THEY CAME, they saw, they sang, they danced....and they donated.
Decked out with hazard stripes, video projections and posters the car park looked great while many of the audience simply looked grey. This didn't matter though.
The party in a car park on Monday was fun. The fact that the car park in question was under the apartments that sit on the site of The Hacienda nightclub made it a bit special.
To mark the thirty years since the club opened the big names from the years of E and House turned out in force. These included Peter Hook, Dave Haslam, Jon DaSilva, Graeme Park and Hewan Clarke.
Hooky by Craige Barker
The Hacienda opened on May 21, 1982, as a purpose built arty and international club for Manchester by New Order manager Rob Gretton and Factory Records boss Tony Wilson.
Sadly those two fine gents aren't with us anymore but on the 30th celebration in the car park it was good to see label co-founder Alan Erasmus and former club managers Ang Matthews and Leroy Richardson in attendence.
Decked out with hazard stripes, video projections and posters the car park looked great while many of the audience simply looked grey. This didn't matter though. This was a proper Manchester moment and a very happy one too, a home-coming for many eighties and nineties ravers.
Especially moving was the Mike Garry poem celebrating Manchester and mourning the loss of Anthony H. You can watch the performance below.
The events associated with the night also raised more than £7,000 for Nordoff Robbins, the music therapy charity.
Howard Sharrock for the charity said, "We're overjoyed with the amounts raised. A massive thanks to Peter Hook who invited us along. It was a great night and everybody was very generous."
It certainly was.
The Nordoff Robbins ladies
Photo: Craige Barker
A dapper Mr Wilson
Photo: Craige Barker
Photo: Craige Barker
Photo: Craige Barker
Panorama
