Tag: Joy Division

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.

Stockport Gigs

When we moved into our current pad in 2018, we quickly realised we were located 100 yards over the Manchester border into Stockport. This sparked thoughts of my previous interactions with Stockport.  

My first two visits were to the football stadium at Edgeley Park to watch Preston away. In our promotion season in 1986/87 we had a Monday night match, but when Uncle George arrived to pick me up and drive to the game, his car would not start up again. I didn’t drive or own a vehicle at that stage, so the only other option was to borrow my parent’s car as they were away on holiday and George had insurance to drive any motor.

Those initial shenanigans resulted in us arriving very late and we could only access the home end before being escorted around the pitch to the PNE enclosure, but in those basic stadium days we were then perched on the side of a dusty mound with hugely limited views, though thankfully we won the game 3-1. I recall us heading for a beer in the Greenall Whitley land of Warrington on the way home.  

We returned about five years later for a Friday night match and were well beaten with the 6ft 7-inch striker Kevin Francis tormenting us, as a postscript I have just read that he has had an interesting post career change and now works for the Canadian police force. Final word on the football front is that I am delighted to see Stockport flying high at the moment as they have been through a very lean period for the last couple of decades.     

I used to occasionally travel over to my brothers in Nottingham via Stockport on the M63 (as it was then). My only other recollection was in the early 1990’s when Gill was based in Eccles we travelled over to the Garrick Theatre, which remains to this day, to see the Rochdale Cowboy Mike Harding. He was excellent entertainment with I seem to recall a running gag throughout the evening involving cheese and crackers.

Stockport Garrick Theatre. Image Credit theatresonline.com

Stockport lies 7 miles southeast of Manchester and dates back to 1170 and the River Tame and River Goyt meet here to form the River Mersey and we can walk into the centre from our current home in about 45 minutes down the river. It has a considerable industrial heritage with industries covering products such as hemp, rope, cotton, silk and hats, the latter producing more than 6 million hats at its peak in the late 19th century.

Dominating the skyline over the M60 is the terrific Stockport viaduct with its 27 brick arches and uniquely Stockport train station is one of a very rare number in Britain to have a Platform 0. The reason for the quirky numbering is that there was only room for a new Platform on the Platform 1 side of the station. The Plaza is a Grade II listed cinema and variety theatre and is the last of its kind operating in original format. They have odd gigs there and last year Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott undertook a post Covid concert specifically for NHS staff.

Stockport Viaduct. Image Credit flickr.com

Stockport has suffered as a poor cousin to Manchester, but they are in the midst of a regeneration with many independent outlets opening up around Underbank and the 700-year-old marketplace. I do hope though that they retain the heritage and do not build a plethora of tower blocks as they have to excess in Manchester. They do also have a horror one way system and a ‘Wayward Pines’ car park with an overflow that on one occasion thought we would never be able to leave!

On the musical front, there is the remarkable fact the Jimi Hendrix Experience played not once but twice in Stockport in 1967, the first at the Sinking ship and a month later at the Tabernacle. The famous Strawberry Studios were located there, and it existed from 1968 to 1993 and was utilised by 10cc, The Smiths, Stone Roses, Paul McCartney and Joy Division. The upcoming band the Blossoms are from the town and other famous residents include the Crown actress Claire Foy and tennis legend Fred Perry.  

Jimi Hendrix Stockport flyer. Image Credit sevenmilesoutrecords.co.uk