Acid house has splintered off into many permutations but the clubs where the word 'rave' still bounces off the walls are those where big, rousing, hands in the air progressive house is being played.
Often forgotten by those floating around the clubs in the city centre is Tangled, held at The Phoenix at the University end of Oxford Road. Visit Tangled on a Saturday night and you'll see a scene straight out of 'Human Traffic' and a night worthy of comparison to Cream and Gatecrasher.
"Last year the music that we play was so untrendy," says Phil Morse who has to be one of the most relaxed promoters in Manchester. "But now the progressive trance thing seems to have come back into favour. It's bemusing!"
Sculpted in the finest traditions of huge DJs Sasha, Digweed, Oakenfold and Paul Van Dyk, Tangled has managed to remain essentially underground not needing to court media attention and keeping a crowd that return week after week.
"We like a mixed crowd," says Phil, "we flyer the city but deliberately do Hulme because we like the people that brings. We'll also flyer further afield like Burnley because people who live out of the city, working nine to five, want to get dressed up for the weekend and come to a club that guarantees a huge, friendly party. That's what we deliver."
Tangled also reflects what big clubs across the country are witnessing. "We know that there's a new rave generation," he continues. "The birth dates on loads of our membership cards show to years '79 to '81."
At the club, it's obvious to see that they are receiving and celebrating the whole rave experience just as enthusiastically as eight years ago. Musically, Tangled begins with deep house moving to bouncier material then hardens up into more direct, melodic European house. Many epic 15-minuite tracks?
"Not really," laughs Phil, "We like records that are stripped down, about five minutes long with a killer riff, but we did play the new Sasha track recently which is about 15 minutes long! It got a massive cheer on its first airing, so it's not all hype about him.
"Tangled keeps good relationships with similar minded clubs like the Kitchen (Dublin), Whoop It Up (London) and Alderaan (Liverpool).
"Some promoters have begun making records so we're talking directly to the people who make the music played in the club, which keeps us one step ahead.
"No stars have been booked for the 5th birthday because Phil Morse maintains that it's not the big guests that have got the night where it is today.
"It's a combination of us genuinely loving the music that we play and programming the music sensitively for our crowd who are loyal and totally into what we do."
Looking around the club on our last visit, he's definitely right. Dressy girls wave their arms next to dreadlocked, grungy types while young lads jump up next to a sprinkling of partygoers old enough to have teenagers of their own. We've heard about the rave kids, now how about the rave dads?
SARAH HEY