North Wales club promoters Manipulate_ – don’t forget the underscore! – have labelled this one their 20th birthday party, adding that progressive house titan Sasha’s last DJ date in Bangor predates their existence. This is noteworthy due to it being his hometown: not exactly a dance epicentre either in the late 80s or now, the young Alexander Coe discovered house music at Manchester’s Haçienda, coined his DJ name and the rest is history.
Twenty years ago, Sasha was still reaping the spoils from the ‘superstar DJ’ era – which had seen his profile rise through dual sets and mix CDs with John Digweed, jointly riding the prog house and tech-trance tiger, and a remix of Madonna’s Ray Of Light. He, like most of the DJing A-list of that time, doesn’t command quite such astronomical fees today but is a widely respected elder statesman of British club culture who never compromised his musical ideals when it would have been comfortably done.
Manipulate_ @ Academi, Bangor, Fri 5 Nov. Tickets: £12-£19.50. Info: here
words NOEL GARDNER