Tag: Rolling Stones

Manchester Venues 226 to 227 – Aviva Studios

In an earlier blog (Manchester Venue 113) I referenced the Aviva Studios and how it was directly affiliated with the Manchester International Festival square which was located alongside the building. Thus, I will not repeat myself here, but it is worth noting that after a scratchy start including seating number confusion, the Studios have now gone from strength to strength with many more gigs now taking place there.  

The surrounding area has also developed with the introduction of restaurants like Felix and Caravan and bars including Courts Club, Trading Route and The Stables. Also in that vicinity is an indoor golf centre called Pitch, Crystal Maze and Chaos Karts. There is an outdoor bar area designed for summer days with big screens recently showing Wimbledon and the football World Cup.

When I was chatting to Barry Jury one time he referenced that one of his scheduled upcoming gigs was at Manchester Aviva Studios Auditorium, so I tagged along to make my debut at the 1600 seating capacity venue. Thus, on a summers evening in June 2024 we met initially for a parlay and a couple of scoops in the large Dukes 92 beer garden, where his pal Lavin also joined us. As I had only booked a ticket at a later stage than the chaps, they were in the small standing area while I was located up in the gods.

Aviva Studios Auditorium. Image Credit factoryinternational.org

My first impression of the venue was that it reminded me of the huge Odeon cinema I used to visit when I was a young sprog. I reminisced about the Saturday morning showings I attended, including watching the original Raiders of the Lost Ark and later I was also there for a double bill of Chariots of Fire and Gregory’s Girl.

There used to be highly amateurish advertising with Pearl and Dean, a company involved in the cinema business since 1953 and their distinctive theme tune which is called ‘Asteroid’. I recall a crackly staccato encouragement to visit the local curry house after the screening! There were also intermissions mid-film where a hostess would sell you ice cream or cornetto’s.

The adjoining Odeon 2 was much smaller like the ciniplex auditoriums you see nowadays and if you needed a comfort break you would have scamper past in front of the screen! Also in that complex was the Clouds nightclub where I attended early gigs by Jesus and Mary Chain and Stone Roses. Sadly, the old cinema burned down in May 2022 and there is now talk of a car park to be built in its space.  

When the blockbusters were released, Star Wars and ET spring to mind, there were regularly ginormous queues around the corner, and we were turned away a couple of times. Our parents then decided to utilise the smaller but more accessible cinema in Longridge with their settees at the back.

Back at Aviva, I grabbed a cold beverage at the ground floor bar and as I entered the door at my level, the lights went down and as a result I stumbled in the darkness on one of the steps but did not spill a drop of my beer! I heard a punter say that bloke nearly fell over, and I muttered under my breath ‘yes, I am the entertainment’. I found my very comfy seat with a cracking view of the stage.

Bat for Lashes. Image Credit snackmag.co.uk

The artist was Bat for Lashes (Natasha Khan) who is a singer/songwriter and has released six albums in total. Her family has the sport of squash in their DNA as her father, grandfather and uncle were professional players. The latter referenced Jahangir Khan is widely regarded as the finest player ever and between 1981 and 1986 he won 555 consecutive matches, a run which is recognised by Guiness World Records as the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level professional sport. A young Natasha attended many matches and has cited the experience and the roars of the crowd as a creative influence.   

She was a self-taught piano player by the age of eleven and her debut album ‘Fur and Gold’ in 2006 turned into a golden one and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize resulting subsequently in support slots for Radiohead. She has also dabbled as a fashion designer. She had a terrific voice but was perhaps a bit too chilled for my tastes. I met back up with the chaps for a post gig debrief in the Deansgate pub before heading home.

In the summer of 2025, my pal Lottie invited Gill and I to join her at a gig she was already attending at the other venue in the complex, Manchester Aviva Warehouse, so two tickets were duly purchased.The Warehouse has a 5000-standing capacity within a 21m high space and can be divided if required by a movable full height acoustic wall. 

