Author: jimmyc1968

Gigs from Abroad Part 8 – Madeira

In late August 2022, we visited the island of Madeira for the first time, it has had an interesting history since it was first discovered and inhabited by the Portuguese in 1419. Their initial chief export was in the sugar industry, but this trade was eventually superseded by the infinitely more successful Madeira wine. They like many other countries sat under the auspices of the British empire before being returned to Portuguese rule in the 19th century.

They finally received their independence and autonomy on the 1st July 1976, and they are evidently proud of this status as they are mainly reliant on homemade produce with very few imported goods. One of these that I sampled regularly was their devilishly good pastries and cakes, especially their pastel de nata custard tarts! They even had a Cake of the Day at the hotel, now who could resist the comparison challenge set there! It was also refreshing to see that they served only the island brewed Coral beer.

Pastel de Nata cakes, don’t mind if I do! Image Credit My Gorgeous Recipes

The main town Funchal is an intriguing place to visit with its vibrant old town and keeps you fit via walking up some seriously steep hills. The island is the birthplace of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and he has an airport and a hotel named after him and a statue situated on Funchal harbour front.

We rode the scenic cable car up from the town to the top of Monte, but I did find it a challenge from a vertigo angle, so needed to find an alternate way to return down the hill. The toboggan was not running but the No 22 Bus was available. The subsequent bus ride turned out to be one of the highlights of the holiday as he literally flew down the hill round hairpin corners and woe betide anyone in his way, and then there was the dramatic braking to stop at the sporadic bus stops en route!  

On a musical front, we caught a singer called Sonia who was playing in Madeira Carlton Pestana Pub, which was located at the top of a particularly lung-busting incline. On the harbour front there was the Madeira Promenade Kiosk were a band called Kawana Pacha performed, and I recall them playing a rather dodgy Abba cover!

We were fortunate that whilst we were visiting the seventeen-day Madeira Wine Festival was taking place on the walkway of Avenida Arriaga in front of the Cathedral where you could sample many of the local vinos. On the night of our attendance the musical backdrop was provided by Sena Collective.

Mr Ronaldo and I. Image Credit Gill Crossthwaite

In the old town there was a terrific open market called Mercado Dos Lavradores where they had on display amongst many other items an extraordinary amount of vibrant looking chillies. Attached to the market was the Madeira Apuaza Café where we saw the Jazz Quarter play.  

If you turned left out of our hotel away from the town, this took you to the more hotel touristy area. One decent bar on this route was the Madeira Hole in One, where a local act Gustav was singing, and he performed a decent version of the archetypal ‘Quando Quando’.  

Further down this road brought you to a fine bar called Madeira Nos Copos Cocktail Bar. They have bands on there every night and to a sufficient demand that there is a makeshift stand outside the venue that we were too late to access. As a result, we grabbed a spot in the adjacent bar next door to watch a decent band called Hoje Para Animar.  

Our hotel room was up on the 13th floor and provided a fine view of the Madeira Carlton Pestana Pool Bar where wesaw a local singer called Gabrielle play a set including a commendable but somewhat extended loungecore version of ‘Wicked Game’ by Chris Isaak.   

The following evening from the exact same vantage point we could see over to the adjoining exclusive Madeira Reid’s Hotel. This viewpoint was now resembling a lite version of the flats overlooking Castlefield Bowl or Lytham Festival!

There was a wedding taking place and the singer was approaching the end of their set. Now you would surely in the circumstances expect happy ‘looking to the future’ tunes which made the choice of the penultimate song even more bizarre, as she then broke into the unmistakeable intro of Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’!   

Manchester Venues 77 to 78

For one of the main city train stations, Salford Central station is somewhat of an anachronism. I currently work very close to this station and have many colleagues who are commuting over from Preston who now don’t have a direct train to Central and have to change at Salford Crescent. They are due to close the station for a few months to upgrade and make the platforms safer, however they have missed a glaring opportunity to open up for wider use the other platforms that are available on the Piccadilly to Victoria station line link, more short sighted thinking relating to Northern based stations and on any initiative that sits outside HS2, methinks!

If you turn left as you exit Salford Central this takes you directly to the Salford Egerton Arms Hotel. The pub has sat at the Gore Street site since at least 1841. It must have been a pacifist venue back in the day as the pub’s coat of arms motto ‘Virtuti – Non – Armis – Fido’ apparently translates as ‘I trust in virtue not arm’s’. It is purported that the name derives from the Egerton family who owned the Tatton park estate around the time of the inception of the pub.

 

Egerton Arms Hotel. Image Credit Geograph Britain and Ireland.

The pub has been owned by the local Joseph Holts brewery, still arguably the cheapest beer in Britain. I first visited there in 2017 as part of Sounds form the Other City festival (SFOTC) in 2017 and we saw a three-piece from Leeds called Autobodies.

There was also a chap in residence on the microphone who was publicising his quizmaster duties later that day and he had the most amusing laconic style in his delivery. That evening we were in the Pint Pot pub preparing to head off for our train home and begun chatting to three lads who we discovered had become the actual quiz winning team and they had received a tidy price of free tickets to next year’s festival. At the 2018 event we witnessed a local band called Perkoset at the Egerton.  

Next door is a decent food establishment called Caribbean Flavas and we have sat in the window a couple of times sampling their wares whilst in the area. There has been an uplift locally with acclaimed Italian and Tapas restaurants opening up nearby the station.

Directly across the traffic lights and the busy Chapel Street you find the Salford Arms Hotel. The pub has the same longevity as the Egerton, and it circles round onto Bloom Street and has also doubled up as a working hotel in the past. I walked past recently, and I have identified that the pub is now permanently closed.

It always had a battered old boozer vibe about the place, and I first visited there when in attendance at the 2012 SFTOC event.  On a makeshift stage in the middle of the pub we saw a thrilling set of shoegazey noise from History of Apple Pie who had not yet released their excellent debut album Out of View. On our way out we saw them loading up their transit band and had a brief chat.

History of Apple Pie on stage. Image Credit NME.

We returned later to see a very early set from Birmingham’s post-punks Victories at Sea. Just checking back on the bill now I see that Lovely Eggs actually headlined the venue that year. In 2017, we saw Manchester based artist Maddy Storm and the following year we ended the festival with a fun set from Leeds party band Crumbs.