion.

Rejekts

Saturday’s events also represent a homecoming of sorts for one of Manchester’s long-time clubbing fixtures, Iain Taylor, who will be back at the club for another rampage under his Rejekts alias.

Taylor first appeared on town’s nightlife scene almost 15 years ago, gaining his break via a set at the Hacienda before going on to hold down residencies at Sankeys – where he helmed the Tribal Sessions for four years – and the Warehouse Project, whose famous Paradise Factory gigs were given an extra spark by Taylor’s defection from their Radium Street rival.

Taylor was recently appointed Joint Head of Music at Area 51, making him responsible for shaping an audio policy that has brought names such as Felix Da Housecat, Hot Chip, James Lavelle and countless other big hitters to the club over the past 12 months.

Contact book

The position is a mark of the respect afforded to Taylor by his Manchester peers, who trust the taste (and probably the contact book, built up over more than a decade’s worth of globetrotting to far flung destinations such as China and South America, not to mention Ibiza) of a man who really knows his clubbing biscuits.

Saturday’s set sums up Taylor’s refusal to sink totally into the background in his new string-pulling role. That he should carry on filling floors across the road from the scene of his breakthrough is all the more fitting.

Iain Taylor (aka Rejekts) appears at Area 51 on Saturday 8 August. 10.30-9am, £10adv.