- The end of summer can be a difficult time for the shrewd clubber, when the mild Mediterranean evenings of sangria and anticipation have been dragged away and a slap of reality reveals a rapidly dissipating tan, is there anything that can be done to prevent "post-Ibiza blues"? The answer for Manchester recently was Cadenza's Reboot, AKA Frank Heinrich from Offenbach, Germany, who stopped in at Spektrum before heading back to the white isle for the penultimate night of his residency at the Ushuaia Beach Club party.
Formerly the second room of Manchester's most prominent night club Sankeys, Spektrum was opened in 2008 following a pricey refurbishment that focused on intimacy and connectivity. Taking steep inspiration from two innovative and electric cities—New York and Berlin—the club has embraced LED technology with a light system that spreads the entire surface of the 350 capacity room's ceiling and is able to utilize over a million different lighting combinations.
Deep house oozed from the half-Funktion One, half-Phazon sound system as crisp and clear as any of the major clubs in the capital courtesy of a headline-deserving set from resident Bill Jones, soaked up by a fervent and ridiculously good looking crowd. But despite the first-class warm-up, Reboot seemingly still had sand in his record box as he took to the stage. His set jolted into a slow kick-start, the first track frustratingly halting midway. This didn't shake the generously framed German, as he launched straight back into a set of largely unreleased percussive tech house rhythms and an extensive version of recent release "Paulista," before moving things deeper to show us how the lighting of the club can move in sync with the DJ as though the two elements were one.
The forthcoming journey home through Manchester's archetypal sprinkles of daily rain—and not a typically warm Spanish morning—was long forgotten as his set built to a moodier, techno-inspired climax. It was at that moment that a feeling surfaced around the room that, for one night at least, a small chunk of the island of Ibiza had been lifted and placed inside a Victorian mill in the middle of Manchester.