A resurfaced video has emerged showing various key members of the Madchester scene at the Sweat It Out Acid Party at the Free Trade Hall in 1988.

Featured Image VIA

In the video Happy Mondays’ frontman Shaun Ryder begs legendary producer and club founder Tony Wilson for “a gram and three E’s”.

The video was posted last week after being discovered in a suitcase in Ibiza last year. In case you weren’t aware of the significance of this tape, the party is allegedly credited for marking the beginning of the city’s Madchester movement.

Anthony Donnelly, who founded the Gio Gio fashion brand with his brother Chris, filmed the video. He claims that the rave was advertised with a fake address:

The real address was a closely guarded secret for obvious reasons we did not want the police to find it.

What an exciting time to be around, seeing the birth of an entirely new subgenre. Sadly with the state of chart music these days, the only decent new movements that form remain underground and do not make it to the mainstream.

Still, at least we can look back to those times and imagine what it must’ve been like. While we’re on the topic, check out this blog that is full of old downloadable Hacienda DJ sets.