Tag: James

Manchester Venue 139 – Maxwell Hall

I am returning this week to the tale of the 2024 Sounds from the Other City Festival (SFTOC). Within Salford University between 1964 and 2004 there was a thriving venue in the University grounds called Manchester Maxwell Hall. The Maxwell building containing the aforementioned hall was officially opened in 1961 by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. The upper hall staged the gigs with a capacity of 1000 seating and a balcony above of a further 220 capacity. I once sat in that very balcony area whilst attending one of my talented wife Gill’s many graduation ceremonies.

The opening band to play on the 25th of March 1964 was Dave Berry and the Cruisers at a cost of six shillings, they were so named based on the lead singer’s admiration of Chuck Berry. They are not to be confused with Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, the fictional musician and Chuck’s cousin from the original Back to the Future movie!  Other acts to play there include The Who, Black Sabbath, U2, New Order, The Kinks, James and of course The Smiths!

Marvin Berry and the Starlighters. Image Credit backtothefuture.wikia.com

One story goes along the lines that Paul McCartney and the Wings rolled up in a van in 1972 and asked if they could play as the band had just recently formed and were engaged on a practice tour. The tickets were priced at 50p with half going to the band and the other half to the University. Blondie also famously graced the stage in 1978 and there is an iconic picture that only emerged in 2017 with Debbie Harry draped in the actual poster for the gig.

In the 1990’s the allure of the venue waned due to the introduction of competing venues in the city with Charlatans having the honour of playing the final gig there on 20th December 2004. There then followed an utterly mystifying gap of fifteen years before an extensive refurbishment plan was touted within the £800m Salford Crescent Masterplan to restore the venue to its former glory but like many other schemes I assume it was then scuppered by the pandemic.

Debbie Harry embracing Salford Uni. Image Credit blogs.salford.ac.uk

Five years later the venue was belatedly chosen as one of the locations within the 2024 edition of SFTOC, which rekindled talk of possibly rebooting the venue. The layout of the venue reminded me of Whitehaven Civic Hall.

On the day we attended we saw a jaunty slightly surreal Welsh six piece called Melin Melyn (translates as Yellow Mill). They sing in their native language and have been cited alongside other artists in a movement named ‘Cool Cymru 2.0’. The driving force of the band are the original members Gruff Glyn alongside Garmon Rhys, who also double up as a pair of professional actors, the former garnering credits in Dr Who, Poldark and the Royal Shakespeare Company.  Their music I would describe as a pot pourri of folk and surf rock.

Maintaining the Welsh theme, we also caught the end of Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals) headline set who was promoting his latest solo album ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’. He is ambidextrous and somewhat bizarrely plays left-handed on an upside down right handed guitar. He has tried his hand at scripting opera and also provides vocals to the Mogwai track ‘Dial: Revenge’ off their Rock Action album. He curtailed his show with a nod to Bob Dylan’s video for Subterranean Homesick Blues via the usage of cue cards with audience prompts for applause etc.      

Maxwell Hall. Image Credit bbc.com

There has been a spate of other venues in the near vicinity including a former horse racing track at a site called Castle Irwell which was sold onto the University in 1960’s. It first evolved as a student village and then the old racecourse members stand was converted into the popular Pavilion Bar and Nightclub (known locally as the Pav) under the ownership of the Students Union.

Bands to have played gigs the Pav include Texas, Pulp and Atomic Kitten before its closure in 2009. The village at Castle Irwell subsequently closed in 2015 after a half of century of providing housing for approximately 40k students. Sadly, a year later there was an arson attack which created such a huge fire that at one point 50 firefighters were in situ utilising pumped water from the nearby River Irwell. Housing has since sprung up on that original site. 

Pulp flyer from their 1992 show. Image Credit pulpwiki.net

There were also events at the Student Unions Building in the 1970’s and 1980’s but the only recorded gig I could track there was a performance by Heart! I am sure there must have been other higher quality gigs there. The final one to note is the Salford College of Technology where local legends Joy Division once graced the stage in 1978.

