Isn’t it bleedin’ great to be a geek at the minute? Or a nerd? If you find either of those titles derogatory then…isn’t it great to be someone into really cool stuff and things? I remember buzzing from getting past the first level of Lemmings! Anyone else think fondly back to the “awesome” graphics of Final Fantasy 7? Now we’ve got virtual reality (almost) and we don’t even have to leave the house to buy games. Isn’t it great that instead of Hollywood blockbusters being all heart-warming and stuff, we get comic book adaptations and Joss Whedon?
The thing is, even the World of Warcraft obsessives among us need a little face-to-face time. When the Buffy-seven-season-marathon is over, I usually crave a little outside world, especially if it’s Buffy themed.
This is why Niche Nights was set up. For over 10 years my companion (not in a Dr. Who way and definitely not in a Firefly way) and I have been DJing and putting on gigs all over England and we figured “Why not put on some nights where we can play S.N.E.S while DJing and dress up like our favourite characters?” That’s what we thought and then this happened…
Niche Nights
We set this up as an umbrella heading for all our nights to go under.
Like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Nichenightsmanchester … Please?) . We figure it’s an easier way to get our fellow geeks updates on our nights, news about prizes and get everyone involved in everything from choosing the songs we play to what the theme of the night will be.
Dinosaurs and Capes – Thursday 26th September – Tiger Lounge Manchester
We relaunch our Dinosaur themed night at Tiger Lounge Manchester. The brainchild of Conal Taylor and Alec Davis, we dedicated an entire night to Dinosaurs. This is what to expect:
- Free entry if you wear a cape
- Fun 90s Punk and Ska-Punk
- Motown and Soul
- The Jurassic Park theme
- Cheap Drinks and Cocktail offers (their cocktails are dead nice)
- Dinosaur themed drinking games
- Free Shots
- Relaxed atmosphere and approachable DJs that like requests!
- Dinosaurs
Geek Night II – Revenge of the Geek – Saturday 28th September – Fab Cafe Manchester
A night dedicated to all things Geeky and awesome. The first one went very well and we packed out Fab Cafe Manchester! This one is also at Fab Cafe and we’ve ironed out the creases from last time and added at least 44% more awesome and 67% more Geekery. Expect:
- The River Versus – Live 3-piece band that like playing covers of classic gaming, film and TV themes. Their original tunes are often based on their own comic.
- Skin Walker – Chiptune DJ who plays 8-Bit music and got last Tokyo Chipped into a frenzy of stomp.
- Sock and Monsters plush creator stall with signing.
- DJs Myk Wharton, Conal Taylor and Owen Duncan playing a blend of party Rocknroll, Motown and 90s cartoon, gaming and anime themes.
- Andrew Baukham playing geek themes on keys…dressed as Rorschach!
- Fancy Dress/Cosplay competition.
- Geek Quiz.
- Blue Bells Buns bake sale. Complete with Portal cookies!
- A Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer) Cake from Ellie O’Malley!
- Original art prints auction of the Geek Night artwork from Twisted Dredz.
- Prizes donated from Forbidden Planet Manchester and private collectors.
- Prizes donated for the upcoming Thor and Hobbit films.
- SMART Self-Defence and Martial Arts group display (Street Fighter Style)
- Dredi Locks hair dreading and face-painting stall.
- S.N.E.S set up for your retro-gaming pleasure.
- Trailer screenings for The Hobbit and Thor: the Dark World.
- Lucky Dip bags full of random Geek treats!
Tokyo Chipped – Fab Cafe Manchester- next date TBA
Myk Wharton’s incredible Anime/Gaming and Chiptune night got off to an amazing start earlier in the year. This is what went on.
- HarleyLikesMusic 8-Bit DJ set – Awesome tunes played on a Nintendo DS!
- Skin Walker 8-Bit DJ set – More music reminding us of our misspent youths playing video games.
- A huge projector screening of Fist of the North Star.
- Myk Wharton DJing Anime themes, J-Pop, J-Rock, K-Pop and K-Rock!
- S.N.E.S Street Fighter II Turbo Tournaments.
- N64 games set up.
- PlayStation games and free-for-all tournaments.
- Free Manga giveaway.
- Prizes from Forbidden Planet Manchester.
Like the sound of these? The nights are growing from strength to strength, Dinosaurs and Capes being the longest running. Watch the Niche Nights Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Nichenightsmanchester) for our sneaky plans. In the pipelines we have Tokyo Chipped 2 and three more Geek Nights planned up until next summer. There’s more dino-ventures at Dinosaurs and Capes Halloween Extravaganza on the 31st of October and Dino-Special on the 28th of November. Also, keep an eye out for our incredible VARIETY SHOW coming soon and our Forbidden Planet Mini-Con next year!
If you want to be involved in any of our projects, be it to perform, publicize or party, please get in touch and join our cause in bringing more nights of fun and free stuff to the North-West!
