The end of Manumission???

Dirk

Dirk

Well-Known Member
Taken from uphospitality


OF COURSE, THE IBIZA STORY that EVERYONE wants to know about concerns the FATE OF MANUMISSION this year (their tenth in Ibiza!). To date the story is that the McKay brothers, Mike and Andy (with partners Clare and Dawn), who to all intents and purposes - and in the eyes of just about everyone on earth - ARE Manumission, are locked in serious dispute with the owners of Privilege, their host venue. So much so it seems, that many confirm that THEY’VE LEFT the venue! In fact rumour is currently rife that they may even be about to settle in for the season at AMNESIA, on Saturday nights (under a new name presumably). And BRASILIO’S arrival on the island from his home in Brazil at the end of March, to organise Amnesia for the summer, only heightens speculation.

MANU TOO – Amnesia aside, from the various pieces of info and disinfo heard, at the root of the problem seems to be that the creative force-some finally want the rights to their Manumission name returned. Many will recall that – prior to their arrival in Ibiza a decade ago – the brothers ran Manumission at a club in Manchester, England, eventually taking it to the island in 1994. Apparently, in the earliest moments of building the legendary night at Priv (initially with the steadying influence of Brasilio’s guidance), the THEN venue owners thought it a rather good wheeze to register the name… on ‘behalf’ of the brothers. (Well, the list of British club nights meeting their downfall in Ibiza due to name registering and ownership problems are all too numerous – Gatecrasher, Clockwork Orange and Gods Kitchen are just three of the high profile casualties). This isn’t quite the same scenario, yet even so the Mish men are apparently refusing to return to Priv until they have the full rights to their name ‘back’. Meanwhile Privilege have refused to budge on the issue, even threatening to run a Manumission night themselves.

MANU FREE - There’s also a funding issue, by all accounts. At the heart of it all – apart from the ownership of name - lies the McKay brothers’ passion for innovation, for remaining at, or very close to, the cutting-edge. Last year Manu expanded their live show concept once again, crafting an even more spectacular theatrical display than before (albeit within the confines as a vast dance arena).

MANU FOUR - Manumission is about cutting-edge clubbing on a massively adventurous scale, which doesn’t come cheap. Yet as the biggest event on the island, appropriate funding might be expected to be made available as a matter of course… The latest fairly firm ‘rumour’ is that negotiations between the two warring parties are finally starting to look more positive, though even if sense prevails and peace is restored it’s likely that Manumission will now have to open a couple of weeks later than usual, maybe even as late as the first Monday in July, in order to organise the grand spectacle that they have planned for this extra special season. That said, nothing is confirmed and disaster still potentially looms, not just for Privilege, but for the island as a whole. If the boys get back to doing what they do best - giving the Manu name, alongside Ibiza - an amazing, positive spin, then the currently rising stench of death will quickly disappear.

THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO - If Manumission DOES continue (as before) then expect them to craft something that draws ever closer to the Rock-driven world of NME than to that of Mixmag, because they’re determined not to fade gradually into memory like some modern day pastiche of 70s disco. The club scene is ever-evolving, and – as astute observers - the boys know the score. (Manu spend their off-season mired in the underground nightlife of London, Berlin, New York etc, taking notes, rather than sitting at home sewing summer cash piles into damp mattresses). It’s essential that Ibiza move with the times, and fresh evidence of a new direction emerged at Manu last season, with live bands performing weekly in the Music Box (back room), which itself was an evolvement of the all-singing, all-dancing cabaret shows that were put on in the space in 2002.

