Tag: Maria McKee

Manchester Venue 5 – Academy 2 (Part 1)

This venue was originally known as Manchester University or Main Debating Hall (MDH) when I first visited. It first opened in 1963 as a Jazz Club. However when the Academy was built it was incorporated under that umbrella and became known as Academy 2. It is located on the first floor of the Manchester University building down Oxford Road just prior to Rusholme.

The whole complex has the old ‘school corridor’ vibe about it, but not too its detriment. The venue itself is an enclosed room and initially just access in and out at a small door at the back which when busy can occasionally give it a slightly claustrophobic feel. In latter years they have introduced an entrance/exit to the right of the stage. There used to be a very small bar just outside the venue where it is was virtually impossible to get served and they have now introduced a bar at the back of the venue. 

I have attended 35 gigs there and have a further two planned in the coming months placing this as my No 2 most populated venue.

My first gig there was hotly anticipated, namely Wedding Present in February 1988. I was a huge fan at that stage and had their first album ‘George Best’ on heavy rotation. They did not disappoint and I recall ‘Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft’, ‘Favourite Dress’ and ‘You Should Always Keep in Touch with your Friends’ as standouts. By the end of the gig I was a sweaty specimen after spending the majority of the gig in the moshpit. After the gig I recall hoovering a pizza purchased from an establishment opposite the public lavs that subsequently turned into the Temple of Convenience bar.

George Best album cover. Image Credit Radio x

I have since seen the Weddoes a further two times there in February 2005 and October 2018 and have a further attendance planned in December 2019.

The 2018 gig was an interesting one as I attended with a new Manchester brethren Martin W, Howard not Tom, Donna and Wedding Present ‘superfan’ Marcus. We had just bought our new home a week before which solidified our move to Manchester so hence a big moment in life. The gig was great with them incorporating the 30th anniversary of George Best but the commute was stunningly chaotic with cancelled trains, ubers, then the Jimmy Sat Nav having a rare malfunction by getting off the night bus far too early in monsoon conditions and then eventually a £15 cab journey as I was in the middle of nowhere – still a good night though!

Boo Radleys in 1994 was an especially good one with ‘Lazarus’ the highlight.

The Boo Radleys’. Image Credit creation-records.com

I saw Marie McKee there twice in 1991 and 1996, the second time she was compelling viewing as she had recently released ‘Life Is Sweet’, in my opinion her best solo album. This was despite a somewhat annoying heckler in attendance which resulted eventually in a portion of the audience including myself ordering him to ‘do one’ in no uncertain terms.

https://www.manchesteracademy.net/

Manchester Venue 2 – International 1

Aah, let me count the ways I loved this venue: –

  • Low strung roof which assisted greatly with the acoustics and created a fabulously sweaty communal venue when busy
  • Bars either side serving Colt 45 or Schlitz
  • Responsive DJ playing fab tunes when requested and memory tells me or tricks me that they played Long Ryders ‘Looking for Lewis and Clarke’ every visit
  • Loos at the side of the stage to allow you to swiftly rejoin the moshpit
  • Like minded brethren in the audience
  • Main bands rarely came on before 11 and of consistently high calibre
  • Cheeky little food hatch with un nutritious snacks to soak up the ale
  • All in all, what’s not to like?

I visited 20 times between 1985 and 1989, the venue closed around 1992. In my new Manchester pad I live a couple of miles away from the old site. It is now a Turkish deli/supermarket. I always had pretensions if winning the lottery to reopen the venue, but my odd £25 prizes are clearly not enough to achieve that aim.

The hallowed venue now! – Image Credit Jimmy Crossthwaite

My first visit was to see Hüsker Dü with the prior knowledge we wouldn’t get home and involved train and a fair bus ride as it was on the outskirts of town in Longsight. Whilst queueing up lead singer Bob Mould clattered out the doors past us to buy some cigs in the small newsagent next door which was exciting for us avid fans. They were mighty fine in front of a sparsely attended venue. The remainder of the night was trekking back into town to  Victoria and crashing in the waiting room while they loaded the paper trains before catching the first train back at 6am. Being a durable 17 year old I recall a couple of hours kip, on to Preston North End to sell programmes, watch the match and then inevitably out again that night. A few years after I became friends with another chap who was there and also napped on the station prior to a trip back to Blackpool (Spig, if you are reading this).

There was always an obliging driver in the crew to ferry us there before trains became the regular route to Manchester gigs. There was always a couple of aperitifs as we always travelling in via Holts and Boddingtons pubs in Prestwich, I believe the Friendship Inn is still standing and the afore mentioned Holts was 64p a pint (cheapest beer in Britain!).

Some of my favourite early gigs were here, notably astonishing performances from Lone Justice (what a set of pipes Marie McKee has and a fantastic cover of Velvets ‘Sweet Jane’), 10,000 Maniacs (stunning vocal also from Natalie Merchant) , Hüsker Dü again and the first ever gig in England for Meat Puppets in 1987 supported by the Inca Babies.

Picture shows the infamous Lone Justice gig on 20/02/1987. Image Credit radiox.co.uk

There was a dream joint headlining tour from Throwing Muses and Pixies. I read somewhere that it was something like the Pixies 26th ever gig and Black Francis cut a very menacing presence howling like a Banshee with me joyously bouncing round the moshpit despite having at that age an ever present nose bleed!

Other bands seen were Shop Assistants, a polished Robert Cray, That Petrol Emotion, Proclaimers and Rhythm Sisters, joyous Bhundu Boys (twice and once with a compelling hangover after a quiet night at the infamous Strawberry Duck at Entwistle!), Screaming Blue Messiahs and Wild Flowers, Wonderstuff and Darling Buds, Triffids (laconic Aussies) and Waltones, Amayenga and finally a thunderous Loop.

Flyer from 1986 – see Wonderstuff and Voice of The Beehive dates. Image Credit mdm.archive.co.uk

One notable exception was Green on Red and Steve Earle where it was just one of those nights where the gig didn’t work, the set was dull and to top it off the transport home had been vandalised and was bereft of a coat and a back seat window so was bloody freezing all the way home especially for Dave Keane in the back seat!

Two remaining standouts were Voice of the Beehive which was the first gig I attended with my then girlfriend, now wife Gill. The other was a carload of us attending the Stiff Little Fingers comeback tour on 18/12/87 which despite being sub-tropical outside remains one of the hottest gigs I have ever attended with a maximum of two songs in the moshpit before an obligatory rest station on the DJ’s steps.

Despite not attending a gig there in 30 years, and over 900 gigs since it still sits proudly as my 5th most attended venue.