Video
2026

I sat down with Tammy Jayne after hearing a poem that stopped me in my tracks.
“Take Me Back” isn’t just about rave — it’s about release, connection, trauma, and why that era still means so much to people today.

Tammy first came into my world after reading her powerful poem at the end of my interview with Jay Wearden. The poem, Take Me Back, instantly stood out to me because it captured something deeper than simple nostalgia. It wasn’t just about nights out, clubs and ecstasy — it was about release, connection, survival and what that era gave to so many people who were going through difficult times.

In this conversation Tammy talks openly about starting to rave in Manchester in 1991 when she was just 14, finding Vogue on Portland Street, taking her first ecstasy tablet, and dancing to Everybody’s Free for the first time. She explains how rave culture gave her and many others an outlet during dark times, and why she believes those nights offered a kind of emotional, physical and even spiritual release.

We also talk about trauma, mental health and why the music, dancing and connection of those years still mean so much to people now. Tammy shares her thoughts on ecstasy as a tool for healing, the sense of belonging people found on the dancefloor, and why she feels so many old ravers are now being drawn back to that period of their lives in search of something they’ve never quite replaced.

The conversation also touches on Paradise Factory, the Gay Village, sober raving, ecstatic dance, morphic resonance, pirate radio, illegal raves, and the wider feeling that something powerful was happening in Britain at that time.

The second half of the video features Tammy reading her full poem, Take Me Back — a vivid, emotional and beautifully written journey through the rave era, from Strangeways and 808 State to Angels, Wigan Pier, the Haçienda and beyond. It’s one of the most powerful things I’ve featured on Manchester Scene Stories, and it became the closing chapter of my first book for a reason.

If you were there, this will take you back.
If you weren’t, it offers a powerful insight into why that era still lives so strongly in so many people.