Manchester Venues 226 to 227 – Aviva Studios

In an earlier blog (Manchester Venue 113) I referenced the Aviva Studios and how it was directly affiliated with the Manchester International Festival square which was located alongside the building. Thus, I will not repeat myself here, but it is worth noting that after a scratchy start including seating number confusion, the Studios have now gone from strength to strength with many more gigs now taking place there.  

The surrounding area has also developed with the introduction of restaurants like Felix and Caravan and bars including Courts Club, Trading Route and The Stables. Also in that vicinity is an indoor golf centre called Pitch, Crystal Maze and Chaos Karts. There is an outdoor bar area designed for summer days with big screens recently showing Wimbledon and the football World Cup.

When I was chatting to Barry Jury one time he referenced that one of his scheduled upcoming gigs was at Manchester Aviva Studios Auditorium, so I tagged along to make my debut at the 1600 seating capacity venue. Thus, on a summers evening in June 2024 we met initially for a parlay and a couple of scoops in the large Dukes 92 beer garden, where his pal Lavin also joined us. As I had only booked a ticket at a later stage than the chaps, they were in the small standing area while I was located up in the gods.

Aviva Studios Auditorium. Image Credit factoryinternational.org

My first impression of the venue was that it reminded me of the huge Odeon cinema I used to visit when I was a young sprog. I reminisced about the Saturday morning showings I attended, including watching the original Raiders of the Lost Ark and later I was also there for a double bill of Chariots of Fire and Gregory’s Girl.

There used to be highly amateurish advertising with Pearl and Dean, a company involved in the cinema business since 1953 and their distinctive theme tune which is called ‘Asteroid’. I recall a crackly staccato encouragement to visit the local curry house after the screening! There were also intermissions mid-film where a hostess would sell you ice cream or cornetto’s.

The adjoining Odeon 2 was much smaller like the ciniplex auditoriums you see nowadays and if you needed a comfort break you would have scamper past in front of the screen! Also in that complex was the Clouds nightclub where I attended early gigs by Jesus and Mary Chain and Stone Roses. Sadly, the old cinema burned down in May 2022 and there is now talk of a car park to be built in its space.  

When the blockbusters were released, Star Wars and ET spring to mind, there were regularly ginormous queues around the corner, and we were turned away a couple of times. Our parents then decided to utilise the smaller but more accessible cinema in Longridge with their settees at the back.

Back at Aviva, I grabbed a cold beverage at the ground floor bar and as I entered the door at my level, the lights went down and as a result I stumbled in the darkness on one of the steps but did not spill a drop of my beer! I heard a punter say that bloke nearly fell over, and I muttered under my breath ‘yes, I am the entertainment’. I found my very comfy seat with a cracking view of the stage.

Bat for Lashes. Image Credit snackmag.co.uk

The artist was Bat for Lashes (Natasha Khan) who is a singer/songwriter and has released six albums in total. Her family has the sport of squash in their DNA as her father, grandfather and uncle were professional players. The latter referenced Jahangir Khan is widely regarded as the finest player ever and between 1981 and 1986 he won 555 consecutive matches, a run which is recognised by Guiness World Records as the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level professional sport. A young Natasha attended many matches and has cited the experience and the roars of the crowd as a creative influence.   

She was a self-taught piano player by the age of eleven and her debut album ‘Fur and Gold’ in 2006 turned into a golden one and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize resulting subsequently in support slots for Radiohead. She has also dabbled as a fashion designer. She had a terrific voice but was perhaps a bit too chilled for my tastes. I met back up with the chaps for a post gig debrief in the Deansgate pub before heading home.

In the summer of 2025, my pal Lottie invited Gill and I to join her at a gig she was already attending at the other venue in the complex, Manchester Aviva Warehouse, so two tickets were duly purchased.The Warehouse has a 5000-standing capacity within a 21m high space and can be divided if required by a movable full height acoustic wall. 

Last Dinner Party. Image Credit cultura.id

I had considered a Fontaines DC gig there previously, but my slow ruminations resulted in me missing out on a ticket. By the night of the gig, Lottie and Gill could not attend so it was a solo trip, and I decided to drive which is an astoundingly rare occurrence for myself. The car parks in the city centre were highly expensive, and I found one eventually on Bridge Street.

The venue reminded of a slightly larger G-Mex space and the band performing was the Last Dinner Party who are an all-female five piece. They had managed to purloin a Hyde Park Rolling Stones support slot early in their career and on this tour were promoting their second album ‘From the Pyre’. They had a commendable socially conscious ethos, and they were also good fun live.

Gigs Abroad Part 29 Cologne – Part 2

As Cologne was the first German city I had ever visited I always pined to make a return. That trip had also created a chain reaction of visiting many other locations in the country with the current count now at nine cities where I have stayed and with several others visited on our regular days trips when we are away. Thus, it transpired that one sunny day Gill and I were sat foe r we could fit in another cheeky weekend away. Cologne was entered into the possible destinations and was then chosen and subsequently booked.

Now, you may surmise that I manufactured the next part of the story to my advantage but that is genuinely not the case. A few days after we concreted the trip, Gill suggested in passing to check whether there happened to be any interesting gigs taking place when we were there.

My previous experience in this regard on earlier trips is that we always seem to be a week early or late for an interesting band, however that was about to dramatically change. I think I may have muttered the words ‘Ye Gods’ and nearly fell off my chair when I saw that the mighty Mogwai were playing the final date of their current European tour on our first night in the city. It was naturally a ‘Shay’ given that we had to attend and tickets were purchased forthwith.

Bez and Shaun Ryder back in the day. Image Credit etsy.com

Prior to boarding there was a star stop moment with the ubiquitous Shaun Ryder holding court in the circular bar in Terminal 3. It was the first time I had eyeballed him face to face since watching the Happy Mondays in a support slot at Camden Dingwalls in October 1987. He was being regularly approached for selfies before he pottered off for a flight to Nantes.

The only remaining challenge was our scheduled afternoon flight and arrival time on the Saturday created the potential scenario where any delay would put our attendance in doubt. We landed a smidge late and it took us a little while to locate and arrive at our digs, though they were handily placed adjacent to a S-Bahn stop.

The gig was taking place at Cologne Live Music Hall (locally known as ‘LMH’ or just ‘Live), which had a previous life as part of the Heinz Strunck & Co machine factory before morphing into a bespoke music venue in 1990. It retains elements of its industrial heritage, one feature being the use of the old cranes.  

It has a capacity of 1800 and has hosted performances in the past from Pearl Jam, Death Cab for Cutie and Chvrches. Many have been recorded live for the music TV show Rockpalast (Rock Palace), which is a German institution and has been running since October 1974 where the featured band on their first night was ELO.

ELO. Image Credit listal.com

The venue was in the Ehrenfeld area of town and took some finding as it was buried away down a dark back street, a little reminiscent of the White Hotel location in Salford. We had not had time to eat, and the local food options were rather sparse, and we even considered the slightly desperate option of Burger King. I am glad however we did not as we finally located the Music Hall about 20.10, and we were informed that the band were hitting the stage at 20.15!

The gig gods were clearly in a benevolent mood as in the courtyard there was a beer point and a food stall that despite approaching closing time for the night proceeded to throw together a ‘bits and bob’s’ tea for us. Thankfully it was a warm night resulting in the back door of the venue being wide open. This then created the novel scenario of us grazing and imbibing on the picnic benches whilst we could clearly hear the reaction of the crowd and Stuart Braithwaite’s perennial introductory words of ‘Good Evening, we are Mogwai from Glasgow’. We listened to the first three tracks before heading indoors to actually see them as well.  

The Music Hall picnic benches. Image Credit koelntourismus.de

It remains a cash only venue which I find rather refreshing, and again fortuitously I happened to be holding a batch of euros. It was Gill’s second ever Mogwai gig and she thoroughly enjoyed them, much more so than her first one in the cramped environs of Manchester Albert Hall. It was a terrific venue and an appreciative respectful audience, and they finished the set with a thunderous ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’.  Afterwards we headed back into town and sampled some Kolsch in one of the beer houses near the main train station

On the Sunday we visited the Cathedral and walked the city including the river paths. We did at one stage become trapped in an extremely busy children’s fair that seemed to go on for ever, as soon as we had navigated our way past we headed to the hostelry. On the Monday we grabbed a late Schnitzel lunch before which completed a fine trip before we headed off for our flight home.