Category: Manchester

Manchester Venue 123 to 125

Manchester St Ann’s Square near Deansgate in the city centre has a long history dating back to 1708. When the Act of Parliament that granted the initial build of St Ann’s Church was approved there was an additional stipulation that a 30-yard space should be retained for the fair which had toll entry gates and was a primary place to hire servants. The fair area then became the square and was named after the monarch of the time.

The adjoining conservation space was home to the Cotton Exchange which morphed into the current Royal Exchange in 1874, at that stage containing the largest trading floor in the country. The building is now utilised as a thriving theatre.  

St Ann’s Square with Royal Exchange Theatre. Image Credit Manchester Evening News.

On one corner of the square is the back entrance to one of Manchester grandest pubs Mr Thomas’s Chop House which was opened in 1867 by its founder Thomas Stubbs. It is a Grade II listed building and has many of the original features. The main entrance is on Cross Street directly opposite one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in town, the Rice Bowl.

Nearby is the legendary basement bar Corbieres initially opened by ex-Manchester City footballer Mike Doyle in 1978. It has always had the reputation of having a fine content on the jukebox and I always liked the tale of punters in there backing the winner of the 1983 Grand National on a horse called Corbiere and spending the winnings on ale in the bar for the rest of the day!

St Ann’s Square is one of the many sites utilised for the Christmas markets but is also the hub for other festivals. One such event was the annual Jazz festival which was based there in May 2019.  Coinciding with the day of this event, John Dewhurst and I were burning shoe leather across the length and breadth of the city in attendance at the sorely missed Dot to Dot festival.

Corbieres Bar. Image Credit manchestersfinest.com

As we passed through the square a band called Heavy Leno were on stage and as there was link up that year with the Manchester Food and Drink festival, we took the opportunity to grab a seat for a beer and a pizza stop. This was in addition to other 20 venues we visited that day! Earlier this year in March the Irish festival tent run by the O’Sheas bar was located there and I witnessed a band called The Cullodens play.

The aforementioned Manchester St Anns Church was only the third church to be consecrated in the city. The church narrowly escaped damage from a Luftwaffe raid during World War 2 and apparently still has a burnt-out incendiary bomb which landed on the roof.

It contains within an organ that dates to 1730 which has expanded over the years and now contains 54 speaking stops. The church has for a long time been linked up with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), and students perform recitals there. I happened to be passing one afternoon in June last year and I could hear tuneage so snuck in and I caught a portion of one such RNCM Organ recital.   

St Ann’s Church. Image Credit Geograph Britain and Ireland.

The adjacent street to the church is Manchester King Street which for many years has been one of the main shopping streets in the city and was the first city centre street to be fully given over to pedestrian use in 1976. On my birthday in 2019 we have been for a meal and discovered there was a pop-up stage in place on King St, the reason for which I cannot recall. Performing on the said stage was a local singer songwriter called Dee Olares.  

Manchester Venue 122 Deaf Institute – Part 3

Today I conclude my tales of gigs at Manchester Deaf Institute Music Hall. Apparently contained within the venue is a hidden back staircase which allows bands to enter the establishment without using the front entrance and there is also an in house apartment.

Deaf Institute Music Hall. Image Credit Visit Manchester

In October 2018 Palace Winter were on the bill, my attendance sparked via a recommendation from my friend Jez Catlow. They provided an extremely engaging set of cinematic dream pop. The band comprises of Australian singer-songwriter Carl Coleman and Danish producer/pianist Caspar Hesselager, and they base themselves in the intriguing city of Copenhagen. Their name derives from an old hotel (Winter Palace) in the South of France that Carl stayed at in the summer of 2014. The tour was promoting their second album ‘Nowadays’.

In early 2019 Uncle George and I met up to see the Canadian punk rockers F##ked Up who on this occasion I didn’t enjoy as much as previous times I have seen them, the sound quality perhaps being a contributing factor in that regard. John Robb was a fellow attendee, and we had a brief chat during their set.

Later that year Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers were in town, Craig being the lead singer of one of my favourite bands Hold Steady. His solo stuff has a gentler vibe than his main band material but still contains the requisite social commentary and life affirming lyrics. My entry point here had been their second album ‘We All Want the Same Things’ with my favourite being the mournful and beautifully crafted ‘God in Chicago’ and I was very content that it was included in their set list that evening.

My first visit post-Covid was on another Jez recommendation involving a band called The Clockworks. They are a post-punk combo from Galway who made the old-fashioned move to London in 2018 with the primary intention of furthering their career. They recorded their debut album ‘Exit Strategy’ in Abbey Road studios in 2023.

The Clockworks. Image Credit poklub.de

On the night, they nearly caught us out with an extremely early stage time, but luckily, we checked up on that when ensconced in the Sand Bar across the road, so didn’t have too far to scamper and I thoroughly enjoyed their set.  

Next on the roster created a new personal best for me. The only previous time I had seen Loop was at my final ever visit on 04/12/89 to the much missed and in my opinion the best venue in the world Manchester International 1 where I recall their thunderous aural attack reverberated off the very low roof in that venue. The date of the Deaf gig was 21/05/23 thus creating a paltry time gap of 33.46 years between appearances!

Of my fellow peers, the aforementioned Jez has achieved the longest time span of 43 years from seeing The Vapours supporting The Jam in 1979 to a reprise performance at Bearded Theory festival in 2022.    

Loop. Image Credit pinterest.com

Loop are a drone band from Croydon who I first became aware of in the late 1980’s and adored their beautifully sonic debut album ‘Heaven’s End’, complete with the inspired addition of a soundbite from Hal the computer in Space Odyssey 2001 at the completion of Side 1. I played that record within an inch of its vinyl life!

They split in 1991 with a subsequent reformation in 2013 and played their first comeback shows as they co-curated the final ever Camber Sand All Tomorrow Parties event. They eventually produced a new album called ‘Sonancy’ in 2022. They were excellent on the night with my preference being for the earlier material. I also met fellow Twitter muso Peter Latimer for the first time at this gig and despite the fact that he is from Blackpool, he is still a fine chap!       

My final gig was in November 2023 when Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai formed a super group called Silver Moth including members from Abrasive Trees, Burning House, Prosthetic Head and his talented music wife Elisabeth Elektra who provides the vocals. Elisabeth once graciously took a picture of me and Stuart when I had a rare fan boy moment at the Wickerman Festival.

They recorded the album ‘Black Bay’ within four intensive days on the Isle of Lewis and provided an intriguing set on the night. They were supported by Samana, who the year before had released their second album ‘All One Breath’. After three years of correspondence, I finally met another Twitter muso Paul, who is not from Blackpool, but is an equally fine chap!