Sacha Lord

Lord was born in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, and grew up in the town. His father was a textile merchant, and his mother an interior designer. Lord was educated at Manchester Grammar School, leaving at aged 18 having gained two Us and an E at A-Level. After leaving school, Lord went on to work at a clothes shop in Altrincham, and later started a market stall at Liverpool market, selling leather jackets. After quitting his market job, Lord quickly found himself involved in the rave-influenced music scene, and spent most of his time listening to The Stone Roses, Prince, The Smiths and Bowie.[1]

Inspired by the success of the events, Lord launched the Warehouse Project, a series of rave events running annually from September to 1 January, in 2006 with Co-Founder Sam Kandel.[2]

It began operations in the disused Boddingtons Brewery in Strangeways, and then moved into a space under Manchester Piccadilly station, on Store Street, which previously served as an air raid shelter.[3]

The opening night of The Warehouse Project was described by Lord as a nightmare due to its location next to the prison, and he later revealed the Governor of HM Prison Manchester had called to say it was disturbing inmates.[1]

The Warehouse Project went onto feature some of the most in-demand names in international house and techno music, including New Order, The Chemical Brothers and Calvin Harris - whose appearance, Lord later went onto reveal, was a favour for an A&R at Sony. Lord revealed he put Harris ( an unknown DJ at the time) on the 21.30 slot, despite doors only opening at 22.00.[1]

The Warehouse Project attracted 100,000 people in its first year and has continued to sell out annually.[4]

In 2019, Lord and Kandel moved The Warehouse Project to Depot at the former Manchester Mayfield railway station - a move which saw it become the biggest club night in the UK with a 10,000 person capacity. The move also put it on a par with the current Guinness Book of World Records holder of the largest nightclub in the world, Privilege in Ibiza, which can also hold 10,000 revellers.[5]

Lord co-created Parklife Festival in 2010, to celebrate artists across indie, house and techno music.[4] It has hosted some of the biggest names in music, including Snoop Dogg, Liam Gallagher and Skepta.

The weekend festival, which moved from Platt Fields[6] to Heaton Park, Manchester in 2012,[7] attracts 80,000 visitors each year.

The Festival employs over 4,500 people over the weekend and brings more than £10million into the local economy. Each year, it raises over £100k for the Parklife Community Foundation, that is distributed to help local causes.[8]

Lord was one of the creators of Croatia’s Hideout Festival, a five-day alternative music extravaganza held on the island of Pag, Croatia, in 2011. It has sold out every single year since its conception.[9]

In 2018, Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, appointed Lord as Greater Manchester’s first Night Time Economy Adviser, following in the footsteps of Amy Lamé, who was appointed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan in 2016 to be the first London night czar.

Unlike Lamé, who competed with 180 people for the £35,000-a-year part-time role, Lord is not paid and any income created from the role has been donated directly to charity; and did not apply for the post, although it has been established that he lobbied Burnham on the importance of nightlife before the Labour politician won the inaugural mayoral elections in May 2017.[10]

The role acts to advise Burnham and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) on all issues relating to the night-time economy, providing a voice for workers, operators and the industry as a whole.

Lord has since announced a raft of recommendations to improve safety, transport and cultural diversity in the region,[11] including the introduction of later opening hours for greater accessibility and the development of night-time transport links to better serve under-represented communities on the outskirts of the region.[12]

Lord has also advocated for a fair wage policy for nighttime hospitality staff, including full transparency tipping for bar and restaurant workers.[13]

In January 2020, Lord appeared on BBC Question Time, alongside Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly, Labour’s Sarah Jones, National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Minette Batters and stand-up comedian Geoff Norcott. The transmission was the last episode to be broadcast before Britain left the European Union on 31 January 2020. [14]

In 2006, The Warehouse Project was found solely responsible for an increase in drug-taking in Strangeways Prison, leading to the event being scrutinised.[15] This was because the venue was right next door and the prisoners could hear the music.

In 2012, Souvik Pal, aged 18, was ejected from a Warehouse Project event on suspicion of drug use; his body was found in nearby Bridgewater Canal 22 days later.[16] In 2013, Nick Bonnie, 30, collapsed at the Warehouse Project after taking almost 15 times the standard recreational dose of MDMA, and subsequently died in hospital.[17]

Lord was not directly responsible for either incident,[16] however, implemented drug-testing across events following the tragedies.

In 2018, Lord called for all UK clubs and festivals to have drug-testing laboratories on site,[17] and implemented the testing at The Warehouse Festival, which involves confiscated drugs being tested on site, and allowing alerts to be put out warning attendees of what the drugs actually are.[4]

Sacha Lord is patron of the Joshua Wilson Brain Tumour Charity (charity reg number 1151518).[18]

Lord is also an avid campaigner on the role of mental health services for those working in the night time economy.[19]

During the global Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Lord founded the UnitedWeStream Manchester campaign[20], a livestream gig website which sought to raise money for the night time economy and charities in Greater Manchester including the Mayor's Homelessness Charity and music therapy charity, Nordoff Robbins, through a relief fund on the website. A number of artists performed on the live stream website, including Roger Sanchez and Paul Oakenfold.