In-depth interview with Haçienda icon, DJ Graeme Park
Graeme headlines Friday at Hardick Festival, 18-20 August 2023
Haçienda Classical, the widely acclaimed live orchestral clubbing series featuring DJ Graeme Park, Manchester Camerata orchestra and special guests is headed to Hardwick Festival this August for a headline show.
Haçienda Classical brings arrangements of much-loved, defining records within its wide repertoire of tracks. The show features a blistering live DJ soundtrack from Graeme Park married with a full orchestra, additional musicians, vocalists and special guests in a fully live experience.
Haçienda Classical sees musical director Tim Crooks lead the collective of artists and musicians on stage in performing legendary favourites and new versions of club classics all mixed continuously into one non-stop set.
Some eight years now since the show first debuted, the collaboration has proved remarkably enduring and this year’s run of shows highlights the considerable popularity that Haçienda Classical has achieved.
DJ Graeme Park speaks about bringing the show back to the North East, the tragic loss of his son earlier this year and the timeless legacy of a club that shaped modern club culture.
“I love the North East”
The North East is a region Graeme keeps coming back to. Drawn to the spirit of the people and their renowned love for a great night out, the famed Haçienda resident is always looking for an opportunity to make his way back to the region.
“I do love the Northeast,” Graeme said. “That's why I'm regularly out there. It's such a great part of the world and hopefully, I'll be continuing to DJ up with you for a while.”
Hardwick Festival, in particular, is a favourite spot of his to throw one of his legendary parties. He praised its fantastic location, amazing atmosphere and its knack for catering to both kids and adults.
“Hardwick Festival is an amazing festival in a great, great location,” Graeme added. “There's camping and a fantastic hotel if you don't want to go home.
“It's family-friendly but there are parts of the festival where you can sneak off and not have to worry about being family-friendly. There are very grown-up parts of it as well.
“We're honoured to be asked to launch the first Friday night. You will be smiling and singing along and dancing. Let’s just hope the sun shines. It's going to be a fantastic weekend.”
Born out of tragic circumstances
In March earlier this year, Graham tragically lost his son to cancer at the age of 18. Since then, he has turned some of his focus to charity work, acting as an ambassador for Sarcoma UK while continuing to head up Haçienda Classical.
“I've been doing a lot of fundraising and making people aware of sarcoma,” Graeme said. “It is a very, very rare cancer that affects the soft tissue in bones. I've got twin boys, and one of them, sadly, lost the fight to cancer on the 22nd of March.”
This life-shaking blow came a mere months before Haçienda Classical was due to embark on its 2023 tour and during the all-important pre-production phase.
“The first three months of the year, when it was clear, he was getting worse, I had to take time out,” Graeme said. “Everyone involved in the show was being very patient and understanding.
“I normally spent three months on the show, but obviously that was the last thing on my mind. Everyone was like, ‘No, it's fine. Whenever you're ready.’”
Graeme has the majority of creative control over the setlist, drawing on his iconic career and unmatched knowledge of the club and music that defined the era. Conductor and arranger, Tim Crooks and performer, Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order fame bring an additional creative flare to the project.
“The best show yet”
Looking at his diary, just weeks after the passing of his son, Graeme was shocked to see that it was less than a month until the first show of the tour.
He recalled: “I noticed that the first Haçienda Classical show was on the 11th of May. About three to four weeks before then I was going through my diary and I thought, ‘Oh my god, the first show is in four weeks’.”
“I thought, ‘Right, there are over 100 people in the show, I've got to start working on it’ and it turned out really well.”
The shorter pre-production time has given the experience a fresh sense of spontaneity, Graeme said, harking back to his eclectic and unpredictably wild DJ sets.
The first outing at Highest Point Festival in Lancaster went down a storm. Despite the monumental grief of losing his son just months before, Graeme - with the support of his dedicated team - brought together a performance that well and truly lived up to the name.
“I couldn't believe it,” Graeme said. “I just think it's the best show yet. Anyone coming along to Hardwick Festival is in for an absolute treat. The crowd in Lancaster went wild. They loved it. But the thing about our show is if you watch everyone on stage – without exception – whether it's me, the choir, the singers, the orchestra, the guests, everyone's got a massive smile on their face.”
According to Graeme, working on the show while also dedicating time to promoting the work of Sarcoma UK has been a source of strength over the past months.
Now in its eighth year, Hacienda Classical continues to keep its visceral concerts fresh and innovative. The show will include massive hits that keep fans coming back for more, along with some incredible material that Graeme and his team believed needed more airtime.
“I always take the view that you can't do the same show every year,” Graeme said. “You've got to freshen it up and bring new songs in.”
Featuring some of the best and most influential songs that soundtracked the original club, Hacienda Classical is filled with soaring moments of elation and emotion-filled nostalgia for the glory days of 90s rave culture and Acid House.
Graeme added: “I put all the songs together into a DJ mix, made sure it was 90 minutes, sent it to Tim and literally the same day he rang me back to say it was perfect. Peter Hook called up a few days later and said, ‘It's fantastic, I can't believe how good this show is going to be’.”
Hacienda Classical will headline Hardwick Festival on Friday 18 August.
Tickets For Hardwick Festival, including day tickets, weekend passes and camping passes, can be purchased via THIS LINK.