RAVE NEW WORLD

The story of iconic Manchester nightclub THE HACIENDA

The Hacienda – The Club That Shook Britain

Saturday,10.15pm, BBC2

Manchester music venue The Hacienda became famous during the1980s and1990s for its pivotal role in the acid-house and rave scene. But the iconic nightclub, bankrolled in part by local band New Order, was to end in financial disaster and acrimony.

BBC2’S documentary The Hacienda – The Club That Shook Britain recounts the venue’s rise and fall, with contributions from members of New Order, club regulars including Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, and former employees.

Originally conceived by Rob Gretton, manager of New Order (previously Joy Division), the club was co-financed by the band, their record label Factory Records, and the label’s owner Tony Wilson. Formerly a warehouse, the venue was designed to emulate the New York nightclubs New Order had visited while on tour.

‘They were big spaces with multiple floors,’ recalls drummer Stephen Morris, a founding member of New Order. ‘There was nothing like it over here.’

It opened on 21 May1982 and among the acts who played there in its early days were Madonna in her first UK performance, The Smiths and, of course, New Order. But the club was often empty.

Fortunes turned around in1986 when The Hacienda became the first British club to play house music, which had originated in Chicago’s underground club culture in the late1970s. House’s arrival coincided with the use of ecstasy, and the rave scene was born.

‘If it wasn’t for the drug, the music wouldn’t have taken off,’ says Noel Gallagher. ‘And if it wasn’t for the music, the drug wouldn’t have taken off.’

But in July1989 the UK’S first ecstasy-related death took place when16-year-old Clare Leighton died after taking an ecstasy tablet at the club, and police began clamping down on the acid-house scene. It was the beginning of the end for The Hacienda, and it eventually shut down in June1997.

The closure came at a great cost to New Order, who had put millions of pounds into the venture, and adversely affected the relationship between band members.

‘It does make me sad because we were friends,’ says Morris.

‘And we’re not any more.’