(first published in
Faze 2000)
Manchester
became the second home of conventions during the Nineties with its seemingly
endless collection of huge hotels guaranteeing the necessary space and more
than a touch of grandeur. The Palace Hotel has to be the ultimate in faded
glamour though. The lobby alone is like a Victorian chapel and the ballroom,
where most of the event happened, was filled with large wood panels and rich
carpets. Such a setting inevitably infused the most enduring convention series
with an air of sepia tinged nostalgia. True, there was a whiff of modernity
with talk of Big Finish and the
Radio Four pilot but PanoptiCon 2000 started off the decade by looking back.
