1xtra New Year’s Day Party The Baby Grand, Manchester Decked in our best we were still underdressed for a seriously glam do – we’re talking corset’n’hotpants combos and if your footwear looked like it had ever heard the word casual, you were not gettin’ in! 1xtra tout themselves as bringers of proper party vibes and I was interested to see if they could live up to their own hype. Stringent security checks ensured a slow trickle of punters with a massive and glamorous queue adding to the anticipation but by midnight the venue was rammed. The selection in the main room was pure dancefloor bangers, high quality RnB/Hip Hop (sprinkled with the obligatory bashment) of both the fresh & classic varieties, mainly USofA style but with UK tunes garnering less crowd response the aim tonight was after all to squeeze the maximum party potential out of every minute. Well oiled by Rampage and Ronnie Herel, the appearance of Pretty Ricky in our midst caused much excitement. Mic’d low so as to be more sing-a-long than full on live performance, I heard a mutter of ‘Pretty Ricky: Pretty Sh…’ but that would be ungenerous and anyway most of the punters were lapping it up and their all-American presence, superstar-swish with sunglasses and beaming grins, did nowt but add to the buzz. For me however it was all about Rampage in the old school room, stepping up to unleash a set of ’93 – ‘95 Jungle followed banger after banger by UK Garage classics. Manchester, a city that never got the Jungle scene it deserved and was pretty much starved of Garage due to the trouble it attracted, went absolutely mental. I’ve not seen it go off with such excitement in a club for a long time – and with purely good vibes as well. All in all it was a blinding night. 1xtra do indeed know how to lay on a party and did right welcoming 2006 in the city that knows how to enjoy one!   I’ve not seen it go off with such excitement in a club for a long time – and with purely good vibes as well - Kate Novo - Photos: Jags Parbha for BBC 1Xtra  Related Links: 1Xtra © ukhh.com 1999 - 2006