Metalheadz return to Joshua Brooks, and the billing tells you everything. Goldie and Doc Scott, back to back, under the bricked arches in Manchester. Two founding figures of the sound in one of the few rooms that has earned the right to host them.

Goldie is the cultural architect of the whole thing. He founded Metalheadz with Kemistry and Storm in 1994 and released Timeless a year later, drum and bass's first platinum album and the record that proved breakbeat science could carry real weight. "Inner City Life" with Diane Charlemagne is still one of the genre's defining moments. Awarded an MBE in 2016 and now based in Thailand, he has kept the label moving for over thirty years, with recent work including his Subjective project and a 2025 remaster of the Rufige Kru classic "Terminator".

Doc Scott matches him stride for stride. A Blue Note resident from the earliest days and the founder of 31 Records, he is the producer behind "Shadow Boxing", the 1996 Nasty Habits cut that remains one of the most influential records the genre has produced. Goldie has called him the King of the Rollers, and the label he started in 1994 went on to give early releases to Calibre, Marcus Intalex, Ed Rush and Optical, and Pendulum. A DJ's DJ, built on deep selection and seamless mixing. Putting the two of them in the same booth is the kind of pairing that does not come around often.

Joining them is Wagz, one of the most promising names on the current Metalheadz roster. The Sheffield producer put out the Back Burner EP and Dreamcatcher on the label across 2025, deep and atmospheric drum and bass that carries the classic Headz influence without leaning on it. He is a clear signal of where the label is heading, which makes his place on this bill fitting.

Medic MC takes hosting duties, a versatile new-generation MC at home across the UK bass spectrum, there to keep the room connected to the music rather than talking over it.

Joshua Brooks has long been a Northern home for the label, the basement that hosted Metalheadz 30th anniversary celebrations in 2024. The room on Princess Street runs a Void Acoustics system built for low-end pressure, with bare brick, low ceilings and nowhere for the sound to go but straight through you. For a Goldie and Doc Scott back to back, you would struggle to pick a better room.

See you under the arches.

Description supplied by the event organiser.