Graeme Park : ALL NIGHT LONG (extended set)

🎧 Graeme Park

🎧 support to be TBC

The story of DJ Graeme Park really mirrors the story of the evolution of dance music and club culture itself. Graeme found himself working in a Nottingham record shop called Selectadisc in the early 1980s, when the very first house records began to filter through from Chicago, Detroit and New York. When the shop’s owner opened a nightclub, it was only natural he should turn to Graeme to select the discs. Determined to showcase this new style of music, his reputation as a house pioneer soon brought him to the attention of The Haçienda in Manchester, who asked him to cover for Mike Pickering while he went on holiday in 1988. Simply put, there was no-one else in the country who could do the job. The Summer of Love followed and Parky quickly became one of the biggest names on the emerging dance scene. Aside from his nine year residency at The Haç, he was one of the first British DJs to play places like Australia, South America, the USA, Asiaand beyond as well as producing and remixing tracks for the dancefloor, including The Brand New Heavies, Inner City, Eric B & Rakim, New Order, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and others.

The Haçiendawas a club without a purpose until house music filled its cathedral-sized dimensions. It undeniably defined Graeme as a DJ, but after more than three decades as a DJ that can only be seen as one chapter in an on-going tale: ‘Yeah it was a very big chapter,’ says Graeme. ‘I guess the first was when I realised I could DJ and discovered house music from the US.The Haçienda was chapter 2, then chapter 3 was when it re-opened after closing for a couple of months in 1992. Chapter 4 was when it closed not long after I left and I played all around the world. I suppose Chapter 5 was the turn of the century and continuing my journey to where I am right now, with more variety to my gigs and music selection than ever before. Chapter 6 sees my return to live performance, which is what I did before I became a DJ, with the Haçienda Classical show’

As far as Graeme’s concerned, things are as fab as ever. But where is dance music and club culture headed? Well, who better to ask directions than the man who wrote the disco A-Z? ‘I started doing it purely by accident,’ he details. ‘And then realised I was actually pretty good at it. But I never thought I’d end up doing it for over 30 years. And I see no need to stop either. I still love playing fantastic tunes in a variety of different clubs all over the place and people still want me to do it too.’

And where we are now is a very interesting place to be with regular gigs around the UK, Europe and beyond playing a selection of lesser known classic house cuts as well as new and current tunes to audiences made up of die-hard regulars and new clubbers too. There’s also a variety of occasional productions, remixes and collaborations under various guises with people such as legendary Ten City vocalist Byron Stingily, Juan Kidd, Natasha Watts and more. As a respected DJ Graeme regularly delves into the thousands upon thousands of tunes he has collected on vinyl over the years: “House music has made people channel their tastes, so I went back to my roots and pulled out some forgotten classics,” he grins, still in love with process of mining those rich seams of vinyl. “I love seeing a crowd go wild to a tune they haven’t heard for years or playing something really obscure from 20 years ago that people think is new.”

In the past few years Graeme has performed alongside a host of legendary DJs such as Todd Terry, David Morales, Derrick Carter, Louie Vega, Danny Krivit, Marshall Jefferson and others for a variety of FAC51 The Haçienda club nights playing a selection of contemporary tunes alongside a variety of forgotten classics. “We want to try and recreate the excitement of the original Haçienda when nobody knew what we were playing from one week to the next. I’m also a massive fan of the current crop of young house and dance producers who are making scores of huge club tunes that take their references from over 20 years ago. Response to our occasional Haçienda club nights has been massive from both young and older clubbers alike and it’s an absolute joy to play alongside legendary DJs that I’ve known and respected for decades.”

Graeme has been a major part of the critically acclaimed Haçienda Classical shows which have performed around the UK since 2016 to rapturous response where he performs live alongside the Manchester Camerata Orchestra, Peter Hook and special guest vocalists to a set of classic and contemporary club tunes. This euphoric show has had rave reviews and gives you the chance to hear classic club tunes like you’ve never heard them before with a full orchestra, live percussionists and a choir. Graeme even performs some lead vocals at some shows too. The show opened the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and has also performed at the Royal Albert Hall in

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