Press
Kath McDermott, Tim Lennox, Dave Kendrick, DJ Paulette, DJ Michelle
The Hacienda
30th October 1996

An interesting piece from The Girlfriend* magazine (1996) revealing contrasting views on the demise of FLESH - a hugely popular queer night at the Hacienda, which ran from October 1991 to October 1996.

Steven Whittle (not the trans rights campaigner) is glad to see the back of the club night:

'...FLESH was always about the money. [...] When FLESH was created it was a great way for the Hacienda management to show how liberal they could be - at the same time pushing up takings on an otherwise slack Wednesday night. It was expensive enough to deter the old and ugly working class, but the 'nice gay boys', who bought apartments in the city centre and the warehouse projects, were to come and practise ideas of clean, safe, yet entertainingly camp, sex without ever actually cumming.'

Ian Stevenson is sad to see it go:

'Why was FLESH so special? I suppose it was really a combination of factors. Luck played a part; it happened to be in the right place at the right time. The promoters took a huge risk and introduced a rampant imagination onto a dull and stale gay scene. The DJs pioneered a sound that seems obvious in today's clubs (both gay and straight). It tapped into an energy desperate for a bigger stage (there would have been no FLESH without the equally legendary Number One Club). But most importantly the people who paid homage to a lifestyle month after month, the people who spent weeks planning their outfits, saving for their drugs, working themselves into a frenzy: this was the thing that made FLESH such an amazing experience."

*The Girlfriend was a local queer culture zine edited by Kristin Armstrong.