Tag: Mogwai

Manchester Venues 87 to 88 Albert Hall – Part 3

Now I could be wrong here, but my impression is that the early shows immediately post- pandemic appeared to have less tickets on sale as for a spell there was more room to breathe, even at sold out shows. Then, the sold-out events seemed to become much busier and for me this is one of the flaws in Manchester Albert Hall’s arsenal as at some of their gigs there you literally cannot move. A case in point was a Mogwai date this year where I was pinned in a spot by the bar (though there are worse places to be!) which didn’t allow you to adjust your position or viewpoint even if you wanted to.   

My next gig at the venue was to see Car Seat Headrest in November 2018. I have always been a huge fan of this band ever since I first heard the track ‘Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales’, the song is derived from the 2016 ‘Teens of Denial’ album. That album ticks so many musical boxes from me and I would rate is as highly as being one of my Top 10 albums.  

Car Seat Headrest. Image Credit Billboard.

The driving force behind the band is Will Toledo who as a solo member self-released an astonishing 12 records between 2010 and 2014 before becoming a fully-fledged band the following year. In my view their music is so thoughtful and heartfelt but beautifully wrapped up in a crunchy garage rock sound which I have an inherent weakness for. The lo-fi lyrics talk specifically and empathise with the waifs and strays, lonely and dispossessed bedroom warriors of the world and the audience that night reflected that cross-section of the population, and I thoroughly enjoyed their show and the resulting exultant sing along!

As part of the Dot-to-Dot festival in 2018, I saw Dream Wife, a three-piece pop punk band from Brighton. I saw so many bands that day, and I cannot recall a note of whatever portion of their set I witnessed, but they do appear to have received a fair degree of critical acclaim since then.

July 19 resulted in seeing two reforming 90’s bands but neither hit the heights for me. The first being the Anglo-French combo Stereolab, who came across as a tad self-indulgent. The second was the Glaswegian lo-fi popsters Belle and Sebastian whose ongoing driving force has been Stuart Murdoch. They formed in 1996 and have produced twelve studio albums. Their previous members have included Isobel Campbell who collaborated on a couple of excellent albums with the late great Mark Lanegan.    

Their jaunty single ‘The Boy with the Arab Strap’ was featured on the soundtrack of the ‘Juno’ movie and the C4 series ‘Teachers’ featuring a young Andrew Lincoln. In my opinion though, Andrew’s defining role remains the character Egg in the fantastic ground-breaking BBC 2 series ‘This Life’. Despite a couple of decent moments, the band were too twee for me.

In February 2020 I saw the Texan post-rock band Explosions in the Sky where it was patently clear when we were out and about that the dark clouds of Covid where beginning to form. In November 21 the old troubadours Jesus and Mary Chain were back on tour, and I was seeing them for the eighth time in total and for the first time in seven years. They played their excellent second album ‘Darklands’ in full and following an intermission played some further tunes. They sounded in very fine form and Jamie looked well though William looked a little weather worn and was seated throughout the performance.      

Jesus and Mary Chain. Image Credit exclaim!

In April 2022, I saw Sea Power (now without the British in their name) for the sixth time and later that year witnessed Mountain Goats. The latter band being from California and their constant member is John Darnielle, and for many years he operated as the solo member. Their name was derived from a line in a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins song, and they were firmly in the folk-rock vein and there were some die-hard fans in attendance.

My most current gig there was a couple of months ago to watch Eels who provided a soothing performance led by the distinctive vocals and quirky presence of Mark Oliver Everett (stage name E). They were supported on the night by the French soul rock band Inspector Cluzo.    

One postscript before I go, when leaving the hall during Dot-to-Dot festival in 2018 there was a Manchester Albert Hall Beer Van situated right outside the venue. There was an impromptu gig taking place in the open van by some accomplished musicians called the Road Crew, it was an enjoyable interlude before walking on to the next venue!  

Manchester Venues 86 to 87 Albert Hall – Part 1

One of the more recent additions to the venues in the city is Manchester Albert Hall, however it does have a significantly long back story. The site on Peter Street was originally the New Jerusalem Church during the 18th and 19th centuries before the Albert Hall we now recognise was designed as the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Mission in 1910.

It is a huge building cut across four floors and one of its early functions was to stage ‘Peoples Concerts’ so was an early forerunner as a music venue! It was also a forum for people rallies and Winston Churchill famously delivered an oratory there in 1950.

The top two floors remained unused from 1969 before the Trof group, who own various pubs and venues in the area, bought the site in 2012. They commenced the restorative work of the highly ornate building and first began to stage concerts in 2013 with the official opening the following year.   

The music space on the upper floors has a Gormenghast Gothic vibe with coloured glass rooflights, and they thankfully decided to retain the original organ. The capacity is 2000 with a large standing area downstairs and a seated viewing area on the floor above.

The ground floor space was originally a car showroom before morphing into Brannigans nightclub in the 90’s replete with the uniquely coloured tile dancefloor. Following the Trof purchase it became a Bavarian style beerhaus called Manchester Albert Schloss with its own separate entrance from Peter Street.

Brannigans nightclub. Image Credit blogspot.com

The word schloss translates as ‘a castle, palace or manor house, built as a retreat for recreation, indulgence, pleasure and debauchery’ which sounds like an intriguing place to visit! The Albert element derives back to Queen Victoria who when grieving her husband named many buildings across the country in his honour. The Manchester branch opened in 2015 and has since been followed by the introduction of other sister venues in Birmingham and Liverpool.

It is a large vibrant pub with decent food and a plethora of continental lagers to wash it down with. The renowned food critic Jay Rayner has been a keen advocate of the venue, so much so he returned with his jazz band to play a set on the small stage. My one gig there was to see the Albert Schloss house band play in 2018.

Returning to the main Albert Hall, I have attended 18 gigs there which puts it in eighth place on my most visited venue list, which shows the metronomic regularity of my appearances as the venue has only just celebrated its tenth anniversary.  

Manchester Albert Hall. Image Credit blogspot.com

My first attendance was shortly after the hall opened in 2013 when somewhat unsurprisingly, I went to see Mogwai. However, it was not a standard Mogwai performance as they were undertaking a tour to premiere their soundtrack of the Zidane movie. The film utilised many camera angles to cover the whole 90-minute performance of the French footballer Zinedine Zidane and the band provided segments of background sound in between the quieter moments where the only noise that can be heard is emanating from the crowd in attendance at the match.

Even if you are not a football fan, it is an engrossing watch and more reminiscent of an art movie, after the film had finished, they played a few further tunes. For the one and only time I was in the upper seats, and it was an extremely hot day so were melting in the auditorium. I recall chatting to John Robb afterwards about the upcoming PNE v Blackpool match and Uncle George and I being interviewed by a student magazine about the event we had just witnessed.

Mogwai on Albert Hall stage on Zidane tour. Image Credit pinterest.com

Mogwai must have taken a liking to the venue as they returned for two shows (over three nights) in 2018 which I attended, the first one as a solo outing and only by virtue of obtaining a spare ticket the day before the event. They undertook another double header in February this year over consecutive nights, Gill finally managing to catch them on the first night. The second show on the Friday where they played ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ for the first time on the tour, was sold out and extraordinarily busy.