Record collectors and music lovers have descended onto Manchester’s ‘vinyl valley’ in their droves this morning for the annual Record Store Day event. And one eager fan camped out overnight outside Piccadilly Records in order to secure an exclusive release from his favourite artist.
Daniel Bedford, 20, started the queue outside the Oldham Street record store at 11.44am on Friday, April 21, in anticipation of the store opening at 8am this morning, Saturday, April 22.
The shopper queued all day, slept out all night and beat all of the Taylor Swift fans to the front to get his hands on a copy of the Loyle Carner Yesterday’s Gone album, released as a limited edition picture disc for the annual event.
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The-20-year-old, originally from Birmingham, said it was his first time attending the Record Store Day event.
He told the M.E.N: “I subscribed to Piccadilly Records newsletter and I got an email that said they had the record I was after and the email also said the queue may start on Friday around midday so I got there just in case. I thought a couple of Taylor swift fans would be before me. I thought they would be ready and waiting but I found myself alone.
“Even if there were a few Taylor Swift fans I don't think they’d be after the same record as me.”
A huge Loyle Carner fan, Daniel has now collected all three of the artist’s studio albums on vinyl. The Manchester Metropolitan University student added: “He’s one of my favourite artists and I’d never seen this album on vinyl in my searches before. You’ve got to support the artists and the stores so I decided to pick it up and now I have all of his albums on vinyl.”
Throughout Friday, the weather mostly favoured the hobbyist vinyl collector, with little more than a light drizzle around 1pm. But during the night, the ‘heavens poured’ as he tried to get some much-needed kip.
“The rain poured for around 50 minutes and it was arguably the most miserable time of my life. I was never going to go home though, I was already so far in, and if I’d have come home I’d have regretted it in the morning.”
For the 20-hour wait, Daniel took himself some food, energy drinks, water, snacks and a few books to keep himself entertained. In true Manchester spirit, he said everyone was extremely friendly, and that Night and Day Cafe allowed queuers - who mostly began to turn up after 4pm - to use their toilet.
The student said: “Luckily the people were great and kept everyone in really high spirits, it was really good vibes. Night and Day Cafe across the street were really good to us and let us use the facilities while they were open. People around us in the queue would save our spaces too.
“This was my first RSD so it was a really unique experience for me to be a part of it, and it's the first unrestricted one since the pandemic. I think that helped with people coming to enjoy it and get something that they want.”
Ahead of the doors opening at 8am, Piccadilly Records staff took orders from the first 20 or so people in the queue and prepared their orders so that they were ready for shoppers who has spent the night out in the cold.
“I was straight in, pay, straight out,” said Daniel. “It was really efficient and they’ve been doing it long enough, so they know what they’re doing.”
Daniel paid £30.99 for his Loyle Carner album, and went straight home to put it on the record player.
“I paid £30.99 for my record which I think is worth it. I’m not a collector, it’s just a hobby for me,” he said.
“I buy music that I like and appreciate the thing about vinyl is it’s more about ownership so it’s quite a cool hobby. I went straight home to play it and it sounds great. I’m going to take the rest of the day easy and maybe have a nap this afternoon.”
Record Store Day is now in its 16th year, and is clearly as popular as ever. The idea was conceived in 2007 before holding the first Record Store Day in April 2008, with over 260 independent record shops all across the UK taking part.
And there were plenty of other customers with interesting tales from a morning spent queueing. Music lovers Susan and Joanne had an unexpected, joyous reunion after finding one another in the Piccadilly Records queue - more than 30 years after last seeing one another as pupils at school in Radcliffe.
Many people stood in line to generously help out loved ones. Salfordian Mark Cook, 47, showed up at midnight to buy his ex-girlfriend the much-sought after Taylor Swift album - for the second year in a row. "I learned my lesson from last year and brought a chair and umbrella, last year I was sat on the edge of the step of Piccadilly Records for 14 hours."
Adam Tilbury, 28, came to score a Frank Turner album - for his girlfriend's dad. "He better be my best mate after this," he told the M.E.N.
Meanwhile, a St Helens' native known simply as 'Goth Mark' crashed in Manchester overnight to see a gig. He emerged to remember it was Record Store Day and came for a mooch in the Northern Quarter. "I'm a bit of an old fart really, my first job was an office junior in the 90s and buying vinyl was a way to get a lot of music really cheaply," he said.
Now Goth Mark has a collection legions of fans would envy. "I got all of Kate Bush's albums for a mere £30 back in the day. I have original pressings of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and original pressings of The Doors' albums - I remember when vinyl was thought of as s***."
An exciting day for hobbyists and collectors, special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the day and many shops are hosting artist performances and events to mark the occasion.
In Manchester city centre, Piccadilly Records are holding DJ events from 12pm to 6pm, with Vinyl Revival and Vinyl Exchange also taking part in the celebrations with limited edition stock.
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