Standing room only at packed In The City: strong line-up of speakers draws record attendances.(Conferences)

In The City capitalised on one of its strongest speaker line-ups in years by attracting a record 2,500 delegates to last week's 2004 event.

It was standing room only at some of the conference's high-profile keynotes at Manchester's newly-opened Radisson Hotel, while huge queues gathered for the Saturday's Night And Day event and the Tmesis venue was rammed on Monday for The Subways gig.

Such was the buzz that some delegates made it a habit of bringing down their mini-bars when the Radisson bar shut at 1.30am, reflecting an industry which--despite its heavily documented difficulties--appeared upbeat.

ITC co-founder Tony Wilson notes, "There were six wonderful moments for me throughout the four days--Korda Marshall and his purchase order books story, Mathew Knowles taking time to talk to the acts who were due to play the cancelled Unsigned Urban showcase event, Richard Russell mentioning that he'd like to host a panel next year, John Kennedy on Van Morrison, Nick Stewart discussing the Stone Roses litigation process with John Kennedy, and rapper ...