Criminal 7.10.2024,
One night I’ll always cherish was my first time at Hope Works: the 23 Degrees event which had 4am Kru headlining plus support from Bakey, Silva Snipa, Old Boy and Prozak – it was a set like no other. The house party I was DJing at before the event was one of those moments I’ll cherish forever since I could mix and blend what I love and bring a totally new atmosphere to the room, which I then gathered to watch each act later that night. No requests, no pausing, just pure energy and others around you dancing like there’s no tomorrow. Ending the night with a live jungle performance by 4am Kru after 3 hours of garage and techno was such a switch but it was a set like no other. Ever since that night, I would adventure back more and more, with my last being Interplanetary
Criminal, before the news that shocked Sheffield.
16 December 2024 will forever be remembered for many Sheffield residents and creatives around the world as a devastating day in music with the founder and creative director of Hope Works, Liam O’Shea, announcing online that the venue would be closing at the end of February 2025.
In the official statement, O’Shea said that he dedicated the last 12 years of his life to Hope Works but had “reached this difficult decision to attain more balance in his life” and recognised the situation many venues are also facing in today’s nightlife environment. In 2023 alone, 13% of grassroots music venues that closed were in Yorkshire. The spending cuts by the government are making it increasingly harder to run and maintain a club like Hope Works, and now The Dorothy Pax which closed recently with immediate effect. Even though corporations like Ticketmaster are donating back to grassroots venues via fan upsell options, it’s simply not enough and soon all we will have is arenas and stadiums concerts that are being sold at so-called supply and demand prices; raves will be a thing of the past.
On the bright side, many fans, including myself, were able to attend the final night at Hope Works which saw a stacked lineup across three different stages and the O’Shea, AKA Lo Shea, closing the night.
To sum up the night, it was an 11/10. Each set was so different from the others and the lineup was selected perfectly by O’Shea to close the venue and look back on the 12 years of amazing nights. Lvcky’s funk and bassline set in the Janksy room worked phenomenally on the Raze Soundsystem speakers. Dusky’s techno and UKG selections in The Mothership took us to another world. Furious George’s hard groove set closed out the Mesters room just before Lo Shea closed the venue with a set that went on until the early morning.
His speech at the end of the night highlighted so much love for the Steel City rave scene and everyone who has supported him all these years to create a beautiful community and inspire many to create and share music of any kind. In addition, his points on the current environment of the music industry are a huge request for the government to take immediate action on the crisis in the UK’s nighttime cultural economy. The Autumn budget might have instigated easing financial stability for small and medium venues across the country but more needs to be established to support and save our scene.
The Night Time Industries Association claiming the Conservative government plan was to “intentionally shut down dancefloors” due to seeing music venues as “a burden on policing and local government” is just one of the biggest indicators of how much surviving venues like Hope Works will struggle to remain open with significantly higher costs. For now, though, we must forever remember the memories of Hope Works whilst continuing to fight for change and to protect important places in Sheffield’s creative industry and elsewhere.
