We received an email in our in box this week, seems the most legendary club in the world, The Hacienda is throwing a party at WMC this year. The Hacienda (adorned with the name plate FAC51) was owned and operated by the late Tony Wilson (Factory Records) and Peter Hook - New Order / Joy Division

I cut and pasted some of info from their site below. www.FAC51WMC.com I also went through the process of “transmitting my info” and am eagerly awaiting to see what happens next.

The details are all a bit mysterious, but I am quite thrilled to know something will be going down. I will be there with bells on.

If you haven’t seen the movie “24 Hour Party People” I STRONGLY recommend you do. Sex, drugs, and Rock n Roll in full effect, and it if you’re not the loop as to why The Hacienda is so legendary, this will explain it all.

“24 Hour Party People” movie trailer

The Hacienda Story via www.thehaciendamustbebuilt.co.uk

Originally conceived, founded and financed in 1980 by Factory Records and New Order through a deal steered by Rob Gretton, the manager of the by then disbanded Joy Division, The Haçienda first opened its doors on May 21st 1982 sporting a Factory Records catalogue number of Fac 51, a pioneering interior designed by architect Ben Kelly, graphics by Peter Saville and featured Bernard Manning as the opening night act.

Not surprising then that all of these forces combined turning The Haçienda into where it is widely recognized as the birthplace of Acid House and responsible for shaping the face of UK club culture as it has since been known.

Through a chain of events that no one could have imagined, the ex-boat showroom on Whitworth Street, Manchester that became The Haçienda and the scene it gave birth to, went on to have one of the biggest impacts on youth culture since the punk movement and is one that is still reverberating today. Through the combination of legendary nights such as Hot, Nude, Flesh and Temperance Club with DJ’s Mike Pickering, Graeme Park, Jon da Silva, Tom Wainwright and Dave Haslam, clubbing had changed from simply a night out to an intense experience.

It was the heady mixture of new music, new ideas, cutting edge design and even new designer drugs that pushed the venue into overdrive long before the days of Ministry Of Sound, Cream, Renaissance, Gatecrasher and Godskitchen had even thought about opening their doors and inspired DJ’s from Sasha to The Chemical Brothers to Laurent Garnier. The Haçienda shone like a beacon rewriting the rulebook of what a clubbing experience was all about and inspired hundreds of thousands.

I have so many special memories from those days, the way the DJ’s would select the tunes especially for the club, I remember Sasha’s first set, the atmosphere was electric and he played the best set of his life, the music was perfect as was the crowd, when we left you just knew you’d been a spectator of something very special indeed. - Peter Hook

MANCHESTER to MIAMI

We are very pleased to let you know that we are bringing The Hacienda across the Atlantic this March. We hear that the “Party People” who attend the Winter Music Conference, are quite hedonistic, and last well beyond 24 hours! We’ve written a few chapters on this ourselves over the years, and we look forward to writing yet another, with you, on this special night we are planning. To begin our Manchester to Miami mission, we are going back to the roots of where this all began for many of us. However, this time around, we don’t have a hot line to call, or a meeting point to stop off at. We chose the internet as our way of transmitting the details to you. You can tune in to our signal, and begin the journey with us - simply send through your email contact, in the little box we’ve provided there below. Yes, that’s right, under the video for “Blue Monday”. And shortly thereafter, our next transmission will arrive in your inbox. We look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you very soon.

Kindly,
FAC51 - Family & Friends

“Blue Monday” – New Order (1983)