Tag: Preston Market

2025 Gigs – Part 1

After an initially sluggish start to the year the concert attendances began to exponentially increase as the months progressed and by the time Hogmanay arrived, I had created a personal best of 200 gigs and alongside that a total of 95 new venues visited. At the time I thought that would transpire to be an unbeatable gig number; however, the numbers are rattling along in 2026, and I have given myself a chance to surpass it, but time will tell in that regard! As in the previous annual review articles I shall only incorporate venues covered in previous blogs. 

So, let us begin initially in chronological order with a visit back to the God’s country on Preston on the 25th of January. After watching Preston earn a slightly fortuitous 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough, I met up with John Dewhurst and Uncle George for a few scoops. We started in the Eldon pub and then travelled over to my old stamping ground of Ashton Lane Ends.

I lived in that area for nine years and the sole pub during that period was the Lane Ends, but there is now a veritable pub crawl as four new pop-up bars have appeared in that district. We had a skelp around those establishments before grabbing some tea at the Silk Route Indian restaurant. Post-food we walked up to the Preston Wheatsheaf which as ever was well populated, and a band called Groove Thing were performing.  

The Lane Ends pub back in the day. Image Credit www.bing.com

There was another Preston trip in August with Gill added to the crew this time and we were celebrating a more consequential and deserved 2-1 win over Leicester. We encountered local legend Big Steve near the Wallace and Gromit monument whilst we were heading towards Preston Market.  On the stage they have located outside the Orchard Bar that night was a local singer called Phil Ireland.  

The original Wheatsheaf gig inspired me to kick start my year in earnest so four days later I headed into the city on a solo trip to hunt down some gigs in order to boost my numbers. I visited Lost Cat and Affleck and Brown for the first time which have been covered in past articles. I also attended Manchester Matt and Phreds and on stage was a Liverpool band called Sweet Beans whose music has been classed as either riot jazz or daft funk! I returned a month later and at another free show the Jazz Quarter were playing.

The Whiskey Jar. Image Credit www.skiddle.com

Also visited was what I now call Manchester Old Freemount on Oldham Street (renamed since to the Mother of Invention) where a chap called Jeff was playing. I also attended three other times that year with different singers each time. There was the obligatory foray to Manchester Whiskey Jar on the way back to Piccadilly train station where I saw a double act called Steph and Alan. Before the year was out, I saw a couple of further shows at that venue.

The final one to tick off that evening was to the Manchester Copper Bar, which has been another welcome addition to the roster and where they regularly have free gigs. On that particular visit the band on stage was a local act called Windbourne. The Copper Bar is the parallel room to the Manchester Band on the Wall and sometimes they have bands playing as an addendum to gigs in the main room.

Band on the Wall. Image bandonthewallseetickets.com

On one such visit I witnessed a combo named Love Like Me after we were leaving a show next door. The primary reason for our attendance was to see the reformed Pains of Being Pure At Heart for the sixth time in total who were in excellent fettle. They were touring their superb eponymously titled debut album and as soon as the distinctive chords of the opening track ‘Contender’ assailed my ears I knew we were in for a treat. Our small but perfectly formed group also included Gill, Marcus and Anita and we had undertaken pre-gig aperitifs in the nearby Smithfield Market Tavern.   

I have also made a visit to Manchester Nancy Spains (previously known as the Corner Bar) on Hilton Street adjacent to Stevenson Square where I saw a singer called Paddy. Over on Oxford Street I caught my tenth gig at Manchester Albert Schloss where Jasper was performing on the small stage.

There was an isolated trip into Levenshulme to the Manchester Bia Café Bar where I saw the regular chilled house band sounds of Grace Kelley and Debbie Garvey. 

2021 Gigs – Part 2

I am continuing to look at the post-apocalypse year of 2021 where I somehow managed to attend 33 gigs. There is a suite of new venues in this year which will be featured in future blogs, however I am going to focus on the venues already visited and covered in previous articles.

On the 21st of August, I managed to finally return over to Preston and have my first night out there for 18 months. After watching PNE in the afternoon, Uncle George and I met up with John Dewhurst and we had a sally down the pubs on Friargate. This included a visit to the ever-unchanged Preston Olde Black Bull, where there was a thunderously loud band called Law and Order playing in the main room. It was low quality fare, and its only relevant significance was the fact that it was my 200th gig in Preston.

We also headed up to Preston Market where they have now put in place a deserved tribute bench to commemorate Preston’s very own Nick Park, the abundantly imaginative creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, now I have mentioned it please try and stop yourself humming the theme tune to Wallace & Gromit. He also coincidentally attended the same secondary school as myself though he was a few years above me.

Nick Park bench with the chap himself. Image Credit wallaceandgromit.com

As we walked up Orchard Street, we could hear the unmistakeable rumble of a live band, and therefore bonus gig said I! As it was a balmy August evening, they had erected a stage at the Lancaster Road end of the covered outdoor market just beyond the Orchard Bar. After purchasing a cold craft beer, we witnessed a young local band called the Avenhams, named after one of the main parks in the city. They had an enthusiastic friends and family crowd supporting them and despite veering into lad rock at times they were enjoyable.

On the 7th September I attended my first indoor pay gig at Manchester Academy 2, the venue now clearly rattling into second place on my most visited venue list. Prior to the event and as it was a pleasant Tuesday evening, we purloined some outdoor seats at a pub that remarkably I had never visited before, which was the Ducie Arms buried behind the Manchester University campus.  

The gig was a sell-out, but I surmise that post-pandemic sold out capacities are less than previous restrictions as it clearly felt there was room to breathe in the venue, and that appears to be a sensible continuing ongoing action in my experience of the gigs I have attended since. They operated one-way systems and there was a very civilised queue at the bar, and everyone was understandably noticeably considerate of others and their own personal space. 

The band on stage was the timeless Teenage Fanclub who were in peerless form and Norman Blake had a manic grin throughout, no doubt as relieved as all of us to be back on the tour schedule. Many travelled from far and wide including Stephanie (@peripixie on twitter) who travelled in from America prior to her watching them at their spiritual home Glasgow Barrowland the following week.

Teenage Fanclub. Image Credit Tiny Mix Tapes

Post gig we went for a cold one at Big Hands further down Oxford Road. Whilst Marcus and Gill were ensconced in the roof top beer garden upstairs, I was at the bar waiting for a lengthy beer barrel change when one lad at the bar inadvertently came out to his mate, which was a slightly surreal occurrence to witness.

A month later I headed into town on the No 50 bus to Manchester Club Academy to see the scouse band Red Rum Club. It was a gentle foray as I was departing the next day for a family gathering at a large house we had rented in Matlock. I had seen them three years earlier at Peer Hat and I thought they were excellent there as the sound was so crisp. They didn’t quite scale those heights this time, and I do think seeing a band for a second time is a tester of their ability and potential longevity, much like the second viewing of a movie.