IN SIMILAR VEIN there’s a possibility that ROGUE INDIE, an Indie music-driven promotion with a difference, may arrive in San Antonio! Nothing is confirmed, but they’ve already firmed up a Clubbing Weekend at THE BIG REUNION (whose entertainment is almost exclusively Ibiza-based), featuring BEZ (of The Happy Mondays) and LEEROY THORNHILL (of The Prodigy). The event delivers a decidedly skewed, off-centre, musical thrust – a forceful and wildly adventurous collision of sounds culled from some of the more raucous, rocking, outer reaches of the forward-looking rhythmic sound spectrum. They juxtapose vicious vinyl with live performance, guitars and grooves, bass and breakbeats… ooh, it’s a total mash of electro-clashing metallic moments that break the rules of the comfort zone. Think Linkin Park, think Audio Bully’s, think Electric Six, Primal Scream, Leftfield, Kings Of Leon, Chemical Brothers, Foo Fighters, Basement Jaxx, Coldplay… think Reprazent. In fact think anything you want, just be prepared to actually THINK! And when you think, imagine a place where musical rules cease to apply, because musical rules are for musical squares, and Rogue Indie is all about musical jaggedness - twisted sounds bent totally out of shape, an area where barriers exist only to be broken… Then again I might have wasted my time writing all that - the island might not be ready for CLUBBING INNOVATION just yet… We’ll see.

AT LEAST ONE Manu-related event that IS going full steam ahead is their 10th Birthday Party celebration. The team are currently cooking up a major ‘special’ for Friday 6th August, which is also the start of BBC Radio One Weekend. The location (and whether or not it can be called MANUMISSION) has yet to be resolved of course, but further concrete news is imminent.
 
Sorry... I dont (or won't) believe a word of it... we'll see how it all pans out over the next few weeks...

A few of us on here have it on good authority from various members of the manu family that there has been some probs but all is now resolved.

Look at the facts:

1. Privilege staging their own manumission would flop.

2. No other night/promoter in the world can fill privilege

3. Manumission can not possibly have a cash flow problem after 9 contiuously succesful seasons and their second busiest season ever.

4. Any legal naming issues could be resolved because quite honestly anyone with more than 1 brain cell who even knows where ibiza is knows the story of how the brothers brought the failing mancunian night to the island.


The circus is coming to town guys....

10th Birthday is going to be big!
 
I hope Manumission keeps on. I'm sure even most of the people who don't like it wouldn't want to see this giant off of Ibiza. Manumission is a big name on the island. And represents a different way for clubbing that you can't get in other parties IMHO. I think it's not only about the music quality or the sound system that many people preach as the reason it's crap (for just this issue there are better parties of course), it's a magical place when the whole Privilege is open and crowded.

It would be terrible for Privilege to lose Manumission. :(
 
i couldnt imagine an idie night in ibiza either, not saying i dont believe it im just saying i think it would be a little out of place.
 
But they did try different things last year with the likes of Har Mar along with bands like The Raptures and Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the Music Box which seemed to go down well. This is the kind of thing that would entice me to Manumission, not paying 50 euros for a circus.
 
i dont mean it is out of place in manumission, nothing could look out of place in there, i mean nights that are just indie
 
Just wait and see :eek: : Brasilio couldn't even take the name of his own party "La Vaca Asesina" with him when he left Privilege for Amnesia and had to change it to "La Troya Asesina". Privilege then carried on with La Vaca for 1 more year and it flopped so bad that it was buried forever. What happenend with "la Troya" though is history.
 
I saw a repeat of Ibiza Uncovered the other night where they claimed that Manumission would last just like Christianity...
 
stuie said:
...Look at the facts:

1. Privilege staging their own manumission would flop.

2. No other night/promoter in the world can fill privilege
...
Click to expand...
2vn03eb.gif
 
"...
Ibiza superclub takes summer off
12/05/2009 - 16:18:43

Ibiza superclub Manumission is having a year off,
it was announced today.

The celebrity hangout has entertained more than a million guests
for some 15 years, reflecting the explosion of dance music in the 1990s.

The statement announcing that the club night was not going ahead in Ibiza
this summer contained no mention of the recession.

It said the year off was down to organisers needing time
to “tend to their chickens”. :lol:

There will be one or two “private” parties in Ibiza this year,
alongside a few “Minimissions” in London, Moscow, Paris and New York,
the statement said.
..."
(breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment)



since when is manu "a superclub" ?
 
