Tag: New Order

Manchester Venue 139 – Maxwell Hall

I am returning this week to the tale of the 2024 Sounds from the Other City Festival (SFTOC). Within Salford University between 1964 and 2004 there was a thriving venue in the University grounds called Manchester Maxwell Hall. The Maxwell building containing the aforementioned hall was officially opened in 1961 by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. The upper hall staged the gigs with a capacity of 1000 seating and a balcony above of a further 220 capacity. I once sat in that very balcony area whilst attending one of my talented wife Gill’s many graduation ceremonies.

The opening band to play on the 25th of March 1964 was Dave Berry and the Cruisers at a cost of six shillings, they were so named based on the lead singer’s admiration of Chuck Berry. They are not to be confused with Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, the fictional musician and Chuck’s cousin from the original Back to the Future movie!  Other acts to play there include The Who, Black Sabbath, U2, New Order, The Kinks, James and of course The Smiths!

Marvin Berry and the Starlighters. Image Credit backtothefuture.wikia.com

One story goes along the lines that Paul McCartney and the Wings rolled up in a van in 1972 and asked if they could play as the band had just recently formed and were engaged on a practice tour. The tickets were priced at 50p with half going to the band and the other half to the University. Blondie also famously graced the stage in 1978 and there is an iconic picture that only emerged in 2017 with Debbie Harry draped in the actual poster for the gig.

In the 1990’s the allure of the venue waned due to the introduction of competing venues in the city with Charlatans having the honour of playing the final gig there on 20th December 2004. There then followed an utterly mystifying gap of fifteen years before an extensive refurbishment plan was touted within the £800m Salford Crescent Masterplan to restore the venue to its former glory but like many other schemes I assume it was then scuppered by the pandemic.

Debbie Harry embracing Salford Uni. Image Credit blogs.salford.ac.uk

Five years later the venue was belatedly chosen as one of the locations within the 2024 edition of SFTOC, which rekindled talk of possibly rebooting the venue. The layout of the venue reminded me of Whitehaven Civic Hall.

On the day we attended we saw a jaunty slightly surreal Welsh six piece called Melin Melyn (translates as Yellow Mill). They sing in their native language and have been cited alongside other artists in a movement named ‘Cool Cymru 2.0’. The driving force of the band are the original members Gruff Glyn alongside Garmon Rhys, who also double up as a pair of professional actors, the former garnering credits in Dr Who, Poldark and the Royal Shakespeare Company.  Their music I would describe as a pot pourri of folk and surf rock.

Maintaining the Welsh theme, we also caught the end of Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals) headline set who was promoting his latest solo album ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’. He is ambidextrous and somewhat bizarrely plays left-handed on an upside down right handed guitar. He has tried his hand at scripting opera and also provides vocals to the Mogwai track ‘Dial: Revenge’ off their Rock Action album. He curtailed his show with a nod to Bob Dylan’s video for Subterranean Homesick Blues via the usage of cue cards with audience prompts for applause etc.      

Maxwell Hall. Image Credit bbc.com

There has been a spate of other venues in the near vicinity including a former horse racing track at a site called Castle Irwell which was sold onto the University in 1960’s. It first evolved as a student village and then the old racecourse members stand was converted into the popular Pavilion Bar and Nightclub (known locally as the Pav) under the ownership of the Students Union.

Bands to have played gigs the Pav include Texas, Pulp and Atomic Kitten before its closure in 2009. The village at Castle Irwell subsequently closed in 2015 after a half of century of providing housing for approximately 40k students. Sadly, a year later there was an arson attack which created such a huge fire that at one point 50 firefighters were in situ utilising pumped water from the nearby River Irwell. Housing has since sprung up on that original site. 

Pulp flyer from their 1992 show. Image Credit pulpwiki.net

There were also events at the Student Unions Building in the 1970’s and 1980’s but the only recorded gig I could track there was a performance by Heart! I am sure there must have been other higher quality gigs there. The final one to note is the Salford College of Technology where local legends Joy Division once graced the stage in 1978.

Manchester Venue 138 – St James and Emmanuel Parish Church

In the centre of Didsbury Village, School Lane crosses over at the traffic lights onto Barlow Moor Road where you will pass the slightly battered establishment of the Nelson public house. This is currently one of the stops on the famous Didsbury Dozen beer route which has been in place for decades, the dozen being subject to subtle changes as one place opens, and another closes. The crawl has seen a recent upturn in more youthful groups undertaking a Saturday sally round, which has been viewed as a positive as it maintains a steady footfall for the hostelries, but also a negative due to an increase in drunken antics.    

On the other side of the street is Manchester St James and Emmanuel Parish Church which is in front of Didsbury Library. It is the second oldest church in Manchester, with some elements dating back to 1275 and the Grade II listed building was extensively refurbished in 1986 and is affiliated to four local schools. It also contains a bell tower with the six bells originally being cast in Gloucester in 1727.

St James and Emmanuel Church. Image Credit didsburycivicsociety.org

This building has previous pandemic connotations for myself as I had one of my vaccinations here and also undertook a couple of shifts as a Covid volunteer. I have also attended the café located within.

A small matter of a few weeks ago we were in that very area when we discovered the residents were currently in thrall to the Didsbury Pride event taking place that day. Immediately sensing a bonus gig, I navigated the security into an extremely busy area behind the church where there many stalls of varying merchandise and also a stage at the very back where the Didsbury Choir were undertaking a jaunty set. Afterwards by chance we saw Tris and Ross perched outside the nearby Head of Steam so grabbed the chance to have a cheeky cold one with them!

Continuing down the road takes you past a couple of cafes including the bohemian bar and book shop Art of Tea and then onto the traffic lights with Palatine Road. If you take a left turn, and on that stretch of the highway, you can see on the right the remnants of Fridays nightclub which opened originally under the name of Riverside in the 1970’s. It was a renowned venue in the 1980’s and 90’s and many punters who survived the aforementioned Dozen gravitated there after closing time.

Fridays Nightclub. Image Credit manchestereveningnews.co.uk

It was made up of three separate rooms and based on the testimonials it sounded abundantly ‘cheesy’ with the traditional sticky floors and on Thursday nights all drinks were 80p until midnight. It also apparently had a draconian dress code in place. It continued into the new century and in 2010 launched a Polish party night to welcome people in the Manchester area who derived originally from Eastern Europe. It finally closed in 2016 before morphing into Bar Rogue which at some unspecified stage subsequently closed for good.

Further down Barlow Moor Road you arrive upon the Grade II listed Woodstock Arms which has a large outdoor area primed for summer drinking. I recall watching Portugal lose to Uruguay there in the red hot summer World Cup of 2018. It is also one of the prime locations used on the popular TV series Cold Feet and they also utilised houses on the streets nearby.

If you head across the busy Princess Parkway you reach the Southern Cemetery, which is the largest municipal cemetery in the United Kingdom and second largest in Europe. Notable people buried there are John Rylands, Sir Matt Busby, L.S Lowry, Tony Wilson and Joy Division and New Order’s manager Rob Gretton.   

‘Cemetry Gates’. Image Credit blog.sevenpounds.com

The location was also the inspiration for local miserabilist Morrissey to warble the opening lines ‘A dreaded sunny day, so I meet you at the cemetery gates’ on the Smith’s track ‘Cemetry Gates’. The title track apparently being deliberately misspelt and is based on Morrissey’s walks there with his photographer friend Linder Sterling who he initially met at a Sex Pistols sound check in 1976. Linder was also the frontwoman of post-punk band Ludus and designed the cover for one of the Buzzcocks early singles.