Tag: REM

Manchester Venue 17 – Old Trafford Cricket Ground

I have frequented Old Trafford a few times in its original incarnation as a cricket venue. My first visit was in 1983 when I was very fortunate as a 15-year-old to attend the World Cup semi-final with my dad where England were playing India. The times were so different then as we just wandered up and got straight into the ground through a cash turnstile.

The match was a sell out on a gobsmackingly hot day and as a result we were lamping drinks down to rehydrate. My dad offered me a beer which is the first proper ale I can recall partaking. Due to the heat I gulped down as if it was Vimto resulting in being somewhat hazy for the next couple of hours.

Despite England having a promising opening partnership they summarily collapsed and lost the match by 7 wickets.

The following year we tried but failed to get in to a one-day game versus West Indies and missed out on the mercurial Viv Richards plundering an infamous 189 not out.

I attended other test matches including Day 2 of the Ashes test in the famous 2005 series after which we mercilessly ribbed a couple of placid Aussies in a nearby pub.

We have also stayed at the Old Trafford Lodge a couple of times, once to attend a family wedding in 2007 on the day England beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup quarter final.

Round about the turn of the century Old Trafford decided to utilise the venue for an annual batch of summer concerts, for a period badging it as the Mood Festival.  

I was excited to note that REM were booked to play on 13/07/03 following on from their fine Glastonbury headline performance the previous month.

It was another staggeringly hot Sunday afternoon as the five of us in attendance melted on the train on the journey over. We decided to frequent the bars on Deansgate locks, in the first bar we visited the local celebrity Tony H Wilson was rather intoxicated but like a trooper he recovered to be in fine shape on Granada Reports the following day.

At the venue they had a very commendable beer voucher process which kept the queues down.  

The support acts were Badly Drawn Boy and Idlewild as we sweltered in the tropical weather watching from the pitch. Michael Stipe was in mischievous mood as he likened the one cloud in the sky to Badly Drawn Boy. Did that suggest he wasn’t enamoured with one of the support acts?

I recall him apologising for being American due to the Gulf War, perhaps he was also prescient of a future muppet becoming President. Though pots and kettles spring to mind here with Boris the Spider in power on our shores!

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REM. Image Credit BlogSpot.com

I had grown up with REM as I discovered them when I was 16 and they were magnificent that night with ‘Strange Currencies’ and ‘End of the World’ verging on being transcendental. They were arguably at the peak of their powers and fuelled by the ale, weather and the terrific music I was over zealously dancing away. It remains one of my Top 10 gigs.

We circumnavigated the metro and the crowds successfully by going the wrong way for one stop and then returning into town.

We saw them there 2 years later but whilst still being decent it was not in the same league as the first attendance. They had also foolishly moved away from vouchers to a first come first serve resulting in waiting in a devilishly long queue which covered a fair portion of Feeder’s support set, thankfully the beer hut was located to the side of the stage. My pal Algarve Ray timed it well as I was at the top end of the queue when he unexpectedly appeared so I could add his order to mine.       

My one other attendance was to see the Pixies for the first time in 15 years on their comeback tour in 2004. It was a grey rainy day, but Pixies served to brighten the mood with me bouncing around in the oldest moshpit I have ever encountered with ‘Where is My Mind’ being the highlight.

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Pixies. Image Credit Uncut.

We caught the initial portion of the Stereophonics headline set before heading off the site. We were distracted en route by unusual activity occurring in the DJ tent where there have been a friendly coup and the DJ was only being allowed to play Pixies tracks. The opening notes of each new Pixies song resulted in rapturous applause, it was quite a sight.  

We had just had time for a cheeky one in Thirsty Scholar prior to the train and wouldn’t you just know it on our entry to the pub they were playing a Pixies song!

Manchester Venue 16 Academy 3 – Part 1

Within the Manchester University complex on the second floor lies Manchester Academy 3. For those with longer memories it was previously known as the Hop and Grape and the venue opened in the 60’s.

The original layout was very cosy with an entrance to the left of the bar, in later years they expanded the venue marginally with an entrance round the back of the bar. The capacity is 470 and it is my favourite of all the four Academy venues as it remains an intimate size and there is a good view from all vantage points.

My first visit in October 99 was to see Guided by Voices. They are a legendary band from Dayton, Ohio and formed in 1983 with the ever-present lead singer Robert Pollard. They are highly prolific recording artists and despite a couple of hiatuses they have just produced their 30th album and they have been known to play 4 hour shows mirroring the length of some Bruce Springsteen and E-Street band gigs.   

They received regular airplay on college radio which was the route REM traversed when progressing into the limelight. They flirted with fame when appearing in the Strokes ‘Someday’ video. Nobody sounds quite like them and ‘Under the Bushes Under the Stars’ is a fabulous album and comes recommended.  

Unfortunately, the sound system in the venue didn’t assist on the night and despite moments of brilliance they struggled to convert their recorded output to the live setting, and it remains the only time I got to see them on stage.

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Guided by Voices ‘Under the Bushes Under the Stars album cover. Image Credit colouredvinylrecords.com

They were ably supported by Beulah from San Francisco who created a sunny West Coast vibe and were excellent. Again, I only saw them once and they disbanded in 2004.

My next appearance was in May 2000 to see Grandaddy. They had first appeared on my radar when I was converted to them by their ‘AM180’ track featured on a Q magazine mixtape.

They had their own unique sound resultant in part by the incorporation of some homemade instruments and their wonky Neil Young beauty was superb live. A good time was had by all to the extent that I was somewhat hungover when performing my ‘Jimmy the Cat’ goalkeeper duties the following afternoon for the works football team.

Four months after that I saw the Melbourne instrumental trio Dirty Three. They were fronted by a charismatic Warren Ellis who had an interesting back story as a classically trained violinist, school teacher and a busker around Europe.

He proceeded to do a rambling but engaging monologue prior to each track and then turned his back at the commencement of each song and the band then created a cacophonous racket in an odd rock/jazz fusion. They were great fun and the nearest loose comparison could be Arcade Fire without any lyrics!  

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Dirty Three in full flow. Image Credit Clash

On 24/03/01 I went to see the Minnesota based Low for the first time. In my opinion, they have produced one of the three best festive songs. Their ‘Just Like Christmas’ sits alongside that lesser heard Pogues track and ‘Christmas Song’ by Joy Zipper.

They are quantified in the ‘slowcore’ genre and can be a tad too maudlin for some, but I loved their hushed plaintive harmonies and the exceedingly quiet respectful audience added to my considerable enjoyment of the gig.  

On 09/06/01 we witnessed Rocket from the Crypt who weren’t as sharp as previous stellar performances. We had some significant train trauma on the return journey and didn’t land home until 4.07am.

In March 2002 we saw a woeful band called Vex Red from Aldershot. I just checked their website and am suitably astonished they are still on the circuit. Paul Bruzzese was at a gig downstairs so we left before the end of the set and endeavoured to shoehorn our way into the Tomahawk gig in the venue downstairs without success!