Ha ha.. a Moscow Mini-mission? I'm intrigued.

Someone once organized a party at club Gaudi that was quite obviously a rip-off of Manumission a few years back. It actually turned out quite well, although without the live sex acts :lol:
 
I have said it before and i will say it again, IF Manumission were ever able to sort out the problems and go back to Privlidge I would be at the front of the que , cash in hand ready to buy tickets. I was fourtunate enough to experience Manumission just weeks before they split with Privlidge and it was brilliant. I hope one day...it can be reborn.
 
Manumission 1995, like catching the perfect wave! The best clubbing night of all my life, girls walking about naked hand in hand, a dwarf shagging a 6ft blonde beside the window at the back, couples shagging in hammocks, finding the coco loco bar and taking full advantage, a guy in one of the toilet cubicles with a needle hanging out his arm and out for the count and a clued up crowd all going for it 100% whilst the roof was open and the sun came up! That is what it's about. Debauched is too weak a word for what I experienced that night.
 
MR.B said:
I have said it before and i will say it again, IF Manumission were ever able to sort out the problems and go back to Privlidge I would be at the front of the que , cash in hand ready to buy tickets. I was fourtunate enough to experience Manumission just weeks before they split with Privlidge and it was brilliant. I hope one day...it can be reborn.
Click to expand...

Nothings ever set in stone in Ibiza- who knows whats on the horizon next year!

Dirk Bigler said:
Manumission 1995, like catching the perfect wave! The best clubbing night of all my life, girls walking about naked hand in hand, a dwarf shagging a 6ft blonde beside the window at the back, couples shagging in hammocks, finding the coco loco bar and taking full advantage, a guy in one of the toilet cubicles with a needle hanging out his arm and out for the count and a clued up crowd all going for it 100% whilst the roof was open and the sun came up! That is what it's about. Debauched is too weak a word for what I experienced that night.
Click to expand...

I had a night out like that in Edinburgh once- only joking! :lol:

Respect mate - at least you witnessed the real Manumission back in the day!
 
"...
Manumission: The party's over
Monday May 18, 2009
Jerome Taylor


The Spanish island of Ibiza has long been home to some of Europe's most hedonistic nightclubs, but this season one of the most famous - Manumission - will not be opening its doors.Fire-breathing dwarves, topless dancers, high wire acrobats and a live porn show at dawn - despite Bacchanalian competition, one Ibizan club has managed to remain the most riotous night on the White Isle.

The Mediterranean pleasure palace of Manumission has become legendary within the clubbing fraternity - the ultimate getaway for Britain's hordes of party animals who have flocked to the Spanish island in their thousands every year since the veterans of the UK acid house scene fled their industrial urban warehouses in the early-1990s.

But this summer a hedonistic hole will be left in Ibiza's clubbing scene following the news that, for the first time since it was established, Manumission will not open its doors.

Andy and Mike McKay, the two Mancunian brothers who set up the famous club night back in 1994, have remained mysteriously circumspect over why they will no longer be putting on the weekly dance night which cost £200,000 (NZ$518,000) to stage, regularly attracted up to 10,000 clubbers and is recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's biggest party.

AdvertisementIn a brief and cryptic statement the pair said they were planning to take the year off to "tend to their chickens".

Those who know the siblings attribute their decision to a combination of tiredness and a desire to pursue fresh projects.

For Ibiza veterans, the closure of Manumission's doors on Ibiza represents the end of an era.

It defined the excesses of the 1990s superclub generation where thousands of hardcore clubbers would pack into cavernous venues, drop ecstasy tablets and dance till the early hours of the morning in a loved-up haze of heavy beats.

"Manumission was the club that transformed Ibiza into a giant clubbing holiday centre on a grand scale," says Dom Phillips, who edited Mixmag between 1993 and 1998, during Ibiza's clubbing zenith.

