Tag: Shaun Ryder

Gigs Abroad Part 29 Cologne – Part 2

As Cologne was the first German city I had ever visited I always pined to make a return. That trip had also created a chain reaction of visiting many other locations in the country with the current count now at nine cities where I have stayed and with several others visited on our regular days trips when we are away. Thus, it transpired that one sunny day Gill and I were sat foe r we could fit in another cheeky weekend away. Cologne was entered into the possible destinations and was then chosen and subsequently booked.

Now, you may surmise that I manufactured the next part of the story to my advantage but that is genuinely not the case. A few days after we concreted the trip, Gill suggested in passing to check whether there happened to be any interesting gigs taking place when we were there.

My previous experience in this regard on earlier trips is that we always seem to be a week early or late for an interesting band, however that was about to dramatically change. I think I may have muttered the words ‘Ye Gods’ and nearly fell off my chair when I saw that the mighty Mogwai were playing the final date of their current European tour on our first night in the city. It was naturally a ‘Shay’ given that we had to attend and tickets were purchased forthwith.

Bez and Shaun Ryder back in the day. Image Credit etsy.com

Prior to boarding there was a star stop moment with the ubiquitous Shaun Ryder holding court in the circular bar in Terminal 3. It was the first time I had eyeballed him face to face since watching the Happy Mondays in a support slot at Camden Dingwalls in October 1987. He was being regularly approached for selfies before he pottered off for a flight to Nantes.

The only remaining challenge was our scheduled afternoon flight and arrival time on the Saturday created the potential scenario where any delay would put our attendance in doubt. We landed a smidge late and it took us a little while to locate and arrive at our digs, though they were handily placed adjacent to a S-Bahn stop.

The gig was taking place at Cologne Live Music Hall (locally known as ‘LMH’ or just ‘Live), which had a previous life as part of the Heinz Strunck & Co machine factory before morphing into a bespoke music venue in 1990. It retains elements of its industrial heritage, one feature being the use of the old cranes.  

It has a capacity of 1800 and has hosted performances in the past from Pearl Jam, Death Cab for Cutie and Chvrches. Many have been recorded live for the music TV show Rockpalast (Rock Palace), which is a German institution and has been running since October 1974 where the featured band on their first night was ELO.

ELO. Image Credit listal.com

The venue was in the Ehrenfeld area of town and took some finding as it was buried away down a dark back street, a little reminiscent of the White Hotel location in Salford. We had not had time to eat, and the local food options were rather sparse, and we even considered the slightly desperate option of Burger King. I am glad however we did not as we finally located the Music Hall about 20.10, and we were informed that the band were hitting the stage at 20.15!

The gig gods were clearly in a benevolent mood as in the courtyard there was a beer point and a food stall that despite approaching closing time for the night proceeded to throw together a ‘bits and bob’s’ tea for us. Thankfully it was a warm night resulting in the back door of the venue being wide open. This then created the novel scenario of us grazing and imbibing on the picnic benches whilst we could clearly hear the reaction of the crowd and Stuart Braithwaite’s perennial introductory words of ‘Good Evening, we are Mogwai from Glasgow’. We listened to the first three tracks before heading indoors to actually see them as well.  

The Music Hall picnic benches. Image Credit koelntourismus.de

It remains a cash only venue which I find rather refreshing, and again fortuitously I happened to be holding a batch of euros. It was Gill’s second ever Mogwai gig and she thoroughly enjoyed them, much more so than her first one in the cramped environs of Manchester Albert Hall. It was a terrific venue and an appreciative respectful audience, and they finished the set with a thunderous ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’.  Afterwards we headed back into town and sampled some Kolsch in one of the beer houses near the main train station

On the Sunday we visited the Cathedral and walked the city including the river paths. We did at one stage become trapped in an extremely busy children’s fair that seemed to go on for ever, as soon as we had navigated our way past we headed to the hostelry. On the Monday we grabbed a late Schnitzel lunch before which completed a fine trip before we headed off for our flight home.

