Boomtown :
The Blackburn Warehouse Parties 1989-1990
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Back in the late eighties when acid house found it’s way into UK club culture a group of like minded friends and associates, who disenchanted by the lack of scene and dominance of commercial nightclubs in their hometown decided to put on their own events, mainly in disused warehouses and units around the industrial backdrop of Blackburn.
Initially outwitting local authority the events were promoted to people in the know via word of mouth. Flyers were often given out with a contact number to be called for rendezvous points and further instructions, often meeting in distant towns and cities across the North (Manchester’s Konspiracy nightclub being one) then travelling en masse in convoys consisting of Vauxhall Nova’s, Fiesta XR2’s and Escort XR3i’s (amongst other classic models favoured by the youth of the era) across to the various industrial estates around Blackburn. The parties rapidly ballooned from a couple of hundred local kids to thousands of party-goers from across the UK.
The early raves were a success and predominantly trouble free, however as the scale of the events got bigger so did the pressure on the Lancashire Police Force to get the parties shut down, police presence increased and a number of arrests were made.
One of the last big events was ‘Live The Dream’ in Tockholes, an all-nighter that took place in September 1989, which saw in excess of 10000 people attend.
The images below provide a good insight to these times, a magical and non-pretentious era of dance music and rave culture that went onto inspire a generation of club promotors, musicians and DJs alike.




















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































