Tag: Manchester International Festival

Manchester Venue 114 – Albert Square Festivals

One of the most famous buildings in Manchester is the neo-gothic Town Hall which obtained Grade 1 listing status in 1952 and currently houses Manchester City Council and other local government staff. The town hall was completed in 1877 after a nine-year build and the small matter of the usage of 14 million bricks! It contains within the Great Hall, which is adorned with Ford Madox Brown’s Manchester Murals, there is also the impressive Clock Tower which is 85 metres high which even has a singular name for the clock bell, Great Abel. 

Manchester Town Hall. Image Credit citybaseapartments.com

The Town Hall’s resemblance to the Palace of Westminster resulted in it being used as a location for the original 1990 version of House of Cards and the BBC drama State of Play. The venue was in fact used to announce the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.

However, a report in 2014 highlighted the urgent need for modernisation and essential repairs to be undertaken on the building. Subsequently it was closed to visitors in 2018 to undergo a £330m renovation. I have read in the last month that due to ongoing pandemic impacts and the rise in pricing of materials the original completion date has pushed back from July 2024 to provisionally summer 2026.

The building faces St Peters Square to the South and Albert Square to the North. Due to its size and location, the latter named has been used for events and public gatherings including memorials commemorating the Manchester Arena bombing.

It is also a perfect site to host music events so in July 2018 I attended Manchester Albert Square Festival Hall when the 9-day Manchester Jazz Festival was taking place. I grabbed a couple of opportunities to dive into the site for some bonus gigs when heading from work to Manchester Oxford Road station for my commute home. On the first occasion, I saw Minor Swing and on the second I witnessed Squid Ink.

Manchester International Festival. Image Credit ilovemanchester.com

In March 2019 they also had a St Patricks day festival gathering around Cheltenham races time, and I saw the Ceilidh Boys at that soiree. A couple of months later when attending the Dot-to-Dot festival I managed to catch a bonus act called Gobe Band there at a separate event taking place on the square as they were not part of the festival roster of my event.

In 2019 the bi-annual Manchester International Festival took place with the hub location being Albert Square. It was a relaxed set up with lots of food outlets and a couple of real ale tents and with music starting at noon I also had a sally over at lunchtime on the days I was in the office. They set up the music stage under a covered marquee with comfy seats and I always had room when I visited, but I heard it was extremely busy when The Orielles and Working Mens Club played a late evening set there.    

The Orielles. Image Credit soundofbrit.fr

Thus, my first attendance was on 05/07/19 when a group of us were in town and we headed to the site and happened to see House of Ghetto. On my next visit I witnessed Chloe Foy, a singer-songwriter from Gloucestershire who subsequently released her debut album ‘Where Shall We Begin’ in 2021.

The following day there was a Welsh oriented bill hosted by 6 Music DJ Huw Stephens. He introduced a Welsh-language pop band called Gwilym (translates as William), who sounded like they have been influenced by their forebearers Super Furry Animals. Mary Anne Hobbs also hosted a 6-music show on the festival site in a temporary DJ booth and there was the obligatory appearance from the omnipresent John Robb.

The following week I saw a seven-piece local band called Kara. On the lunchtime the next day I witnessed a solo singer Matthew Whitaker and after work the artist was Hannah Ashcroft, a local indie lass who has collaborated with Beth Orton and had support slots with BC Camplight and the Lathums.

My final appearance was when I met up with Gill and we grabbed some tea on the site. Playing that day were acts called Aim Sky High and One Little Atlas who are a local two-piece dream pop combo. They had an ethereal sound and have composed a couple of film scores and have had the opportunity to play at unusual venues such as John Rylands Library and the Whitworth Art Gallery in the city.

Manchester Venue 113 – Aviva Studios Festival Square

Every couple of years they hold the Manchester International festival with various events dotted around the city. They do however always have a central hub and in 2023 this was based at the new Manchester Aviva Studios. It has been constructed on the former site of Granada TV studios and is located on Water Street which can be accessed either via Liverpool Road from the Deansgate side or New Quay Street from the Spinningfields side.

The germination of the idea occurred following George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse announcement in 2014, where £78m was pledged to build a purpose-built cultural space in central Manchester. It was remarkably UK’s biggest investment in a culture project since the Tate Modern in 2000.

Manchester Aviva Studios. Image Credit confidentials.com

It is run by Factory International and Aviva paid £35m for the naming privileges. It subsequently opened in June 23, but was somewhat predictably £130m over budget and 4 years behind schedule. Contained within is a 1600 seat flexible theatre and an open industrial 5000 capacity space.

The opening event was the Yayoi Kusuma psychedelic exhibition You, Me and The Balloons and this was latterly followed by a Matrix style dance event directed by Danny Boyle. They will stage sporadic music events with Underworld already having performed there and Richard Thompson and Adrianne Lenker from Big Thief playing later this year. The Studios have had mixed reviews thus far with accusations as to whether it could be classed as white elephant, but I will let others make their judgement on that potential synopsis.

In an adjoining outdoor space, in the first fortnight of July they set up the Manchester Aviva Studios Festival Square overlooking the River Irwell and the shamefully underused Ordsall Chord (Castlefield Curve) which runs between Oxford Road and Victoria train stations.

There was a stage set up and a choice of food outlets and the first ever beer vending machine I have encountered. There were events all day and as it was less than 10 minutes’ walk from the office I filled my boots with bonus gigs every lunchtime and post-work where I could.

I assisted this approach by changing my commute to the metro, to ensure I could head to the nearby Deansgate station for the tram home. The festival programme coincided with the annual Castlefield Bowl events, and I passed the entrance on a couple of occasions where there were hordes of fans gathering for Pulp and Hozier gigs.

Aviva Studios Festival Square. Image Credit prestigeeventsmagazineblog.com

The first act I saw on the lunchtime on 04/07 was Vulva Voce, who are an all-female string quartet but with added improvisation of folk aspects to the mix. They evolved from the nearby Royal National College Music (RNCM) and they were the winners of Nonclassical’s Battle of the Bands in 2023. On the evening visit that day I witnessed a young R&B singer from Wolverhampton called Karis Jade.

The following lunchtime I saw Mabon Jones, Dan Springate and Carmen Snickersgill who were badged under the local Bothy Project who promote chamber music in Manchester. On the teatime jaunt I met Gill, and we grabbed some food there whilst watching Emer (Fat Out) and a R&B artist called Chyrsalid Homo. The best act was Lavender Rodriguez (or alternatively just Lavender) who was born in Hampshire but now Manchester based who provided a pleasing slab of heavy afro-beat sounds.

Lavender Rodriguez. Image Credit aah-magazine.co.uk

The following week I caught K’in Ensemble, a 15-piece fusion collective again deriving from RNCM who combine classical, pop and jazz musicians from Mexico and many European countries. I also witnessed part of a set from Jenna G. There was then another Bothy Project featuring musicians Jenny Dyson, Lady Lamp and Alice Roberts. Krin was the next act I saw who mashed up West African drums with techno. The final act of the festival for me was Nxdia who born in Cairo in Egypt before moving to the UK at the age of eight. She retains the heritage of her youth by singing in both English and Arabic.