CityLife

Yellow brings back dancing in colour

WHAT does the word ‘yellow’ mean to you?

For some, it will bring to mind the jaundiced warbling of Chris Martin, who, if you believe the lyrics of his band’s breakthrough hit, can see nothing but the colour.

And if science, rather than neutered sob rock, is your thing, the word will probably speak of nothing more than any light source with a wavelength of about 575 nanometres.

But if you were one of the 450 people who used to fill the Boardwalk every Friday between the years of 1992 and 1999, the word will have altogether fonder connotations.

Yellow, for the uninitiated, was a club night founded by Hacienda hero Dave Haslam as an outlet for the more adventurous reaches of his record collection; eclectic cuts, many of which were being ignored by town’s more straightforward house and techno nights.

'Soulful'

To the dismay of fans, the night performed hari-kari before its host venue closed, opting to bow out with a bang rather than turn up one week and find the doors bolted shut. Six fallow years followed, eventually ending when the groove-following house upstarts from Stylus staged the first every Yellow reunion party.

The get-together, now a yearly tradition, is more than just a chance for original residents Haslam, Elliot Eastwick and Jason Boardman to reminisce, though. A hand-picked line-up of guests is also assembled (which this time includes James Wardell and Steve Cato) to represent what the club terms, “Manchester’s most musically switched-on and soul-soaked DJs”.

“It’s hard to imagine that it lasted for seven years,” says Haslam. “A whole generation of Mancunians did their growing-up there and for many of them it’s somewhere they remember with more fondness than the Hacienda, even, I think.

“The Boardwalk was a relatively small club that you only went to if you knew about it – there were no tourists.

“The music was eclectic but very soulful. Most of the so-called ‘credible’ clubs were a bit techno-techno-techno, and we played a lot of stuff they were ignoring; 70s funk, classic 80s soul, and New York disco.

'Nothing like it today'

“The mix of the crowd was always the best thing. Sometimes, OK, it was a bit rough round the edges, but that’s Manchester isn’t it?

“In terms of backgrounds and races and ages, it really did feel like ‘one nation under a groove’. There are great nights now and DJs who are definitely technically so much better than me, but I don’t think that mix of people is something you often get in clubs.”

Nor is the sight of Ryan Giggs dancing through the crowd as opposed to down the touchline: another regular occurrence at Yellow.

“The footballers thing was interesting,” remembers Haslam. “Ryan used to come and Nicky Butt and Ian Wright when he was in town. And they still talk about it now.

“There’s a guy who’s just written a book about the young Man United players in the mid-90s and in the interviews with them a few have talked about coming to Yellow.

“They remember it as a place where lovely girls went and the music was ace and they didn’t get hassle. So, in that sense, there’s nothing like it today.”

Lecturing tour

Tomorrow night’s party is the second this year to be held under the Yellow banner, after Haslam invited little-known spinner Ashley Beedle (who has been tipped for big things) to play the closing night of his Manchester International Festival run.

Despite this double outing for the club, Haslam could never be accused of resting on his laurels and living in the past. He’s currently weighing up the logistics of a split DJing/lecturing tour of America, in which sets at those clubs who have pleaded for his signature ever since a 1990 Hacienda tour would be interspersed with debates at some of the States’ top universities (“it would be an amazing way to spend a fortnight,” he says).

Meanwhile, he has little time for those DJs who only trade in the present because of the past.

“I’d be really demoralised if I was always trying to recapture something long gone or playing the same old music over and over. That’s a reason why we only do Yellow once a year.”

The 5th Annual Yellow Reunion is at the Ruby Lounge, High Street, on October 24 (2009). 10pm-3am. £10.