Last Dinner Party. Image Credit cultura.id

I had considered a Fontaines DC gig there previously, but my slow ruminations resulted in me missing out on a ticket. By the night of the gig, Lottie and Gill could not attend so it was a solo trip, and I decided to drive which is an astoundingly rare occurrence for myself. The car parks in the city centre were highly expensive, and I found one eventually on Bridge Street.

The venue reminded of a slightly larger G-Mex space and the band performing was the Last Dinner Party who are an all-female five piece. They had managed to purloin a Hyde Park Rolling Stones support slot early in their career and on this tour were promoting their second album ‘From the Pyre’. They had a commendable socially conscious ethos, and they were also good fun live.

Liverpool Venues 8 to 10

The city of Liverpool, much like Manchester excels itself in retaining the grand architecture of vintage buildings. Meeting this particular criteria, Liverpool Old Bank public house on James Street down near the waterfront was originally the National Bank built in 1920. When it reopened as a hostelry it retained the American style ornate grandeur including the original tiled floors and high ceilings. It initially opened under the First National Bar name before morphing into the Old Bank in 2018.

Liverpool Old Bank. Image Credit theoldbankliverpool.co.uk

It contains a large bespoke bar on the ground floor with a smaller mezzanine bar in the upstairs area and it was on this upper deck that a group of us gathered for my pal Joe Glenny’s leaving do in November 2023 as he was jetting off for a career break in Australia. Whilst we were in residence there was a posse of acoustic musicians playing on a small stage downstairs.

I managed to glean one of the performer’s names so can record I saw a singer called Aidan play there. I did subsequently notify Joe a few months later that Mogwai were playing in Sydney when he was in residence there, but he shamefully missed attending the gig, there’s just no helping some people!

On a separate occasion, I was pottering around near Central station, as you do, and on Ranelagh Street chanced upon Liverpool Ranelagh’s Tavern. It is a ten a penny Irish theme bar and there was a singer called Seamus yodelling away in the corner.

Ranelagh’s Tavern. Image Credit ranelaghs.co.uk

Liverpool naturally exploits their hometown history with the Beatles and there are a plethora of bars paying homage to the band down Mathew Street and the most famous of them all is the Cavern Club where they played many of their early gigs.

In fact, between the 9th of February 1961 and the 3rd of August 1963 they performed there 292 times, and they were initially billed as deriving from Hamburg. They were surpassed only by the Hideaways who followed them as the resident house band who played over 400 gigs and were thus rewarded with their name being included on the wall of fame.

The Cavern opened its doors in 1957 as a jazz club with its driving force being a local chap called Alan Synter who found a cellar space which was being used at that stage as a tropical fruit warehouse and prior to that a World War II air raid shelter. It is said that when the club was at full capacity, the heat resulted in a sweet fruity smell emanating from the walls, which then became locally known as the ‘Cavern Perfume’. 

The club then moved on to embrace the mood of the day and rebadged itself as a Merseybeat venue. Bands who played there in that period include Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Black Sabbath, Queen and the Who and the local lass Cilla Black was employed there as a hat-check girl.

The Beatles on stage at the Cavern Club. Image Credit beatlesbible.com

Its history then became a little complicated when it closed in 1973 to make way for a ventilation shaft for the new Merseyrail underground railway. That however was never completed, and the site then turned into a car park. There were plans to reopen it in 1982, but it was identified that it was structurally impossible to do so. Many of the bricks from the original cellar were then sold to raise funds for the Strawberry Fields Children’s home.

At a 90-degree angle across the road, they decided to build a new Cavern which was recreated as much as they could in its original image. The initial owner was the former Liverpool football player Tommy Smith, but it closed again in December 1989 when it lost its licence following a vicious assault on a customer resulting in imprisonment for those involved.  

In July 1991 three friends reopened it and still run the club today. A chap called Paul McCartney returned to play a couple of gigs and secret warm up events were staged there by Arctic Monkeys, Jake Bugg, Travis and Oasis over the years. My one visit to Liverpool Cavern Club took place there in 2013 where I witnessed a singer called Freddie. I walked past recently and noted that they now charge simply for the privilege of entering the establishment, so I may not be visiting again!