Tag: Helicon

Milestones Part 1 – Gigs

This week I am launching another new strand relating to the significant milestones I have achieved in my gig-going life thus far and this initial article concentrates solely on the gig numbers. I previously elucidated my interpretation of what constitutes a gig at some length in a blog that I drafted back in the mists of time named ‘Definition of a Gig and a Venue?’  

Thus, I won’t repeat my cogitations from there but will suffice myself with saying that as the years have progressed, my qualifying criteria of a ‘gig’ has softened immensely to allow more gigs to gain entry to the Jimmy Archives. Therefore, as long as I witness someone on a stage nowadays playing music, they can be counted!  

Everyone has a first gig and my contribution to that grand compendium was Slade at Lancaster University back in December 1983. My 50th was to see Wonderstuff and Darlings Buds at the fabulous Manchester International 1 and the 100th was Dinosaur Jr at Manchester Academy 2.

Darling Buds. Image Credit thenewvinylvillain.com

As I have got older, I seem to be attending an increasing number of events and the overall numbers have skyrocketed as a result, so much so that after a few cheeky gigs in Lanzarote, it became apparent that my next show at Manchester Gorilla on 13/05/22 would be my 1000th gig.

I am not going to list all my landmark gigs, but I will pick out some highlights, thus my 250th was my one ear splitting foray to watch My Bloody Valentine at Manchester Apollo on their comeback tour. I don’t think I am unique in saying that this was the loudest show I have ever attended, and I personally have a very high bar in that regard. I know a few readers on here saw their recent shows, but I decreed once was enough mainly because I have never worn ear plugs to gigs, probably to my own detriment, but I am too far down that path to change now!

My 500th was Cymbals down in the basement of Leeds Wardrobe with the 800th being the terrific Belly at Manchester Ritz, Tanya Donelly still having a terrific voice. Number 900 was Helicon at Manchester Peer Hat.

Since then, I have rattled upwards even further with Snuff being number 1200 at Manchester Breadshed, 1300 was Public Service Broadcasting at Manchester Albert Hall. I have also recently gone past the 1500 figure which was at a new venue so I will cover that one in a future article.  

Inadvertently, but somewhat appropriately on the night there was a proper gathering at my ‘chiliad’ (had to look that one up!) and chiliagon is also apparently a term for 1000-sided polygon, now thinking about it I cannot visualise the scale of that diagram and how that might look. Anyway, returning from my digression, Gill and I met Marcus initially for a cold one in the Lass O Gowrie.   

There was then a little breakdown in communication, but we managed to catch up with Tris in the Gorilla bar attached to the venue where she had run into a former colleague Andy and his friend Paul who were also attending the gig. Thankfully Tris had clocked that it was an early show starting at 8.30 so a quick drink, photo shoot and a scoot round to the entrance was in order.

Pre-gig team photo with L-R Tris, Andy, myself, Paul, Marcus and Gill. Image Credit kind anonymous punter.

We accessed the venue, and I was a little giddy as my usual reticence gave way to informing a couple of random punters that this was my 1000th show, either being met with ‘well done, that is a fine achievement’ or on the converse side total bemusement!

The band that night was Mattiel who constitute of singer/songwriter Atina Mattiel Brown and guitarist Jonah Swilley and originated from Atlanta, Georgia in 2015. Mattiel Brown was raised on a self-sustaining farm in a rural setting, which was apparently quite an isolated existence, and she threw herself with gusto into visual arts, which fed into her subsequent music creation.

When we saw them they were promoting their fine third album ‘Georgia Gothic’ and they had strengthened out the band with the addition of a bassist and a drummer, and they produced an enjoyable slab of garage rock. The downside was that the gig was over by 9.45pm and one couldn’t fail to notice many punters being caught out by the early show. I was almost craving gig 1001 to follow it but instead we headed to the hostelry, ending the evening in the Peveril of the Peak. 

Mattiel. Image Credit ATO Records.

Touching briefly on gigs attended with other people, I have individually attended over 500 gigs with both Gill and Uncle George and just under 300 with John Dewhurst. Also, Uncle G, John and I (The three stooges) have very recently just gone past 250 shows together.

