Halfway down Oldham Street was located Manchester Planet K which I attended twice. The first visit in October 99 was to see Snuff supported by Mad Caddies.
Me and Uncle George were on duty that night and discovered whilst talking to John Dewhurst a week before that he was going to see Godspeed you Black Emperor at the Roadhouse the same night. So, we headed over together for drinks and tea before John headed off to his destination.
Planet K was a reasonable little venue, with about a 300 capacity with the stage at the bottom of the room.
Snuff were as ever good value and the place was half full at the most. They finished the set with a rousing rendition of the Match of the Day theme. John enjoyed his gig also as he described they had some epic length songs in the best post-rock tradition. We parlayed in Yates on Princes Street before heading off for the late train.
My second and final visit was to see Mogwai on 18/04/01. Usual crew of George, John and I in tow. It wasn’t the greatest night as Mogwai unexpectedly came on exceptionally early whilst we were still encamped in the pub and we missed the first twenty minutes.
They had finished their set prior to 10pm and there were also some annoying punters in there. My least enjoyable Mogwai show but still of a decent level. The venue closed a year or so later.
I had always endeavoured to avoid the cavernous locations as I have a ready preference for the ‘one man and his dog’ venues but the opportunity to see AC/DC for the first time was too good to miss. So, in December 2000 we headed over to Manchester Arena. The Arena is located next to and linked to Victoria train station with a 21k capacity.
The morning was spent de grouting the shower prior to going out and having some fun. We decamped at Salford Crescent train station and visited the Crescent and Pint Pot prior to meeting other attendees in the Oyster Bar in town. Here I met the current Brighton correspondent Nigel Wiskar (rechristened School of Rock) for the first time.
We had standing tickets in the pit and AC/DC were fabulous and standout tracks were ‘Hells Bells’ and ‘Whole Lot of Rosie’. They adopt a simple premise of playing 12 bar blues at high volume, but they are the absolute masters of it. A top night was had by all.
It was over 17 years later to my next attendance. By that stage we were living in a rented house on an astonishingly noisy Kingsway in East Didsbury.
My mate Rick Clegg has always been a huge Paul Weller fan, so I agreed to be his wingman and provided the lodgings due to our new Manchester postcode. The gig was on 01/03/18 and in the middle of the Beast of the East and was as a result a bracingly cold evening.
The place was still being rebuilt from the bombing and was as best half full. The gig washed over me to be honest and there had been a published set list including encores in advance of the gig which I find a tad disconcerting. Rick enjoyed it though so mission accomplished.
I also once waited at the foot of those huge steps to provide a lift home for Gill and her three sisters after they had been to see Kylie Minogue.
My last attendance was earlier this year (16/01/20) with George, Tony and Pam Dewhurst to see Slipknot supported by Behemoth.
We were up in the gods this time and it was a country mile for a loo visit or to purchase an extortionate beer.
They had huge stage effects with the ever-present masks, gantries, dual aerial drummers and even a treadmill. They are definitely an interesting live act, though verge on the edge of pantomime at times!
I am going to change tack in my next blog and provide five ‘lost’ albums that in my view did not receive their due attention. I would be interested in your lists so comments welcome next week.