Gatecrasher to return to its roots

Gatecrasher 2020 2013

Sunday 5th May 2013
The Warehouse, Donington Park, Derbyshire, DE74 2RP, England MAP
£37.50

Daily capacity: 9,998

The Gatecrasher brand has revealed it is to return to focusing on producing global events, warehouse events, and festivals just a week after it entered administration with debts of more than £3.5million.

The Gatecrasher brand have run clubs in Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, and Watford, and the super club celebrated its 20th birthday in May with an event at Donington Park.

Gatecrasher helped lead the way in EDM holding several large events during the Noughties including Summer Sound System (40,000 capacity), Gatecrasher NEC (15,000 capacity), Crasher N/Ice (at the NIA) (7,500 capacity), Gatecrasher Sound System (Australia) and Fort Dance in Russia (40,000 capacity). The events were headlined by superstar DJs and live acts including The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, and Faithless.

Just a week on from administration and Gatecrasher has undegone with the help of administrators Duff and Phelps a “strategic corporate restructuring” programme, which leaves the brand free to "diversify and grow both domestically and globally."

The 'pre-pack administration', has seen the company remove its non-branded clubs from the core UK business with a separate management team now set to run the clubs. The Group’s financiers have purchased the £3 million Barclays Bank debt and are converting it into shareholding equity, enabling Gatecrasher to move forward debt free.

Gatecrasher MD Simon Raine has revealed that Gatecrasher is now heading in a new direction and will be making a return to producing the global events and festivals that originally made the brand a worldwide clubbing phenomenon.

Raine told the Birmingham Mail (here), that “Gatecrasher Birmingham (GB) remains our flagship venue. Everything else will develop from there. Critically Gatecrasher will return to producing the events and festivals that originally made the brand a worldwide clubbing phenomenon.

“The corporate restructuring will allow us to return to our roots and produce large-scale events and festivals. We are looking at a return to the NEC/ LG Arena for big dance events and festivals.”

Music Week, (here) reveal that plans are in place to put on more events with a deal already in place with Donington Park, and a series of 10,000 capacity warehouse events are in the pipeline for the UK.

Internationally, Gatecrasher plans for further investment in the global market place with substantial overseas development already underway. The brand has already opened its first overseas nightclub in Indonesia and plans to develop further within Southeast Asia's growing club-scene with plans to open more clubs in Singapore and Jakarta. Gatecrasher also plans to increase events and club-nights across Australia, and tap into the US club-scene with expansion plans for Las Vegas and Miami.

Simon Raine is quoted as saying, “Gatecrasher will return to its roots and do what we do best! We will go back to staging the highest quality production led events across the globe featuring the biggest DJs and acts.

"Our events at Birmingham’s NEC Area, our millennium event at Don Valley Stadium and our sell-out Summer Sound System festival are immortalised in clubbing history. It is important to return to what we do best.

"Gatecrasher is renowned for breaking big names. Van Burren, Tiesto, Paul van Dyk, Timo Mass, Afrojack and many more all made their debut at our club nights and that’s where our future is.

"Gatecrasher events have always been renowned for the best and most awe-inspiring production. Today far more technology exists and what you can achieve on an audio-visual scale is limitless! Our challenge is return to hosting the best EDM events in the world with the most spectacular production and the biggest artists.

"Donington is our next big event. We are talking to promoters and event organisers in all territories with more events to be announced soon.”

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