"It brought theatre and fun into clubbing. More than any other 1990s superclub - and superclub is exactly what it was - it brought a sort of louche, bohemian sexual decadence to clubbing."

And if sex sells, then Manumission sold it like it was going out of fashion.

There were the urinals shaped like red mouths, the "Manumission Ladies" - a troupe of dancers who stripped and gyrated their way throughout the night while the crowd looked on, and the theme reached its peak in the late Nineties when Mike McKay and his long-term partner Claire Davies began performing live sex shows.

At around this time, the British vice-consul on the island, Michael Birkett, noisily resigned from his post, blaming the "degenerate and out-of-control" behaviour of British clubbers.

"They are dragging us through the mud," he raged.


Basically I am sick of the behaviour of some of the mainly young British tourists who come here, and of clearing up the mess they cause. I am so angry at the degrading behaviour and the bad name Britain is getting in Europe. I knew it was time to leave."

As soon as other clubs started copying the sex shows, Manumission abandoned them, but the island's reputation as a libertarian bastion of "sun, sea and sex" had been sealed.

Named after the Latin word for the act of freeing a slave, Manumission was first incarnated in Manchester in 1994.

The McKay brothers created the kind of straight and gay-friendly night that they would have liked to go to themselves but couldn't find.

Disillusioned by the violence that often erupted on the Manchester club scene, they moved to Ibiza, where both brothers continue to live to this day.

Mike McKay is often described as the more artistic of the pair while Andy looks after the business side of things.

As soon as they arrived on the island, the brothers began tearing up the clubbing rule book. Until Manumission, most Ibiza clubs had free entry and made their money behind the bar.

By hosting parties in large venues where thousands could attend, the McKays realised that clubbers would be willing to part with £30 on the door - so long as they were promised something spectacular inside. Their formula was rapidly copied.

Instead of relying on big-name DJs, who were often more famous than the clubs where they played, Manumission created its own brand following by putting on show-stopping club nights that bordered on a burlesque variety show.

Each year the theme would change but the premise was the same.

Using a cast of more than 200 people on a main stage, Manumission took an ordinary club night one step further by staging a host of spectacular displays throughout the night which enthralled clubbers.

The brothers' decision to abandon what had been a very successful business model initially puzzled clubbers.

The Mixmag journalist Bridget Mills-Powell, who recently interviewed the McKays, believes they just wanted to move on.

"I always got the feeling that they never did Manumission for the money," she says.

"I think they felt like it was becoming something of an uphill struggle and they were getting a bit sick of it. Ibiza still has plenty of big clubs and a really vibrant scene but nothing will replace Manumission."

Mike McKay has indicated that he wants to make films. Andy will run a series of one-night smaller "Minimissions" in London, Paris, New York and Bali.

Their only presence this year on the White Isle, which an estimated 600,000 Britons still visit annually, will be a few "private parties" exclusively reserved for special guests.

Andy will also run Ibiza Rocks, a club night which has introduced indie bands to the island.

Manumission's competitors, meanwhile, are no doubt relieved that there is one less superclub on the scene. There are already concerns that the current economic downturn will result in a decrease in footfall.

In a bid to attract people to the island, Cream has just announced a host of discounts to UK clubbers who pre-book their tickets.

Whether Manumission will thrive outside of Ibiza, an island where the authorities tend to turn something of a blind eye to the more fusty regulations of the Continent, remains to be seen.

The bondage photographer Ben Westwood, son of Vivienne, is concerned that Manumission's debauched streak may be stifled outside the White Island.

In March he photographed naked Manumission Ladies on a "bucking bronco" for one of the brand's small nights in London.

"The March party was great fun, and the girls were very creative," said Westwood.

"But the problem is in Britain you have to deal with British doormen and security staff.

"I don't like clubs where you want to let go but you keep getting told to stop."
..."
(nzherald.co.nz/travel/news)
 
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