Tag: Buzzcocks

Manchester Venue 138 – St James and Emmanuel Parish Church

In the centre of Didsbury Village, School Lane crosses over at the traffic lights onto Barlow Moor Road where you will pass the slightly battered establishment of the Nelson public house. This is currently one of the stops on the famous Didsbury Dozen beer route which has been in place for decades, the dozen being subject to subtle changes as one place opens, and another closes. The crawl has seen a recent upturn in more youthful groups undertaking a Saturday sally round, which has been viewed as a positive as it maintains a steady footfall for the hostelries, but also a negative due to an increase in drunken antics.    

On the other side of the street is Manchester St James and Emmanuel Parish Church which is in front of Didsbury Library. It is the second oldest church in Manchester, with some elements dating back to 1275 and the Grade II listed building was extensively refurbished in 1986 and is affiliated to four local schools. It also contains a bell tower with the six bells originally being cast in Gloucester in 1727.

St James and Emmanuel Church. Image Credit didsburycivicsociety.org

This building has previous pandemic connotations for myself as I had one of my vaccinations here and also undertook a couple of shifts as a Covid volunteer. I have also attended the café located within.

A small matter of a few weeks ago we were in that very area when we discovered the residents were currently in thrall to the Didsbury Pride event taking place that day. Immediately sensing a bonus gig, I navigated the security into an extremely busy area behind the church where there many stalls of varying merchandise and also a stage at the very back where the Didsbury Choir were undertaking a jaunty set. Afterwards by chance we saw Tris and Ross perched outside the nearby Head of Steam so grabbed the chance to have a cheeky cold one with them!

Continuing down the road takes you past a couple of cafes including the bohemian bar and book shop Art of Tea and then onto the traffic lights with Palatine Road. If you take a left turn, and on that stretch of the highway, you can see on the right the remnants of Fridays nightclub which opened originally under the name of Riverside in the 1970’s. It was a renowned venue in the 1980’s and 90’s and many punters who survived the aforementioned Dozen gravitated there after closing time.

Fridays Nightclub. Image Credit manchestereveningnews.co.uk

It was made up of three separate rooms and based on the testimonials it sounded abundantly ‘cheesy’ with the traditional sticky floors and on Thursday nights all drinks were 80p until midnight. It also apparently had a draconian dress code in place. It continued into the new century and in 2010 launched a Polish party night to welcome people in the Manchester area who derived originally from Eastern Europe. It finally closed in 2016 before morphing into Bar Rogue which at some unspecified stage subsequently closed for good.

Further down Barlow Moor Road you arrive upon the Grade II listed Woodstock Arms which has a large outdoor area primed for summer drinking. I recall watching Portugal lose to Uruguay there in the red hot summer World Cup of 2018. It is also one of the prime locations used on the popular TV series Cold Feet and they also utilised houses on the streets nearby.

If you head across the busy Princess Parkway you reach the Southern Cemetery, which is the largest municipal cemetery in the United Kingdom and second largest in Europe. Notable people buried there are John Rylands, Sir Matt Busby, L.S Lowry, Tony Wilson and Joy Division and New Order’s manager Rob Gretton.   

‘Cemetry Gates’. Image Credit blog.sevenpounds.com

The location was also the inspiration for local miserabilist Morrissey to warble the opening lines ‘A dreaded sunny day, so I meet you at the cemetery gates’ on the Smith’s track ‘Cemetry Gates’. The title track apparently being deliberately misspelt and is based on Morrissey’s walks there with his photographer friend Linder Sterling who he initially met at a Sex Pistols sound check in 1976. Linder was also the frontwoman of post-punk band Ludus and designed the cover for one of the Buzzcocks early singles.   

Manchester Venue 92 – Band on the Wall

At the top end of Oldham Street, you find the Comedy Club and the iconic Crown and Kettle public house across on the other side of busy Swan Street. Hundred yards to the left of there is the oldest venue in town, Manchester Band on the Wall, which sits opposite to the Fringe Bar.

Crown and Kettle interior. Image Credit eatmcr.co.uk

The venue was originally opened as the George and Dragon pub in 1803 within a big market area, even in those very early days it had a licence for song and dance. It was located near the old gathering place of ‘New Cross’ where many an Industrial Revolution demonstration took place. The landlord in residence between the 1930’s and 1950’s was a no-nonsense chap called Ernie Tyson who decided to expand the repertoire and created a stage halfway up the wall at the rear of the pub, hence the name of the establishment was formed.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s it sat in the jazz domain before punk hit and the Buzzcocks and Joy Division played early gigs, the latter allegedly signed in blood their recording contract there with Tony H Wilson. The venue is registered as a charity so allows more artistic freedom and its music resides mainly in the roots and soul genre and because of this not one I have visited regularly. To exemplify this musical ethos, Craig Charles has for many years undertaken a monthly DJ residence there.   

It is an award-winning establishment and has recently been refurbished, it has an initial bar area as you enter which now has the ability to stage smaller performances with an 80-person capacity. Then to your left there is a step free access into the main music room with an additional balcony overlooking the stage and this area now has an increased capacity of 500 due to an expansion into the adjoining three-storey Cocozza Wood building.  

Band on the Wall. Image Credit DesignMyNight.com

One of the seminal and most influential bands of my youth was Husker Du and I was fortunate to see them twice back in the day and at the first gig had a brief chat with the band and I have been playing a lot of their considerable output recently. Post their breakup in 1988 I kept a close eye on the individual output of the members of the band and saw Sugar several times and Bob Mould solo a couple of times.

The drummer Grant Hart was less prolific in his output and toured far less prior to his untimely death in 2017. His passing hit me like a sledgehammer in much the same way Mark Lanegan’s did, perhaps also inciting selfishly the mourning of your past youth! 

He was a fabulous drummer with my personal favourite of his art being the thunderous driving rhythm of Husker Du’s ‘New Day Rising’, go on have a listen to it right now! He also released some terrific solo records, particularly the first two ‘Intolerance’ and ‘Good News for the Modern Man’, the initial one being issued via the legendary SST records.  

I was therefore excited when I saw the news he was touring in December 2011, so tickets were purchased and off we popped. I was a tad worried when I saw it was just Grant and a backing track machine but surprisingly it worked with him topping up the sound on his guitar.

He had a considerable back catalogue and was inviting requests from the audience, however when one punter somewhat rudely stated ‘you need to play xxxx’, he was met with an instant withering response ‘you need to be on the streets man’! Standout tracks that evening were ‘2541’, ‘The Main’, ‘Never Talking to You Again’, ‘There’s a Girl who Lives on Heaven’s Hill’ and ‘Green Eyes’.  

Grant Hart. Image Credit SFGate

My other three attendances were all part of wristband events, the first in May 2018 was to see Desperate Journalist, a decent post punk band from London. At the following years Dot to Dot event, I witnessed part of an excellent set from Kilmarnock’s Fatherson. I very nearly saw them in Edinburgh a few years earlier but was glad to finally catch up with them. My final appearance was in November 2019 to see a local artist called Elysse Mason who reminded me to a degree of Lana Del Rey.