The Haçienda: celebrating 3 decades

Today marks the 30th Anniversary of legendary Manchester venue The Haçienda. Opened in 1982, to cater for a hole in the local night-life scene, the club played host to many important acts throughout it’s life – particularly during the eighties. Madonna played her first UK performance here, and amongst many others, it was also responsible for memorable appearances from The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Happy Mondays, Oasis and Blur.

To celebrate the birthday, Joy Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook has organised an invite-only event on the site of the old venue (in the car park of the apartment development which is now in it’s place). Attendees will celebrate the best of the Haçienda years with DJ sets from 808 State, Dave Haslam and Graeme Park.

Those not lucky enough to make the guest list for that shindig, can still experience a slice of the history, as part of the celebrations also includes an exhibition at the Manchester Photographic Gallery. ‘Haçienda 30 XXX’ is showing rare artefacts, artwork, photography and a 1:50 scale model of the venue by local artist Nick Hardy. If you’re in Manchester, make sure you check it out before it wraps up at the end of May.

There are also two other events lined up at Manchester venue Sankeys that you can still get tickets for:

Hacienda 30th Anniversary X2 / Saturday 2nd June
Laurent Garnier L.B.S / Justin Martin / Oli Furness

Hacienda 30th Anniversary X3 / Monday 4th June
Kevin Saunderson / Graeme Park / Allister Whitehead / 808 State DJs / Peter Hook

Here’s a selection of interesting bits from the Songkick archives to celebrate the venue reaching the big 3-0:

Flyer from opening night: