Year: 2025

Manchester Venues 184 to 185 – Piccadilly Gardens

Christmas markets are essentially street bazaars which are linked to the celebration of Yuletide and traditionally take place within the four-week Advent window. The initial concept of them evolved in the last knockings of the Middle Ages and mainly in the German speaking areas of Europe. Early mentions of December markets roll all the way back to Vienna in 1296 but the first recognised reference to a Christmas market was the Striezelmarkt which took place in Dresden in 1434.

They are large open-air gatherings with food, drink (traditionally mulled wine) and seasonal goods for sale. The food offerings can range from Nussknacker (candy toasted almonds) and Christstollen (stollen). The markets undertook a significant modern day revival in the 1990’s and spread their wings to a considerable number of European cities. The first occurrence in England was in Lincoln in 1982 before the larger cities caught the bug with the commencement in 1997 of the Manchester (Frankfurt) Christmas Markets,with the German city initially providing support.   

Manchester Albert Square Christmas market. Image Credit whatsonmcr.co.uk

I have attended a couple of actual markets in Germany including an excellent one in Stuttgart where the facilities now include additional elements such as ice rinks, funfair rides and my own favourite model railways which I am eternally fascinated by. The Manchester shindigs have always personally felt like a paler imitation of the originals. However, despite my reservations they have grown exponentially from the inaugural version which was based solely in St Anns Square into the hugely popular event it is nowadays with three hundred stalls now dotted across many parts of the city with a large footfall attending.

It used to create a considerable nuisance when attending December gigs and then encountering a plethora of inebriated punters on astoundingly busy trains back to Preston. Also, my commute back home after work requires me to devise a different route than normal to reach my destination of Piccadilly station.   

The central hub of the markets was always Albert Square but that has been closed for restoration for the last few years, but it is planned to be reopened for this year’s event. In the interim one of the main areas centralised around Manchester Christmas Market Piccadilly Gardens.

In the 18th century this particular location was donated to the city by Sir Oswald Mosley, Lord of the Manor of Manchester on one fundamental condition that the space be retained in public use in perpetuity.   

L S Lowry ‘Piccadilly Gardens’ picture. Image Credit King and McGaw.

The Gardens were initially designed as an ornamental sunken garden after World War I on the former location of Manchester Royal Infirmary, the Infirmary then moving to its current location down Oxford Road. Prior to building the gardens other schemes including building an Opera House or a new location for the Cathedral were proposed but then discounted. The local painter L S Lowry also utilised the backdrop for his 1954 painting titled ‘Piccadilly Gardens’.

It was subsequently flattened out in 2002 with a central water feature and a concrete pavilion designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando with a curved concrete wall to obscure the metrolink line, this all resulted in an overall cost of £20.7m. It is an extremely rare green space in the city centre and contains a transport hub with buses and trams running directly through and adjacent to it. For many years prior to its move to Oldham Street, the famous Piccadilly Records was also located nearby.

Within the village created, room was made for a stage for the purposes of providing musical entertainment. Within the auspices of the 2023 event, I saw an act called General Drummer play there.

Earlier this year another innovative shindig was initiated via the generation of the Manchester Piccadilly Gardens MCR Live Hub with a stage located in another corner of the Gardens. It was designed as a city centre gathering point taking place between early July until the end of September and was part of the wider MCR Live 25 event which deliberately coincided with the Burnage Boys comeback tour.

Manchester MCR Live Hub Stage area. Image Credit ihmanchester.com

Other attractions were the Music for the Senses trail containing murals, mosaics and Guitar Street (located in reality on King Street), where you could find 50 donated guitars, some from musicians including Doves, PINS and Pixies. Commendably at the curtailment of the trail the instruments were auctioned to raise funds for grassroots venues and music projects across Greater Manchester.

Manchester artist Lazerian also created a Cathedral of Sound, a sound installation built from hundreds of reclaimed acoustic guitars. The Live Hub area was staged fully outdoors to embrace the weather in the summer months and contained a bar, street food and a plethora of beer garden picnic tables. They had DJ sets and live musicians, and I saw a couple of local artists called Sabrina and Gordy performing there.

2024 Gigs – Part 4

In March I made another pilgrimage to Manchester Band on the Wall where I went to see BDRMM for the second time. I will cover the band in more detail when I review my first sighting of them on what turned out to be a chaotic night at Manchester White Hotel.

I thoroughly enjoyed their set, but the downside was that it was exceedingly busy with no wriggle room to gravitate from your chosen slot. Uncle George, John Dewhurst and Riggers were in tow, and I recall pre-gig drinks at Northern Monk Refectory MCR and Smithfield Market Tavern and pre-gig tucker at Viet Shack.   

Manchester Northern Monk. Image Credit reeceleung.com

Around the time of the Cheltenham Festival and St Patricks Day I was on the way to another gig, and I happened to catch a portion of the House Band at Manchester Blues Kitchen Bar and a segment of the set of a singer/songwriter named Harriet at Manchester Albert Schloss. Later in the year I saw a couple of other acts at Albert Schloss when they had regular daytime gigs taking place to coincide with the student graduation season.

The gig I was indirectly heading towards was at Manchester Albert Hall and was preceded by imbibing a couple of bevvies in the Sir Ralph Abercromby located in an alley right behind the venue. My Albert Hall attendance was to see the Pixies for the fifth time and my ticket was booked prior to realising that they were playing ‘Trompe Le Monde’ and ‘Bossonova’, my least favourite of their albums as my personal highlight of theirs has always been ‘Surfer Rosa’.

Having said all that, it was beneficial to reappraise these records and there is some belting tunes sporadically dotted about on them including on the night fine versions of ‘Velouria’, ‘Allison’ and ‘Planet of Sound’. I have also just clocked that earlier this year they released a live album of the shows on that tour. They were supported by The Pale White who were a three piece from Newcastle who include in their ranks brothers Adam and Jack Hope. 

A small matter of eight days after I returned to the venue to have my latest sweet fix (Some Candy Talking?) of Jesus and Mary Chain. I have in the last month travelled past the 40th anniversary of my attendance at their legendary gig at Clouds in Preston on the 6th of September 1985.

Preston Clouds attached to Preston Odeon approximately 1981. Image Credit facebook.com.

There was a posse of seven gathered in the afore mentioned Sir Ralph Abercromby prior to the show for beers and badinage. They started with a bang with ‘Jamcod’ and ‘Happy When It Rains’ and completed the main set with a flourish of ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ and ‘Just Like Honey’. I also had the veritable treat of finally catching up with fellow local music aficionado Cath Aubergine at the conclusion of the gig. The night as many before it culminated in the Temple of Convenience bar.    

In October I had my final 2024 visit where I saw Public Service Broadcasting performing. They were as ever at a decent level but was probably my least favourite viewing of them across the four times I have witnessed them so far.

There were two appearances at Manchester Ritz, bringing my total there to 37, which places it in third place on my most attended venue list. The first was the Australian band Jet who formed in 2001 and disbanded in 2012 before two separate reformations, the second one preceding this tour. They were playing their original popular first album ‘Get Born’ and it was around 15 years since I saw them previously in the same venue.   

The other gig was with the stellar company of Rick Clegg and his daughter Charlotte and her pal Laura. We went to the newly reopened and revamped Grosvenor pub on Oxford Road with the obligatory visit to the Umami noodle bar close by. The band playing was English Teacher from Leeds, led by the charismatic singer Lily Fontaine. Their debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’ had recently won the 2024 Mercury Prize, thankfully breaking a nine-year stronghold of London-based musicians winning the award. They were a quirky bunch and very enjoyable.

English Teacher. Image Credit nme.com

The final show of the year to reference was at Manchester Night and Day and came to my attention via some musical gurus on Twitter (now X) before I decided like many others to ditch that poisonous platform. Marcus and I attended, and we watched a portion of that night’s Euros 24 match in the boozer beforehand.

The band was the Reds, Pinks and Purples which is the brainchild of Glenn Donaldson who is also a photographer and record collector. He is a prolific singer/songwriter exemplified by writing 200 songs and releasing seven albums in seven years. When he is playing live, he is part of a five-piece band comprised of musicians from his San Francisco home. He has a soothing evocative voice and was one of my favourite gigs of the year. He was supported by Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse band who hail from Kentucky.