Tag: Sounds from the Other City

Manchester Venues 126 to 128

I am returning this week to the annual Sounds from the Other City (SFTOC) multi venue festival held in Salford. I first attended the event in 2012 and have one outstanding gig to cover from that year. The selected roster of venues shifts each time and at this particular one stretched all the way down the A6 in the direction of Victoria station.  

Manchester Rovers Return is a big old-fashioned boozer with some original features dating back to the 1840’s and sits on the corner of Chapel Street and Barlow’s Croft, its previous moniker was the Lord Nelson. Geographically it is located nearby to the fictional Rovers Return on Coronation Street! I walked past very recently, and the hostelry is currently closed, and its future looks uncertain. On the day of the festival, we saw a short-lived Manchester band called Waterworld performing.

Rovers Return. Image Credit Pinterest.

A further dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s exercise on the 2018 shindig brings us to the Manchester Five Four Studios Attic. I have talked in a previous blog about this venue so will not belabour that here apart from to say we were positioned in the sunlit small attic room right at the apex of the establishment.

The lass on stage was called Anni Rossi who is from Minnesota and plays an electric viola that was intriguingly hand crafted by Thor Harris who is the former percussionist of the noiseniks Swans.  Her debut album was recorded with the recently departed Steve Albini and she has toured with amongst others Camera Obscura and the Ting Tings.

There were always colleges and institutes in the Salford area dating back to the 1850’s. From these evolved the University of Salford which received the Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II in 1967. There was a further expansion in 1996 when University College Salford fell under the University’s auspices.

Their community covers 23,000 students, 2,500 staff and 170,000 alumni worldwide and their site covers 160 acres of parkland next to the River Irwell and in close proximity to Salford Crescent railway station.  Contained within is Peel Park which was allegedly in 1846 the first public park in the world. They have appeared on University Challenge only periodically but on their appearance in 2016 they had John Cooper Clarke as their mascot!

The initial chancellor was Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, and the current is the TV journalist Lucy Meacock. Previous alumni include comedians Peter Kay and Jason Manford, actors Christopher Eccleston and Maxine Peake, artist L.S Lowry and TV presenter Sarah Greene. From a musical slant there is punk rocker Jon the Postman, Courteeners Liam Fray, Everything Everything lead singer Jonathan Higgs and of course John Robb.

Jon the Postman (on the right) outside Thirsty Scholar. Image Credit mdmarchive.co.uk

Jon the Postman is an interesting life tale as he was a local lad who was so named because he was in fact a postie by trade. His first ever gig on 29 May 1977 was in support of Warsaw, who later evolved into Joy Division. At the final ever gig at Manchester’s Electric Circus venue he closed the show with a rendition of ‘Louie Louie’, the backing band being the Buzzcocks. His debut album ‘Jon the Postman’s Puerile’ featured the first ever appearance of Mark E Smith who introduced the above-named track. He then ran the Fall’s fan club before travelling around Europe and living in San Francisco for five years. He was also featured in the 24-Hour Party People movie where he was portrayed by Dave Gorman.  

Manchester Electric Circus with AC/DC on stage in 1976. Image Credit Pinterest.

The venues within the University were reintroduced to SFTOC in 2024 for the first time in a decade and the central hub was Manchester The Green, a grassy area situated in front of the Museum and Art Gallery. They set up a music and beer marquee and I saw Atike B2B Una Lee, Good Afternoon and Good Afternoon v Matthew Rothery (Kiss Me Again) play there. They also had some tasty food options, with some salt and pepper chips being sampled in the afternoon and a pizza later in the evening whilst lounging on one of the plentiful deckchairs.

Manchester Venues 110 to 112

When in attendance at the Sounds from the Other City festival (SFTOC) over the years we have found some interesting stops for food because as a Northern chap I view ‘tea breaks’ as hugely important! We have had pastel de nata from Porta Tapas, tasty offerings from Caribbean Flavas and the best ever Chicken Fried Rice and Curry Sauce from the infamous Chungs Chippy. On my first visit in 2012, Uncle George and I headed to a chippy nearby to the Salford Arms, sadly neither the pub nor the chippy are still operational.

As I perched on the windowsill waiting for my food, I started chatting to the lady sat next to me who was also wearing a festival wristband, I looked up and realised I was parlaying with the Salford resident and fine actress Maxine Peake. I have always a lot of respect for our Maxine as in my view she has a sound moral compass and is also a big muso.  She was at the point of time starring in the excellent TV drama Silk and the last I saw that day was her wandering off down the street to the next venue whilst hoovering up a bag of French fries!  

Maxine Peake in Silk. Image Credit BBC.

The venue next door was the Manchester Chapel Street and Hope United Reform Chapel which was built in 1819 and was Class II listed in 1980. I had read recently there are current plans to convert the site into a complex of flats and community centre.

I first visited there in 2012 and you accessed the building around the back before entering the main room. The band on stage was a Brighton duo called Peepholes who created synth led post-punk sounds.

My only other visit was at the 2017 festival where I recall Gill and I first encountered the colourful Cloudwater brewery cans that were on sale. Cult Party are a Manchester collective founded by multi-instrumentalist Leo Robinson and whilst we were watching they announced the next song would be an epic. They were true to the word as 15 minutes later we left the building, and the sprawling track was still meandering its way to its conclusion.

Cloudwater beer can. Image Credit shop.cloudwaterbrew.co.uk

Further down Chapel Street towards the city centre you will find Manchester Black Lion (downstairs venue) pub on the corner with Blackfriars Street, it is located across from the Sacred Trinity Church.  It is a grand old building dating back to 1776.

In 1889, the Van Dwellers Protection Association was formed there with the primary purpose of safeguarding and protecting fairground workers and barge dwellers who were at that stage being targeted by a local evangelist who carried a lot of political clout. This organisation evolved into the Showmans Guild in 1917, which still represents the business to this day. This commendable work was recognised on the centenary in 2017 with the introduction of a plaque on the pub wall.  

Black Lion pub. Image Credit itravelapi.com

In the downstairs area an act called Work Them were playing and in between a DJ set unexpectedly but gloriously played the little heard track ‘I Don’t Want to Be Friends With You’ by the Shop Assistants, containing the brutal line ‘but I don’t want to be civilised, you leave me, and I will scratch your eyes out’.

I went over to congratulate them on this song choice as I have always loved this short lived band, and they remain my favourite C86 combo and the best support act I have ever seen when they surpassed the headliners Jesus and Mary Chain with a stunning shoegazey set at Blackburn King Georges Hall in 1986.  

In that visit in 2012, we attended the other room, Manchester Black Lion (upstairs venue), where we saw a decent three piece shoegaze band from Manchester called The Shinies. They had at that stage only released one single prior to the issue of their one and only album ‘Nothing Like Something Happens Anywhere’ in 2015.