2021 Gigs – Part 3

The third and final part of reviewing the 2021 gigs recommences with a couple of visits to Manchester Ritz. The venue is now firmly ensconced in my Top 3 venues visited list as I have been attending there consistently over the years since my first attendance in October 87 watching the astoundingly loud and intense Swans.

First up on 22/09 was the old stalwarts Ash, who I was watching for the sixth time, three of those being at festivals, and it was the first time I had seen them in eleven years. Prior to the gig we had a drink in Brew Dog near Albert Hall on Peter Street, coincidentally the most profitable Brew Dog bar in the world, and then feasted on a pizza that took an age to arrive in Rudy’s Neapolitan restaurant next door.

I thought they were decent but slightly one dimensional, and I always contend that their sound has never been quite as complete since Charlotte Hatherley left, though admittedly they do still have a bagful of recognisable tunes. I was at the bar mid-set when I found out that PNE had drawn Liverpool at home in the League Cup though that subsequently ended up with the usual golden chances missed and then inevitable defeat.  

Ash in Charlotte Hatherley days. Image Credit Steve Scalise.

The other attendance was to see Maximo Park on 10/10 which saw Rick Clegg toggle over for a rare appearance in Manchester and I think his first visit to the Ritz. After a trio of scoops in Yes, Lass O Gowrie and Temple Bar we headed into the venue. It was the second time I had seen them though overall not as enjoyable as my first sighting of them fourteen years earlier.   

I finally went full circle from my first ever blog and first Manchester venue by revisiting Manchester Apollo for the first time in thirteen years since being pummelled by the gentle My Bloody Valentine! There were four of us in attendance and we had a couple of pre-gig aperitifs in the Wine and Wallop in West Didsbury, the future of that chain being currently in doubt, prior to a cab to the venue.

Wine and Wallop. Image Credit DesignMyNight

When we reached the busy bar inside, we discovered they sold beer in two-pint pots which we decided to purchase though it wouldn’t accept my card asking me to input my pin details in. To my chagrin I realised the reason for this was the round cost £52, above the then limit of £50, this equated to an unacceptably brutal price of £6.50 per pint. Come on, Apollo, you can do much better than that!   

The band on stage was the ever-dependable Public Service Broadcasting who were in excellent form, and we had a cracking vantage point near the front.

My pal Marcus is a huge James fan and he persuaded me to attend their Manchester MEN Arena show in December. I had only just managed to purloin some tickets when they were released about a year earlier and was bizarrely sat waiting for an appointment in Stockport Specsavers at the time. I rather rudely had to ask for the lass to delay my appointment slightly as I had finally reached the booking page!

Our significant faux pas was to foolishly book our Covid booster appointments the day before the gig which resulted in Gill being unable to attend and myself feeling distinctly below average. We did consider watching the support act Happy Mondays only from a statistical angle viewpoint as it would have created a new personal record of 34 years between seeing a band as I first saw them in Camden in 1987, but in the end decided not to.

My record thus remains at a 28-year gap with Meat Puppets, however the Loop gig later this year will be just shy of a 32-year gap since witnessing them at my last ever gig at Manchester international 1 in 1990.

We were seated up in the gods with a side on view of the stage, the band were very good value over there 2hr 15-minute set and we watched the last track stood up by the barrier. Marcus headed off to a Christmas works do and I must have resembled a sulky teenage emo as I dragged my weary feet back from the tram stop!

We happened to be out and about of 21st December and sallied into the Manchester Parrs Wood, which will always have a special place in my heart as the first pub we ever visited on that mad day we relocated to Manchester, though there some people rather brazenly sat in ‘our seats’ from that first night! There was a band on stage called Irish Fiddle who performed the seemingly obligatory cover of ‘Dirty Old Town’.