Part of our weekend never dies.........

With the rumblings of Leeds’ ‘Cocoon in the Park’ still echoing over the Pennines Sankeys opened its doors on Saturday night for a party to rival any Yorkshire mud bath.

Welcomed to our legendary basement were two men whose tracks have been gracing the laptops and turntables of our friends orchestrating the Kaluki madness over the previous months; David August, whose monster ‘Moving Home’ has become synonymous with the start of our summer 2011, and Solomun, arriving fresh off the back of killer sets at last month’s Sonar festival with his Diynamic label mates.

Kaluki proceedings kicked off with Sankey’s pied piper of choice, Ellesse, whose own emerging star continues to rise, and with opening sets like this it is easy to see why. Dropping diamond offerings such as the Tale of Us remix of Whomadewho’s ‘Every Minute Alone’ the club’s early birds were given no option but to start flying.

Roll on 1am and more than 700 revellers were poised, ready to erupt, for the night’s headliners. What was originally expected to be David August playing solo until 3, with Solomun taking over the reigns for the following two hours, soon evolved into a 4 hour back to back session, both DJs facing off in a cat and mouse game of one-upmanship. The masses responded. A highlight of Kaluki’s 5^th anniversary celebrations so far the two conductors manipulated their fans to the point of frenzy. By this point the main room altar was becoming the scene of some serious dance worship.

With the rest of Manchester tucked up in bed the Sankeys faithful united well into Sunday morning. Pete Zorba took the mantle at 5 for the closing hour of the event, his tunes totally on point for those still reeling from the headliner’s efforts. A reluctant turning on of the house lights at 6 was met with the usual cries of ‘one more choooon’ rising from the dance floor and the DJ duly obliged. Finally pulling the plug close to 6.15 Zorba, along with his hedonistic entourage cramming the booth, brought an end to yet another triumphant Kaluki celebration……Roll on next Saturday……