Tag: Amy Winehouse

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!  

Leeds Venues 6 to 7

Continuing the tale of the Live at Leeds multi event in 2014 takes us onwards to Leeds Wardrobe. The venue is situated on St Peter’s Square, Quarry Hill in the Cultural quarter alongside Leeds College of Music, Northern Ballet, Yorkshire Dance, and the BBC. It is accessed via crossing the very busy ring road.

The venue opened its doors for the first time in 1999 and has established itself as one of the city’s longest running independent venues and regularly hosts over 250 gigs per year. Its roster is primarily in the jazz, funk and soul domain and previous acts who have played there include Sly and Robbie, Beverley Knight, and Amy Winehouse.

The establishment models itself in a New York retro vibe and the ground floor consists of the main bar and restaurant. On our attendance I recall they had booted up some temporary pizza ovens and the Pepperoni’s were cooking up a storm. At our second Live at Leeds in 2021 they had some acoustic acts playing in the main bar, but not whilst we were in residence.

Leeds Wardrobe. Image Credit whatpub.com

Stairs then take you down to the main venue with the stage immediately to your right which sits in front of a sunken dance floor and bars to the left and the back of the room. I liked it instantly as it felt spacious and had a good vantage point from all areas. It was blessed with a terrific sound system. There is also a local story that a ghost is resident in the basement room and the site is built upon an old well.

We purloined a seat at the back and the band on stage were CYMBALS (not to be confused with Cymbals with Guitars) from London town. They were a four piece post punk act and had just released their second album Age of Fracture. They splintered after that album and became and remain a two-piece to this day. They had an 80’s sound to them and resembled to a degree Bloc Party.

On our return to the venue at the delayed 2021 festival we saw a full set from a solo artist called Louis Berry, who turned out to be the last act we saw that day and we grabbed seats to the side of the stage as we had walked many miles traversing to venues far and wide.

He was a young Liverpool lad who had a very challenging upbringing as he was born to a heroin addict father. He could fair belt it out in a busker style reminiscent of Jake Bugg. After the 2014 gig, we headed up out of the basement, temporarily blinking in the afternoon sun prior to then grabbing some tea.  

The next venue was Leeds Holy Trinity Church located on Boar Lane. It was originally built in the 1720’s and has Grade 1 listed status. In 2020 a major refurbishment took place and became the home to a mid-week ministry for city centre workers.  They periodically have events there with listed for later this year a couple of movie soundtrack nights and as appears to be inevitable the obligatory tribute to Queen performed by a string quartet.  

Leeds Holy Trinity Church. Image Credit en.wikipedia.org

At the 2014 event they had a full day’s roster of acoustic acts performing with Marika Hackman near the top of the bill. On the bill as we attended was a young Irish folk singer called Orla Gartland from Dublin. She had only released a couple of EPs at that stage, but she has built a huge following on You Tube since by posting cover songs and has had over 24m views. Her music was featured on the recent BBC hit series ‘Normal People’ and she was firmly in the Joni Mitchell mould.