This has to mean we've been gagging for it. The ‘Mish's mixture of unashamed mass market entertainment, bleeding edge sexuality and genre jumping music policy has a little something for most everybody and nothing for some. This reviewer's opinion is the show was better but the night in general less cohesive.
The new stage is amazing. It tops even last year's film noir-ish black and white effort and reassures punters in the same way that smash-bang special effects do in block buster movies – paying customers want to see where their money has gone.
About three stories' worth of interior decorating must have accounted for a decent percentage of the entrance fee, as one end of the massive Privilege has been turned into the haunted house of the hunchback with a hard on. Hmmm. Parading all over it are girls naked to various degrees, many in s&m poses, as is naturally unnatural for Manumission.
The bondage and discipline theme is continued throughout the evening – girls on leads are led about by the dwarf Guru (Johnny Golden to his mates) and he shares stage space with a giant doll who has a gash big enough to swallow little Johnny whole.
In the increasingly famous Music Box new ressie band the Ju Ju Babies ripped through their synth-based trash core set, much to the bemusement of kids from San An who stumbled in looking for the big room trance anthems. However the back room didn't really get over-excited till the emergence of Goldie Looking Chain, a group of Welsh rappers who bore more than a passing resemblance to the eponymous anti-heroes of the classic 80s flick, Gremlins.
Like the friendly Mogwai who transmogrified into dastardly alien bastards, GLS got wet, and then some dumb bastard fed them after midnight. Raucously they swore and tore the whole place up accompanied by bevies of the usual strippers and island personalities who thrive on such mayhem.
Which, in the nuttiest nut shell you're ever likely to find, is the essence of Manumission. You might not dig it, you might even hate it, but you won't find anything like it anywhere else.