Manchester Venue 2 – International 1

Aah, let me count the ways I loved this venue: –

  • Low strung roof which assisted greatly with the acoustics and created a fabulously sweaty communal venue when busy
  • Bars either side serving Colt 45 or Schlitz
  • Responsive DJ playing fab tunes when requested and memory tells me or tricks me that they played Long Ryders ‘Looking for Lewis and Clarke’ every visit
  • Loos at the side of the stage to allow you to swiftly rejoin the moshpit
  • Like minded brethren in the audience
  • Main bands rarely came on before 11 and of consistently high calibre
  • Cheeky little food hatch with un nutritious snacks to soak up the ale
  • All in all, what’s not to like?

I visited 20 times between 1985 and 1989, the venue closed around 1992. In my new Manchester pad I live a couple of miles away from the old site. It is now a Turkish deli/supermarket. I always had pretensions if winning the lottery to reopen the venue, but my odd £25 prizes are clearly not enough to achieve that aim.

The hallowed venue now! – Image Credit Jimmy Crossthwaite

My first visit was to see Hüsker Dü with the prior knowledge we wouldn’t get home and involved train and a fair bus ride as it was on the outskirts of town in Longsight. Whilst queueing up lead singer Bob Mould clattered out the doors past us to buy some cigs in the small newsagent next door which was exciting for us avid fans. They were mighty fine in front of a sparsely attended venue. The remainder of the night was trekking back into town to  Victoria and crashing in the waiting room while they loaded the paper trains before catching the first train back at 6am. Being a durable 17 year old I recall a couple of hours kip, on to Preston North End to sell programmes, watch the match and then inevitably out again that night. A few years after I became friends with another chap who was there and also napped on the station prior to a trip back to Blackpool (Spig, if you are reading this).

There was always an obliging driver in the crew to ferry us there before trains became the regular route to Manchester gigs. There was always a couple of aperitifs as we always travelling in via Holts and Boddingtons pubs in Prestwich, I believe the Friendship Inn is still standing and the afore mentioned Holts was 64p a pint (cheapest beer in Britain!).

Some of my favourite early gigs were here, notably astonishing performances from Lone Justice (what a set of pipes Marie McKee has and a fantastic cover of Velvets ‘Sweet Jane’), 10,000 Maniacs (stunning vocal also from Natalie Merchant) , Hüsker Dü again and the first ever gig in England for Meat Puppets in 1987 supported by the Inca Babies.

Picture shows the infamous Lone Justice gig on 20/02/1987. Image Credit radiox.co.uk

There was a dream joint headlining tour from Throwing Muses and Pixies. I read somewhere that it was something like the Pixies 26th ever gig and Black Francis cut a very menacing presence howling like a Banshee with me joyously bouncing round the moshpit despite having at that age an ever present nose bleed!

Other bands seen were Shop Assistants, a polished Robert Cray, That Petrol Emotion, Proclaimers and Rhythm Sisters, joyous Bhundu Boys (twice and once with a compelling hangover after a quiet night at the infamous Strawberry Duck at Entwistle!), Screaming Blue Messiahs and Wild Flowers, Wonderstuff and Darling Buds, Triffids (laconic Aussies) and Waltones, Amayenga and finally a thunderous Loop.

Flyer from 1986 – see Wonderstuff and Voice of The Beehive dates. Image Credit mdm.archive.co.uk

One notable exception was Green on Red and Steve Earle where it was just one of those nights where the gig didn’t work, the set was dull and to top it off the transport home had been vandalised and was bereft of a coat and a back seat window so was bloody freezing all the way home especially for Dave Keane in the back seat!

Two remaining standouts were Voice of the Beehive which was the first gig I attended with my then girlfriend, now wife Gill. The other was a carload of us attending the Stiff Little Fingers comeback tour on 18/12/87 which despite being sub-tropical outside remains one of the hottest gigs I have ever attended with a maximum of two songs in the moshpit before an obligatory rest station on the DJ’s steps.

Despite not attending a gig there in 30 years, and over 900 gigs since it still sits proudly as my 5th most attended venue.

Manchester Venue 1 – Apollo

So, where to start? – taking my cue from the theme tune for arguably the finest ever foreign drama The Bridge which advises you to go back to the very beginning…

My first Manchester venue was planned to be the Hacienda in 1985 to see Hüsker Dü but despite having tickets we could not find a mode of transport to be able to get home. Last train to Preston in those days was a 10.30 bone rattler from Victoria and the band would not even arrive on stage at that point so the trip was canned. Regretfully, I never got another chance to visit the Hacienda.

Having heard of our plight, my parents offered to give us a lift to any gig the following night so an Apollo gig of Stanley Clarke/George Duke (previously of Funkadelica) was chosen which also incorporated Philip Bailey of ‘Easy Lover’ fame and support provided by Hugh Masakela.

My current standing is 10 gigs at the Apollo but to be fair not that many memorable ones as I am not a great fan of the venue due to the overzealous bouncers at times, tricky location and layout (seats at a Pogues gig makes no sense to me). I witnessed them physically ejecting a peaceful though slightly over enthusiastic group from a 10,000 Maniacs gig only to be summarily bollocked by lead singer Natalie Merchant which was a joy to behold and they were subsequently re-admitted. To be fair those incident were in the 80’s and 90’s and conditions there have improved.

The Apollo today. Image credit visitnorthwest.com

It is an old fashioned somewhat cavernous theatre with reasonable acoustics and there was just one  battered old Wilsons pub in the vicinity down an adjacent side street. Taxis started to increase in later visits making the commute back into town a tad easier. 

Other bands seen there were Garbage, Morcheeba, Scissor Sisters (campest gig I have ever attended), Feeder (twice) and Devo on a later tour (faded glories!). There was also one failed attempt when heading to a Red Wedge event in the late 80’s featuring Billy Bragg where there was an automotive breakdown on the dark streets of Salford which involved a train home, no gig and car retrieval the next day.

My abiding memory of the venue was on my last visit on 29/06/08 to see My Bloody Valentine. It was on a Sunday and Simon Price wrote a review in the Independent that day imploring that they were the loudest band he had ever seen. On arrival, they were handing out free ear drums but me being a stubborn git declined that offer as I had witnessed many cacophonous bands before. However, even the first strum of guitar on stage made me step backwards with the clout it carried, They were recorded at 120 decibels which is the equivalent of a plane taking off and I masochistically enjoyed it but was somewhat glad at the end it would be a one-off experience.

Picture shows MBV at the Apollo. Image Credit Flickr

https://academymusicgroup.com/o2apollomanchester

So from one of my least favourite venues to my overall favourite in Manchester Venue 2 blog…