Category: Manchester

Manchester Venues 86 to 87 Albert Hall – Part 1

One of the more recent additions to the venues in the city is Manchester Albert Hall, however it does have a significantly long back story. The site on Peter Street was originally the New Jerusalem Church during the 18th and 19th centuries before the Albert Hall we now recognise was designed as the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Mission in 1910.

It is a huge building cut across four floors and one of its early functions was to stage ‘Peoples Concerts’ so was an early forerunner as a music venue! It was also a forum for people rallies and Winston Churchill famously delivered an oratory there in 1950.

The top two floors remained unused from 1969 before the Trof group, who own various pubs and venues in the area, bought the site in 2012. They commenced the restorative work of the highly ornate building and first began to stage concerts in 2013 with the official opening the following year.   

The music space on the upper floors has a Gormenghast Gothic vibe with coloured glass rooflights, and they thankfully decided to retain the original organ. The capacity is 2000 with a large standing area downstairs and a seated viewing area on the floor above.

The ground floor space was originally a car showroom before morphing into Brannigans nightclub in the 90’s replete with the uniquely coloured tile dancefloor. Following the Trof purchase it became a Bavarian style beerhaus called Manchester Albert Schloss with its own separate entrance from Peter Street.

Brannigans nightclub. Image Credit blogspot.com

The word schloss translates as ‘a castle, palace or manor house, built as a retreat for recreation, indulgence, pleasure and debauchery’ which sounds like an intriguing place to visit! The Albert element derives back to Queen Victoria who when grieving her husband named many buildings across the country in his honour. The Manchester branch opened in 2015 and has since been followed by the introduction of other sister venues in Birmingham and Liverpool.

It is a large vibrant pub with decent food and a plethora of continental lagers to wash it down with. The renowned food critic Jay Rayner has been a keen advocate of the venue, so much so he returned with his jazz band to play a set on the small stage. My one gig there was to see the Albert Schloss house band play in 2018.

Returning to the main Albert Hall, I have attended 18 gigs there which puts it in eighth place on my most visited venue list, which shows the metronomic regularity of my appearances as the venue has only just celebrated its tenth anniversary.  

Manchester Albert Hall. Image Credit blogspot.com

My first attendance was shortly after the hall opened in 2013 when somewhat unsurprisingly, I went to see Mogwai. However, it was not a standard Mogwai performance as they were undertaking a tour to premiere their soundtrack of the Zidane movie. The film utilised many camera angles to cover the whole 90-minute performance of the French footballer Zinedine Zidane and the band provided segments of background sound in between the quieter moments where the only noise that can be heard is emanating from the crowd in attendance at the match.

Even if you are not a football fan, it is an engrossing watch and more reminiscent of an art movie, after the film had finished, they played a few further tunes. For the one and only time I was in the upper seats, and it was an extremely hot day so were melting in the auditorium. I recall chatting to John Robb afterwards about the upcoming PNE v Blackpool match and Uncle George and I being interviewed by a student magazine about the event we had just witnessed.

Mogwai on Albert Hall stage on Zidane tour. Image Credit pinterest.com

Mogwai must have taken a liking to the venue as they returned for two shows (over three nights) in 2018 which I attended, the first one as a solo outing and only by virtue of obtaining a spare ticket the day before the event. They undertook another double header in February this year over consecutive nights, Gill finally managing to catch them on the first night. The second show on the Friday where they played ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ for the first time on the tour, was sold out and extraordinarily busy.

Manchester Venues 84 to 85

At the rear of the previously reviewed Blues Kitchen venue on Quay St lies Artillery St which runs into Longworth St. It is a hidden unprepossessing street with many industrial units and at its intersection resides the renowned Rafa’s Tapas restaurant. I have never sampled their wares and have heard it is a challenge to book due to the enduring demand for punters to find a table. My preferred Tapas option is either one of the Evuna’s in town or nearer home the terrific Casa De Moor in Heaton Moor.

Rafa’s restaurant. Image Credit Yell.

Next to there is the ‘superclub’ History nightclub which unsurprisingly I have never felt the need to visit! Back round the corner on Artillery Street you would have found Manchester Sub 61, a very short-lived gig venue, and I can now source only scant information on its history, but it looks like it existed between approximately 2009 and 2010.

They did hold a regular indie-rock night there which was showcased as the ‘Little Black Book’ and also operated as a Visual Arts space for local artists to exhibit. It is listed as a basement club, but I have memories of heading upstairs so perhaps the venue had a separate gig room. Apart from the gig I attended the only other band I can reference playing there was Chameleons Vox in December 2009.

On 25/09/09 I met up with Uncle George in the Old Monkey pub on Portland Street after he had been watching the cricket at nearby Old Trafford. I mentioned I had just heard of this new venue, and we decided to go and check it out. The venue was housed in an industrial unit redolent of what a New York apartment looks like when portrayed in the movies.

The first support was Die Der Daus, the name translates from German as three different descriptors of ‘The’, namely the Masculine, Feminine and Neuter Noun versions. The main support were called  Tamallas.

The headline act was Doll and the Kicks from Brighton who were a four-piece formed in 2005 and were personally chosen to support Morrissey on his 2009 European tour. They had just released their self-titled debut album and disbanded in 2011 but it does like they subsequently reformed and are still active.

Doll and the Kicks on stage at Sub 61. Image Credit flickr.

In a half empty venue Hannah Scanlon (Doll) was an engaging energetic presence on stage and their music had elements of Be Your Own Pet, Blondie and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the latter perhaps reflecting the aforementioned NY vibe of the venue.

Manchester Satan’s Hollow is situated just off Princess Street between China Town and the Gay Village and a stone’s throw away from the nearby Night People venue. It was opened in 2000 and is firmly in the rock/metal genre. They have club nights and also a regular roster of gigs.

The entrance aims to exemplify the gates of hell replete with devil horn insignia and inside is an archetypal ‘toilet circuit’ venue with sticky floors and lamentable beer. We visited there on 06/02/10 on a whim as we were passing, and the chance presented itself to tick off the venue on the Jimmy roster. We were en route to our debut attendance at Sound Control.

Looking at the archive listing of gigs that have taken place in the venue, one caught my eye when I saw Leatherface performed there in 2007. I quite liked their material, but I am more of a fan of their spin off band Former Cellmates and particularly their terrific 2008 album ‘Who’s Dead and What’s to Pay’.

  

Manchester Satans Hollow. Image Credit homes4u.co.uk

The band on stage during our visit was Envy of The State, a rock band from the musical backwater of Telford and the band were unmemorable but there was the novelty of having a stage in the middle of the room allowing you to stand behind the band and watch them from a rarely seen angle!