Saturday 04/10/08 In The City Launch Party @ The Warehouse Project, Manchester

As the decibels climb and shake the roof of this tunnel beneath Manchester Piccadilly’s train station, it’s hard to imagine it's old sleepy state and car park facilities come daylight. For, right now as Eat Your Own Ears take over for the In The City Launch Party the space is overrun with moving bodies, a large mass of which are clumped together in front of the stage and are throbbing in time to the deranged sounds from Castle Donington’s electric spawn, Late of the Pier. With people frothing at the mouth in praise of this four-piece, there’s no getting away from the band, that is unless you are one of the many disappointed late arrivals at tonight’s event and are missing this bewildering early slot.

Playing through the leaking rain and sweaty mist that hangs thickly in the air, these boys appear demonic as they dance among the blue flickering lights on stage, tearing through their tracks ferociously like a crazed circus act. 'Random Firl' offers the only light breather in this heady set that includes, 'Focker', 'Whitesnake', 'Bears Are Coming' and the operatic climax of 'Bathroom Gurgle', which sees a seated Samuel Dust become a blur as he wails and spasms like a toddler having a fit.

As the crowd and live antics switch to dancefloor mode aided by the decks of Breakbot, others disperse to brave the booze and portaloo queues, before the music shifts with the pounds from Phil Collin’s In The Air Tonight which resonates for a bizarre build up to the electronic trip-hops of Tricky. As Tricky sings in rasps and snakes about topless in a dance on stage, it’s clear the energy in the venue has simmered dramatically, despite the rhythmic uproar of his 1995 hit Black Steel. Pumpkin (performed without Alison Goldfrapp) only mellows the pace further, and through all the mesmerising, this subtle set would have been better as a sleeping intro to the night, or an ambient wake up call in a performance at dawn.

By contrast John McClure and his merry makers storm the stage next with a set offered as the epitome of the local attitude and swagger, even though the six-piece hail from Sheffield. Reverend and the Makers’ set is matched in vigour by the bodies that have heaved their way to the front, for Heavyweight Champion of the World and Open Your Window, among others, and as the ‘Reverend waxes lyrical to those eager people gyrating before him, others just shake their heads passively, having seen this successful ‘Manc formula’ all before, as the words “Be like everybody else” echoes all around. But there’s no doubt that the Makers do generate the biggest crowd and reaction of the night.

Warehouse Project frequenters and local act, The Whip bring the revelry back to it’s former pulsating state with 'Divebomb', 'Sister Siam' and 'Blackout'. Through their endless loops, beats and singer Bruce’s robotically enhanced gnarls, the energy is raised and sustained at a peak, dipping only momentarily when a technical glitch hiccups through a track, betraying the quartet’s reliance on electrics. Just as the sea of waving hands are diminishing and weariness to their relentless set looks ripe to kick in, Trash is pulled out and the turbulence returns for an elongated beat-ridden, and throbbing finale.

So far tonight unlikely mixes have surfaced as crowd pleasers, such as Dire Straits and Phil Collins among the more obvious contenders, of the Klaxons and MGMT. These predictable and surprising offerings continue for the remaining two hours of the event, as Simian Mobile Disco help the punters make that transition from night to daylight, winding up, as dawn approaches.

Tonight’s sold out event proves the Warehouse Project’s third season is rife and well underway, and as you stand in this tunnel and feel it’s walls vibrate with action, picturing the revelry and music ceasing to a halt permanently seems far from plausible. But with developments scheduled for this site, the future of the event in its present state seems uncertain.

Tricky, The Whip and Reverend @ The Warehouse Project: