8 Gold Rings For Salford John

At the beginning of the month Manchester did what it does best: held a rave to end all raves, and on a Monday no less!

On March 2nd FAC251 welcomed ravers from across the city’s music scene. Celebrating the life of Mancunion legend Salford John, who sadly passed away last year, all artists on the night played for free in order to raise funds for Salford Royal Infirmary Intensive Care department.

Imortalised in Bricky T Mortar’s ‘8 Gold Rings’ (later remixed by Dub Phizix); the family man, music lover and notorious raver was much-loved amongst the city’s musos and has united many different groups and scenes. Last years event saw people from across Manchester gather to show love and solidarity for John with a huge event that raised over £11,000 for his daughters.

A year on and it remains clear that John is still in everyones hearts. Skittles recent video for ‘BUMBA’ featured John and pictured him on the artwork cover, whilst at the start of Chimpo’s recent Monkey Teef Mixtape he shouts out “bun violence, one punch can kill. Rest in peace my brother Salford John. Love you G”.

Powered by Neuron Pro Audio and featuring a huge line up that included Calibre, Toddla T, Marcus Intalex, dBridge, Dub Phizix & Strategy, Levelz, a live performance from the 8 Gold Rings band with DRS, Jenna G, Fox, Skittles and Chimpo plus many more, the event raised over £7,000 for the unit that took care of John in his last days.

Reform Radio’s Mica and Jenna G went down and spoke with a selection of artists and friends of John as well as his sister Louise, who said how amazing it was to see so many people in Manchester coming out to celebrate her brother’s life and memory, and that she thinks he’d be laughing that his older sister had come down to a drum and bass night when really she likes Gary Barlow!

Take a listen to the podcast below, it really is well worth it. If you’d like to donate to the cause then please click through here.

Full line up:

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