Tales from the Dancefloor

by Sacha Lord

Like most Mancunians of his age, Sacha Lord's life has been a tale of two cities. Then and now.

Over the past three decades, Sacha has been in the eye of the storm of a musical and cultural revolution, from The Haçienda to The Warehouse Project. He has worked with the music industry’s most iconic acts including the Prodigy, New Order, Snoop Dogg, Fat Boy Slim, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Four Tet, Fred again … and has thrown some of the biggest parties that the UK has ever seen.

But it wasn’t an easy journey getting there.

Tales from the Dancefloor gives readers an all-access pass to the people, music and chaos behind the scenes. From being shot at in a drive-by shooting and dealing with gangs and the criminal underworld, to the excess and demands of some of music’s biggest names, launching the country’s largest urban festival, Parklife, and much more, Sacha reveals all the highs and lows for the very first time.

Tales from the Dancefloor, co-authored with bestselling author Luke Bainbridge, is a love letter to the city and the dance floor. This is an incredible story of resilience, creativity and innovation.

Sacha Lord's book 'Tales from the Dancefloor' was a No.2 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-04-08.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Audiobook

318 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 11, 2024

Reviews

[Jack Kerkham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of Manchester cliches and humble brags as you can imagine from a man who used to park his Lamborghini outside WHP whilst people were queueing to get in.
However always interesting to learn about local clubbing history and some decent stories in there too.

[Keith Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kind of non-fiction book about the Manchester music scene, particularly in that Lord spends little time on his childhood and jumps in at the point his career begins. There are plenty of interesting anecdotes and stories that make interesting reading. I dropped a star because the final handful of chapters are pretty cursory, covering several years in double quick time and in limited detail - I'm unclear whether Lord just didn't have anything to recount, or he'd lost interest. Also, some of the editing was pretty shoddy - Lord recounts the same anecdote in a slightly different fashion within the same page.

Still, a reasonable and interesting enough read, even if Lord's reputation has since taken a battering.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, LOVED this!!
I absolutely adore WHP and it’s so interesting to hear the story behind it and the history of Manchester’s night scene.

[ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books i’ve ever read about the electronic music scene, even better coming from Manchester

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fascinating. Mainly because in the past I have worked with 90% of the people mentioned in the book! I love how Sacha is happy to name and shame anybody and everybody without worrying about the consequences! Very refreshing!

[Shaun Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, full of only slighly amusing anecdotes. A bit narcissistic.

[Richard-Lee Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't been able to put this down the past couple of weeks - it's really good and Sacha goes into a lot of detail on Manchester's nightlife scene over the past few decades and how it shaped his journey as a promoter. Really makes you appreciate the effort he went into around beginning at student raves to them Sankey's, The Warehouse Project then eventually Parklife and what it took to build them from small venues to big festivals and he adds a lot of insights and personal thoughts/feelings mixed in, as well as what he did to navigate shady people he had to work with. Well paced and told - the last few chapters in particular read like a compilation of short stories with random and funny moments from his events over the years.

[Steven Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a really interesting read and takes you on a journey of Manchester from the 90’s until now. There’s some pretty funny and shocking bits, and if you know the city or have any affiliation to it then you will feel it a bit more. His recollection of the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack was pretty raw and really hit home for me.

Some may not like his writing style - you can tell he’s not an author. There’s oddly short sentences and paragraphs - it doesn’t flow too well. But I think that’s what makes it authentic, you can tell he wrote every word.

My one negative is that he’s a massive name dropper. Give it a rest mate 😅 all in all a great book though. And you can tell he hates the tories 💪🏽

[Sue Swinbourne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading the recent history of Manchester’s nightlife and appreciate the effort it takes to arrange and manage events during the 90’s to now. Plenty of laugh out loud and personal moments and a great way to learn more about my favourite city and its history. I am looking forward to the story of the next 30 years, and have added a few events onto my bucket list after reading the book. Loved the playlists too, a great addition. Sad to finish the book but one to keep on my to read again pile.

[Daniel Pollard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went a to load of the club nights the writer refers to but I’m not sure a casual reader would find the anecdotes interesting or even funny. The way some of the stories end reminds me of Alan Partridge. However, I did enjoy the stories of Sankeys and the trouble with gangsters, it was really dodgy walking to that club in Ancoats. The highlight is Lord reminiscing about ex Sankeys owner Dave Vincent and his superhero alter ego Ketaman. Great holiday read if you’re from Manchester.

[Brayden Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and punchy. Sachas definitely the straight guys, so stories aren’t that wild. Enjoyable never the less. Easy book to smash thru.

[Donna M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read

[Ben Baker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Im sure its interesting if you were there but I was somewhere else. Reading this boredom.

[Andy Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible insight into the Manchester club scene.

[Paul Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fascinating nuggets, but on the whole, rather turgid and self-aggrandising.

[Sophia Cimelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this! Mainly because of the history of Manchester’s night life scene (not because of the Author…)

[Ben Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why there's not more books like this from other industry leaders. This was great

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Rachael Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book!!