Hot-footing down Oxford Road on a bleak Saturday night in October, weaving stern-faced & sober through drunken revellers, after a long day (...showing photos & taking questions at Salford Un-Convention after Kevin Cummins talk... photographing improvised contemporary dance duets @ Contact in the evening with one dancer in MCR & the other in NYC!); well you'd be forgiven for thinking here was someone in a rush to get home. Not me

Home was still several hours away. I was rushing my way up to Wakefield Street for a night of Drum'n'Bass! The night was advertised as taking over all 3 rooms (2 rooms & bar) at SoundControl which proved to be somewhat over-ambitious for a first promotion in Manchester. The people behind Pandemik do have some pedigree though as they organise regular events out of town that are like an oasis in the rave-thirsty sticks

Poor advance tickets sales had sensibly prompted the lads who organised this night to drastically cut back on their original plan. Out went all the local dubstep producers & emcees who would have taken one room alone, and they went ahead with their pre-booked headline acts. This should guarantee all your dazed punters stay in one place, rather than drift continually from room-to-room looking for the better option (but actually often-resulting in more confused people milling around on the stairs than anywhere else! Have seen it! Have been it!)

If you (like me) like no-nonsense beat dinosaurs who clearly know their Old-Skool rave business then DJ Phantasy is your man because he has been around forever!! Day One! Balaeric Ibizia in ‘88. Original huge event-rave Fantazia resident with an endless CV, he should certainly know how to get a party started. Phantasy has been playing big raves for as long as I've been raving. That long! And I was clubbing for 10 years before I picked up a camera to begin documenting them. Always out somewhere, his has been a name you rarely see off the flyers

Those who had bought tickets tonight had definitely come to get down and, handing over the decks to Serums’ studio-partner Bladerunner (36Hertz/Dread) with his darker techno rollers thundering out, a somewhat damp soulless cellar-club warmed up into a respectable old-school drum'n'bass basement Blues party! And no-one typifies that jungle flavour better than Mr Ray Keith (Dread/ Penny Black/ UFO Records), up next

His set didn't get off to the greatest of starts. There were some sound problems which persisted until Ray stopped the music & refused to go on until it was sorted out. MC Bic (Pandemik) kept the crowd upbeat but even he was beginning to run out of excuses. Time seemed to stretch for an eternity. Taxi! Home suddenly seemed bare minutes away. Once back in the driving seat (personal favourite) Ray Keith proved why he was worth waiting for. Absolute smasher of a set! Opening with 'Hard' by Breakage & the Newham Generals to show he's still on top of the game, but he quickly upped the b.p.m into d'n'b territory (-& personally responsible for so many classics amongst them-) without losing any of those original Junglist flavours & dubby sub-frequency bass-lines! Immense

By the time he finally stood aside for Northern Lights AKA Steppa & Kitcha (36Hertz/Grid) to noisily steer the final section of the night, everyone in the room looked happy. Crowd, promoters, Ray (finally), me, emcees, everybody! DJ Steppa (Metropolis/SubDub) - voted Best Breakthrough DJ at recent D'n'B Awards- had brought his own Audio-Warfare mc's across the Pennines, MC Rafta & MC Talisman, and they were still ruling the roost & slaying Pandemik punters when I decided that that was enough for me. 3.30, a long day, I was done in. Time to go

Pandemik got through their 1st Manchester night (even if one of the crew got turfed out for lighting up skunk) and left everyone happy. You can't say fairer than that. The organisers have a positive attitude that translates into a good party atmosphere, and those who came down came to party hard! Definitely worth another look but maybe at a different venue, expect the Pandemik to spread

Light up myself, tired & ears ringing. Aaaah! But Home seems several miles away

Al Baker, October 2010