Tag: Amy Winehouse

Preston Venues 52 to 53 Moor Park – Part 2

Sunday arrived and Gill and I were up bright and early for attended the Radio 1 Big Weekend on Preston Moor Park and with the weather set fair and my festival hat donned we traversed the fifteen-minute walk to the gates.

The festival site was located towards the ‘Deepdale Road’ end of the park where the football pitches are located, probably selected by the organisers as the best geographical drainage point. We were in place for the opening of the doors at 12 and there were three stages in operation, the Main Stage and the In New Music We Trust Stage, both under marquees and the Outdoor Arena for more dance orientated acts.

The exact location of the Radio 1 site. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

The first band we saw was an enjoyable set from the Enemy from Coventry with their mod-inspired sound. They had just released their debut album ‘We’ll Live and Die in These Towns’ which remarkably went straight to Number 1 in the UK Charts and in fact their first three albums all went Top Ten.

Next up was a musician called Sam Duckworth whose stage name is Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. He was followed by the Sri Lankan rapper Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulprgasam who performs as the rapper M.I.A. which translates as either ‘Missing in Action’ or Missing in Acton’! She subsequently received an MBE in 2019 for her services to music.

We then saw Dizzee Rascal with his suitably ‘hammed up and bonkers’ set, with the London group the Klaxons followed Dizzee. Three months earlier they had released their debut album ‘Myths of the Near Future’ which went on to win the Mercury Prize later that year.

The day of watching bands was interspersed by wandering around the site, basking on the grass, having a cold brewski and seeing many people I knew. On one such foray I caught a segment of Rihanna singing her current hit ‘Umbrella’ which went to Number 1 that very day with its refrain of ‘Ella, Ella, Ella’!   

I also saw Just Jack and Mark Ronson, who has been a renowned collaborator with many acts such as Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga. The Dundee scamps the View were reassuringly shambolic and their ‘Superstar Tradesmen’ track was as gloriously anthemic and joyous as ever!  

The View. Image Credit tenementtv.com

We missed the Stereophonics as we decided to watch the full set of Newcastle Upon Tyne’s stalwarts Maximo Park, who probably shaded it as the highlight of my day with Paul Smith’s laconic delivery.  

We split the headliners and watched the first half of the set by Bloc Party before wandering over to view the final part of Kaiser Chiefs, who I always slightly cruelly paint as a cartoon band, but they do have some fine festival tunes and the lead singer Ricky Wilson was a whirling dervish on stage. He gave the security staff palpitations by clambering up a gantry during the outro of ‘I Predict a Riot’.  

The music finished bang on the curfew at 10pm and we sauntered the short distance home down the park reflecting on a never to be repeated day in Preston musical history!

On a much less grand scale there are other festivals that take place annually on the park. One such event is Rockprest that places its stage near to Preston Moor Park Pavilion which I attended the once in 2015. It is a tribute band event which I am always highly sceptical of but that was countered by the chance of visiting a new venue virtually on my doorstep, I believe the event continues to this day.

Preston Moor Park Pavilion. Image Credit flickr.com

I attended the day after gallivanting around the Heptonstall festival which I shall cover in a future blog. Thus, I was rather jaded and the two bands I saw, namely an East Lancashire act called Folkestra, and the nattily named Pearl Scam from Manchester who have been in operational since 2011, didn’t salve my fatigue. The torrential downpour obliterated my remaining resolve and I skulked homewards! 

Manchester Venues 75 to 76 – Blues Kitchen

As you head down Deansgate and just across Bridge Street you reach the Lost Dene pub, which was a Covid hero establishment for me. We attended with a couple of friends just prior to the third and most challenging lockdown at the tail end of 2020 and they were superb finding us two tables adjacent to each other even though we were in different households. It justifies the mantra of always bring honest as groups were denied entry as they were patently not in the same household when challenged for additional details!  

A little further down Deansgate brings you to Quay Street where you find the Opera House. An establishment I have yet to visit even when in theatre mode, but I recall Uncle George and Tony Dewhurst attending there to see Gil Scott Heron shortly before his death in 2011, by all accounts it was a belting gig.

Next to there on Little Quay Street resided for many years the Old Grapes owned by Coronation Street’s character Vera Duckworth (actress Liz Dawn). It was for a while a meeting point for us and was utilised if we ever undertook a group taxi to a gig. It was situated round the corner from the old Granada studios. It finally shut its doors for the last time in 2016 and is now an office block with the 20 stories restaurant at its apex and is contained within the large Spinningfields complex.

The Old Grapes pub. Image Credit Manchester Evening News

Back on Quay Street there used to be the large Aussie sports themed Walkabout pub which I periodically used to visit. It opened in 2000 and closed for good on New Year’s Eve 2015.

The building itself used to be a Victorian Eye Hospital with many original features. It apparently bears similarities with the Manchester and Salford Skin Hospital that used to be further down the block. It then became the Post Office Social Club prior to the Walkabout era.  

The site remained empty for a few years until the Blues Kitchen group purchased it and added it to their existing three sites in London and it was opened post pandemic. They stage music seven nights a week and as the name implies, they dabble in the blues, soul and funk domain.

It has made great strides to retain the blues heritage, and this is exemplified by it retaining a stained-glass window retrieved from Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey where the legendary Woody Guthrie once resided. It has a gospel roof created from 19th century tin plates retrieved from a disused church in Manhattan and there is also a bizarre option available of booking private parties inside a 1920’s Air Stream Caravan.

I had never really intently studied the roster here but when a couple of friends invited us to a gig, I jumped at the chance to visit. So, on 26/08/22 after a quick libation at Brewdog we deliberately arrived a bit earlier to sample the Manchester Blues Kitchen Bar downstairs which is an open access area even if you are not attending a gig upstairs.

It was vibrant and busy with standing room only and had low lighting and I liked the place instantly. On stage was the Kitchen House Band modelling the smoky Amy Winehouse vibe (not her tribute band Amy House Wine!).

  

Manchester Blues Kitchen interior. Image Credit secretmanchester.com

We then traversed up the ornate stairs to the 500 capacity Manchester Blues Kitchen Venue. The band we had come to see was Smoove and Turrell who have supported the irrepressible Nile Rodgers and Chic on a previous tour. My colleague at work John Scott (I do always try to resist calling him Bon!), used to DJ with Smoove in Newcastle back in the day.

They hail from Gateshead and have been in existence since 2007 and the bedrock of the band is Jonathan Scott Watson (Smoove) and singer/songwriter John Turrell. When they tour, they expand the combo with several other members.  On the night they produced an energetic slab of Northern Funk despite them all having to cram on to quite a small stage!