Tag: Pulp

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 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.