After an eventful day in Manchester we arrived at Tangled's home The Phoenix at 11pm, the queue was huge, fortunately we had enough members passes to get in otherwise I don't think all of us think would have got in.. The door staff were really helpful and polite.
The party was in full swing when we got in. I headed straight for the toilets. I felt like I'd been sent back in time.. The conversation I heard around me was about club's tunes dj's etc.. I didn't hear anyone slagging each other off, which is very rare these days.. It used to be about the music but normally you hear people worrying about what someone else is wearing..
Woo hoo I like this place already!!
So into the main room, it reminded me of a student union, it was a L shaped room, as you walked in the bar was straight ahead, the dj box just off to your left and there was a raised area around the back and right side with seating.
The cloakroom was at the end of the bar which seemed a daft idea, when people arrive the first two things you do is put your coat in and get a drink so everyone was trying to squeeze in that area. Although it didn't take too long it was just awkward.
As I was squeezing my way out of the bar area Phil Morse played Rui Da Silva - Touch Me. What a fantastic tune, smiles expanded on faces all around. I love this place back are the days when the crowd smile's back!!
My pet peeve is miserable clubbers. When I first started clubbing, everyone smiled at you, the whole club was happy, these days you're very lucky to get a smile. Human traffic moment I know, but it's true all my friends know I love to moan about this fact. It winds me up so much, when people stand in a club looking miserable. I love to share the love of music with everyone. People seem to think they are too cool to smile.. Its not like that in Tangled, everyone is there for the love of the music.
No wonder Tangled has been running for so long, their crowd is exceptionally friendly and full of energy.
So that was me hooked, on the dance floor all night, I hadn't even ventured upstairs yet, but how could I leave the musical delights of Phil Morse when he played a remix of The Killers - Somebody Told Me, the crowd erupted the atmosphere was sensational and this was just the beginning.
Next to the decks was Nick Warren legend of legends.
I had recently seen him play a classics set in Cream which was amazing, but it had been a long time since I had heard a normal set from Nick and he certainly hasn't lost it.
He started off fast with a breakbeat sound; the set flowed between breakz, acid house and progressive sounds. The first tune to send the crowd wild was KLF - What Time Is Love. Nick was bringing the crowd up and down. Banging out tunes like The Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK, Donna Summer - I Feel Love and another classic Yeke Yeke.
The crowd were loving it, constant roars of excitement and smiling faces.
I had heard Tangled was a sweat box so I dressed accordingly, summer sandals the works, but It wasn't sweaty at all.Could this place get any better???
Terry Pointon took over from Nick Warren; it was nice to see Nick stay and dance to Terry's set, again a very rare sight. Although it did confuse many people, when I was asking the name of the next dj many people told me it was Nick Warren..hehe..
Well it was time for me to take a look upstairs, it was hard to drag myself away from Terry's set but I was here to do a review so upstairs it was. Again upstairs was a small room which was like an L shape, it had a bar at the back of the room and seating around the sides. I found the previously mentioned sweat box it was down the front of this room. The breakz was pumping in here. I am a big fan of breakz, but I found it hard to settle in upstairs as I'd spent most of the night downstairs.
So I left my friends stomping about upstairs as I joined the brilliant sounds of Terry Pointon.
He played Seb Fontaine's new tune - Reflekt,
I finished the night off dancing away to Terry; the atmosphere was never lost in this club it just kept coming.
I am gutted I missed Rennie Pilgrem as he is the man who introduced me to breakz, hi s remix of Zero - Emit Collect had me bouncing around many a dance floor, it was just to hard to tear myself away from the impressive sounds of the main room dj's. I will definitely put in some time with the breakz room on my next visit!!
We were with a large group of people all normally into different genres of music but Tangled had everyone hooked.
Earlier in the day we one of our friends was declaring he'd had enough of clubbing and this was the end of the road for him. Tangled restored his faith.
Tangled - One of the north's best kept secrets!