Ticket
Mick Hucknall
The Ritz
28th November 1989

In 1989 Mick Hucknall booked The Ritz for a series of about 4 Tuesday nights, mostly during November.
His intention was to recreate the 'Black Rhythms' night which he had DJ'd at The Poly Union around '84, before he handed it over to Hewan Clarke.
By '89, Clarke's Wednesday night at The Poly and Tuesday night at Berlin had come to an end, and most of Manchester's clubs were playing house music or indie music (billed as student nights or alternative nights).
The Black Rhythms night, playing a broad mixture of black music from various eras, including jazz-dance and classics by gil scott heron, curtis mayfield, etc, should've worked but it was an embarrasing flop. Hewan Clarke, The Jazz Defektors and a couple from ACR turned up each week, along with a few stragglers from the old Berlin nights, of which I was one. The Ritz seemed half-empty and huge.
Tuesday night was always going to be difficult and the night wasn't well publicised. We reckoned Mick was convinced his name alone would bring in hoardes of screaming fans but it didn't.
It's a shame the idea didn't work. The Ritz was such a great venue and a night like that would've been a real tonic during those acid-house-infested times.