Manchester Venue 156-Peer Hat

In a previous blog I reviewed AATMA, a venue which is literally buried away on an upper floor in a building off Faraday Street behind Stevenson Square in the Northern Quarter. Situated to the ground level and the street side of that very same building is Manchester Peer Hat.  

The pub first appeared into the world in 2017 run by a couple of self-proclaimed unsuccessful musician brothers named Mike and Nick Kenyon. They were both originally in the band Politburo who were likened to Dead Kennedys and played many gigs at the now defunct Roadhouse and Hard Rock Café venues when they were in their pomp. Another co-owner is Dom who also runs the aforementioned AATMA.

Politburo. Image Credit Louder Than War

The hostelry is a bohemian haunt and is a proper throwback to a student style pub back in the day in that it is a welcome and hospitable place and has a fine varied jukebox. The house motto is ‘Omnio sub petasum’, and for those whose Latin is rusty or non-existent like moi, that translates as ‘Everything under the hat’.

Like many low budget places, they really struggled through Covid but thankfully survived that challenging period. They have hosted some unique events, including a HAUNT Manchester ‘Black Christmas’ event and the Manchester Folk Horror Festival in 2018 and 2019. They have also had art exhibitions and in 2018 one included a feature from the Manchester Gothic Arts Group (M:GAG), thankfully not MAGA!

In the middle of the ground floor space, some vertiginous steps take you down to the music venue with a cosy capacity of 120. I do have a fondness for cellar venues and this one is a belter and they also seem to always have good sonic sound down there, all of that resulting in it being worthy of inclusion in my Top 10 Manchester favourite venues.   

The Peer Hat. manchestersfinest.com

They have fairly regular gigs, and they achieved a coup with their first ever event being none other than Thurston Moore, but they had no functioning bar at that stage, so they served him beer out of a bucket of ice! I have attended there six times in total, the majority of these being part of multi venue wristband events such as Dot to Dot or Carefully Planned Festival. On my first visit there as part of the Off the Record Festival in November 2017 I saw a local artist called Billy Bee.

Six months later the band on stage was Jade Assembly, a rock band from Bolton who formed in 2008. They are proud Boltonians and are closely linked to the local football club with songs such as ‘Our Town’ and ‘Burnden Aces’. Their music is still played over the tannoy at Bolton Wanderers matches and they signed their first record deal on the pitch at half time during one of the matches.

The band had a fervent following nicknamed the ‘Jade Army’. After a slew of singles, they released their debut album ‘One Last Time’ in 2023 which coincided with them calling it a day after fifteen years and they appropriately played their last ever two gigs at the local venue, The Ramp in Horwich. 

My next appearance was in November 2018 where we caught an early set from Red Rum Club, who had only formed a couple of years earlier and was also a year before they released their debut album ‘Matador’. They have gradually risen in profile since with their fourth LP ‘Western Approaches’ in 2024 reaching number 8 in the UK charts.

They hail from Bootle in Merseyside and cite their hometown as an influence on their sound with the seafaring, industrial aspect of the area. On the night their El Mariachi style songs were excellent and thoroughly enjoyable, and the thunderous sound combining with a sweaty venue created a communal treat.

Red Rum Club (twice!). Image Credit liverpoolecho.co.uk   

I visited again in May 2019 where I saw Women You Stole, a Manchester band driven by lead singer Hayley Faye. I would class them in the garage rock vein, and they released a fine debut single ‘Shake’ around this time but sadly don’t appear to be still active. They were supported by post-punkers Document who named themselves after the stellar REM album of that name.  

A couple of months later was my only visit there to see a standalone gig. The band on show was my one time thus far watching the excellent Helicon. The band derive from Jesus and Mary Chain East Kilbride territory and were initially formed by brothers John-Paul and Gary Hughes. Their self-titled album was recorded in 2017 at Mogwai’s Castle of Doom Studio on Glasgow and their 2023 album ‘God Intentions’ won the prize of ‘Psych Lovers’ Album of the Year’.  They were superb and the intimate venue played to their strengths.

My most recent visit in April 2022 was to see Priceless Bodies who are now a Manchester based lo-fi duo made up of twin sisters Viv & Bianca Pencz. Their name was drawn from a line by 19th century French poet Rimbaud and their musical influences derived from being disgruntled teens in Vancouver, Canada which was known locally at the time as ‘No Fun City’!