Tag: John Robb

Manchester Venues 126 to 128

I am returning this week to the annual Sounds from the Other City (SFTOC) multi venue festival held in Salford. I first attended the event in 2012 and have one outstanding gig to cover from that year. The selected roster of venues shifts each time and at this particular one stretched all the way down the A6 in the direction of Victoria station.  

Manchester Rovers Return is a big old-fashioned boozer with some original features dating back to the 1840’s and sits on the corner of Chapel Street and Barlow’s Croft, its previous moniker was the Lord Nelson. Geographically it is located nearby to the fictional Rovers Return on Coronation Street! I walked past very recently, and the hostelry is currently closed, and its future looks uncertain. On the day of the festival, we saw a short-lived Manchester band called Waterworld performing.

Rovers Return. Image Credit Pinterest.

A further dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s exercise on the 2018 shindig brings us to the Manchester Five Four Studios Attic. I have talked in a previous blog about this venue so will not belabour that here apart from to say we were positioned in the sunlit small attic room right at the apex of the establishment.

The lass on stage was called Anni Rossi who is from Minnesota and plays an electric viola that was intriguingly hand crafted by Thor Harris who is the former percussionist of the noiseniks Swans.  Her debut album was recorded with the recently departed Steve Albini and she has toured with amongst others Camera Obscura and the Ting Tings.

There were always colleges and institutes in the Salford area dating back to the 1850’s. From these evolved the University of Salford which received the Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II in 1967. There was a further expansion in 1996 when University College Salford fell under the University’s auspices.

Their community covers 23,000 students, 2,500 staff and 170,000 alumni worldwide and their site covers 160 acres of parkland next to the River Irwell and in close proximity to Salford Crescent railway station.  Contained within is Peel Park which was allegedly in 1846 the first public park in the world. They have appeared on University Challenge only periodically but on their appearance in 2016 they had John Cooper Clarke as their mascot!

The initial chancellor was Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, and the current is the TV journalist Lucy Meacock. Previous alumni include comedians Peter Kay and Jason Manford, actors Christopher Eccleston and Maxine Peake, artist L.S Lowry and TV presenter Sarah Greene. From a musical slant there is punk rocker Jon the Postman, Courteeners Liam Fray, Everything Everything lead singer Jonathan Higgs and of course John Robb.

Jon the Postman (on the right) outside Thirsty Scholar. Image Credit mdmarchive.co.uk

Jon the Postman is an interesting life tale as he was a local lad who was so named because he was in fact a postie by trade. His first ever gig on 29 May 1977 was in support of Warsaw, who later evolved into Joy Division. At the final ever gig at Manchester’s Electric Circus venue he closed the show with a rendition of ‘Louie Louie’, the backing band being the Buzzcocks. His debut album ‘Jon the Postman’s Puerile’ featured the first ever appearance of Mark E Smith who introduced the above-named track. He then ran the Fall’s fan club before travelling around Europe and living in San Francisco for five years. He was also featured in the 24-Hour Party People movie where he was portrayed by Dave Gorman.  

Manchester Electric Circus with AC/DC on stage in 1976. Image Credit Pinterest.

The venues within the University were reintroduced to SFTOC in 2024 for the first time in a decade and the central hub was Manchester The Green, a grassy area situated in front of the Museum and Art Gallery. They set up a music and beer marquee and I saw Atike B2B Una Lee, Good Afternoon and Good Afternoon v Matthew Rothery (Kiss Me Again) play there. They also had some tasty food options, with some salt and pepper chips being sampled in the afternoon and a pizza later in the evening whilst lounging on one of the plentiful deckchairs.

Manchester Venue 122 Deaf Institute – Part 3

Today I conclude my tales of gigs at Manchester Deaf Institute Music Hall. Apparently contained within the venue is a hidden back staircase which allows bands to enter the establishment without using the front entrance and there is also an in house apartment.

Deaf Institute Music Hall. Image Credit Visit Manchester

In October 2018 Palace Winter were on the bill, my attendance sparked via a recommendation from my friend Jez Catlow. They provided an extremely engaging set of cinematic dream pop. The band comprises of Australian singer-songwriter Carl Coleman and Danish producer/pianist Caspar Hesselager, and they base themselves in the intriguing city of Copenhagen. Their name derives from an old hotel (Winter Palace) in the South of France that Carl stayed at in the summer of 2014. The tour was promoting their second album ‘Nowadays’.

In early 2019 Uncle George and I met up to see the Canadian punk rockers F##ked Up who on this occasion I didn’t enjoy as much as previous times I have seen them, the sound quality perhaps being a contributing factor in that regard. John Robb was a fellow attendee, and we had a brief chat during their set.

Later that year Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers were in town, Craig being the lead singer of one of my favourite bands Hold Steady. His solo stuff has a gentler vibe than his main band material but still contains the requisite social commentary and life affirming lyrics. My entry point here had been their second album ‘We All Want the Same Things’ with my favourite being the mournful and beautifully crafted ‘God in Chicago’ and I was very content that it was included in their set list that evening.

My first visit post-Covid was on another Jez recommendation involving a band called The Clockworks. They are a post-punk combo from Galway who made the old-fashioned move to London in 2018 with the primary intention of furthering their career. They recorded their debut album ‘Exit Strategy’ in Abbey Road studios in 2023.

The Clockworks. Image Credit poklub.de

On the night, they nearly caught us out with an extremely early stage time, but luckily, we checked up on that when ensconced in the Sand Bar across the road, so didn’t have too far to scamper and I thoroughly enjoyed their set.  

Next on the roster created a new personal best for me. The only previous time I had seen Loop was at my final ever visit on 04/12/89 to the much missed and in my opinion the best venue in the world Manchester International 1 where I recall their thunderous aural attack reverberated off the very low roof in that venue. The date of the Deaf gig was 21/05/23 thus creating a paltry time gap of 33.46 years between appearances!

Of my fellow peers, the aforementioned Jez has achieved the longest time span of 43 years from seeing The Vapours supporting The Jam in 1979 to a reprise performance at Bearded Theory festival in 2022.    

Loop. Image Credit pinterest.com

Loop are a drone band from Croydon who I first became aware of in the late 1980’s and adored their beautifully sonic debut album ‘Heaven’s End’, complete with the inspired addition of a soundbite from Hal the computer in Space Odyssey 2001 at the completion of Side 1. I played that record within an inch of its vinyl life!

They split in 1991 with a subsequent reformation in 2013 and played their first comeback shows as they co-curated the final ever Camber Sand All Tomorrow Parties event. They eventually produced a new album called ‘Sonancy’ in 2022. They were excellent on the night with my preference being for the earlier material. I also met fellow Twitter muso Peter Latimer for the first time at this gig and despite the fact that he is from Blackpool, he is still a fine chap!       

My final gig was in November 2023 when Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai formed a super group called Silver Moth including members from Abrasive Trees, Burning House, Prosthetic Head and his talented music wife Elisabeth Elektra who provides the vocals. Elisabeth once graciously took a picture of me and Stuart when I had a rare fan boy moment at the Wickerman Festival.

They recorded the album ‘Black Bay’ within four intensive days on the Isle of Lewis and provided an intriguing set on the night. They were supported by Samana, who the year before had released their second album ‘All One Breath’. After three years of correspondence, I finally met another Twitter muso Paul, who is not from Blackpool, but is an equally fine chap!