Manchester Venues 206 to 208

Affleck’s Palace (now simply Affleck’s) is indelibly ingrained into Manchester culture. It first opened in 1982 with the utterly commendable ethos of providing low cost rentals and valuable week by week licences to support local entrepreneurs to take their first precarious steps into business ownership. Affleck’s is embedded in the Northern Quarter and has a unique maze like design set over several floors.

It evolved into a haven for alternative culture and survived two fires and had a golden period in the 1990’s ‘Madchester’ period where you could purchase your latest set of baggy flared jeans for Happy Monday gigs! It nearly closed in 2008, but it is now thriving again and remains busy to this day with all 73 units occupied but has perhaps now fallen into the touristy price trap. I once also had the novelty of watching a noisy garage rock band called Bright Young People in a coffee shop on the top floor as part of the 2016 Dot to Dot festival.

Afflecks Palace. Image Credit hotels.com

In the mid-19th century, a drapery business opened on Oldham Street called Affleck & Brown and was so successful it grew into a full department store and was dubbed ‘the Harrods of the North’. It suffered a downturn in the 1950’s and was bought out by Debenhams before finally closing in 1973. Hilary Mantel, the author of the Wolf Hall trilogy drafted a short story ‘The Third Rising’ which was based on a mother and daughter who were employed at the store.

In 2015, a bar naturally called Manchester Affleck & Brown was opened on Hilton Street in the Smithfield building and located on the original site. I am not a regular visitor but when passing at one point last year, I could hear live tuneage so obviously had to go ‘beyond the threshold’ as Husker Du once stated. Upon entry I discovered they had a little acoustic stage right next to the door and a chap called Johnny was performing.   

In 1989, the Dry Bar nightclub opened and was located next to Night and Day on Oldham Street. The owners were Factory Records and Tony Wilson placed it under the auspices of the Project name FAC 201, and it was a smaller sister to their other most renowned establishment, the Hacienda.

Affleck & Brown. Image Credit useyourlocal.com

The surrounding area was a tad disreputable at that stage but the two door to door venues resulted in sparking the regeneration of the suburb. During its lifetime, it famously barred two lesser known musicians called Shaun Ryder and Liam Gallagher. I recall decamping there in a huff after we had got stung by missing the first portion of an astonishingly early set from Mogwai at nearby Planet K in 2001.   

In 2017, it was sold with planning permission for a boutique hotel which never happened. Then in March 2025, after an eight-year fallow period it morphed into Manchester New Freemount. I have inserted the ‘new’ to distinguish it from the other Freemount branches that exist further down Oldham Street. It contains all the traditional hallmarks of the brand with a large inviting space, open brick interiors and a bonny old fashioned wood panelled bar. They have live music 7 nights a week followed by DJs at the weekends.

After having an excellent meal at the Home Chinese restaurant for Gill’s birthday we gravitated over to the new bar for a couple of drinks. We grabbed some seats and whilst we were in attendance we saw sets from two local musicians, Steph and Gordon. It transpired the timing of our visit was apposite as it got very busy as the evening progressed, even though it was a Sunday and there are regularly queues out of the door on other evenings.  

Nearby Manchester Stevenson Square dates originally back to the 18th century and at that stage it was a waste land with numerous daub holes, which are apparently boggy clay pits. In the latter half of the 19th century, it was hugely popular for open air speakers with its high point being in 1877 when 50,000 people gathered to celebrate the opening of the Town Hall.

Stevenson Square. Image Credit manchesterwire.co.uk

The residential properties surrounding the square were converted to busy commercial units, but that period ended when the city’s main shopping area moved to reside around the new Arndale Centre, which was opened in 1975.  

Nowadays the area contains a plethora of bars and food outlets, many with pedestrianised outdoor al fresco spaces. One night last year I was traversing through there and this is the only time I have witnessed it, but a pop up stage had been erected in one corner and a lass called Vancouver Val was performing.