Tag: Status Quo

Manchester Venues 140 to 141

If you head out the back exit of Piccadilly station you drop initially to the metro level and then the escalator gravitates down again to Fairfield Street at ground level and the accompanying taxi rank. Just beyond the cabs is a lift that takes you up to Platform 12 and then onto the next level and into the waiting area outside Platform 13 and 14. For more unscrupulous punters it could be used as a ticket barrier avoidance route!

Piccadilly Station with the lift in the right of picture. Image Credit showmethejourney.com

There are a plethora of breweries near the station ensconced in back streets and railway sidings. If you walk down Baring Street, you reach the hidden oasis of Mayfield Park, the 6.5 acre environmental green space encompassing the River Medlock which is the city’s first green space for over 100 years. To illustrate the industrial heritage of the area, thirteen Victorian wells were discovered in the construction and three were identified as still functional thus were then utilised to provide 20 cubic metres of water each to maintain the vegetation.  

Heading back from the park you would find yourself at Mayfield Depot which contains Escape to Freight Island with all their food and drink stalls and is also the location for conferences and fashion shows alongside the immensely popular Warehouse Project dance events. When waiting for later trains home on the overhead vantage point of Platform 14 I have regularly borne witness to the most extraordinary queues of customers awaiting access.  

Mayfield Park. Image Credit placenorthwest.co.uk

There was previously a venue alongside the Depot called the Fairfield Social Club on the wonderfully named Temperance Street where I once had tickets for a gig but unfortunately, they upgraded the show to another venue, and I never managed to attend there prior to its subsequent closure. It does now appear they have reopened Fairfield but in a different location over in Ancoats, near the Blackjack brewery, and they hold regular comedy nights there.   

Back on Fairfield St, you find one of Manchester’s most distinctive institutions, namely Manchester Star and Garter, the name of the establishment derives from the insignia pertaining to the Order of the Garter. It was originally built in 1803 outside the train station which had several monikers, including London Road prior to the current Piccadilly name. The build of the rail link to Oxford Road station in 1849 necessitated a brick by brick 100-yard movement of the venue, with its subsequent reopening in 1877.

Its initial incarnation was as a hotel containing an in house brewery. In 1986, the closure of the adjacent Mayfield station caused a chain reaction of the hotel also ceasing trading, and the area morphed into a brief ‘Dirty Old Town’ period. The building gained Grade II listed status in 1988 and reopened in 1991 as a live music site with its current pub and upstairs club lay out and has thrived despite its unusual location. It currently has a large Ian Curtis mural on one of its side walls.

It was threatened with closure again in the last couple of decades with the potential Northern hub expansion of the railway station. Their future however was solidified in 2020 with a ten year lease being purchased under the auspices of Mayfield Partnership.

It has been used as a location for many TV series including Band of Gold, Cracker, Prime Suspect and most extensively the recent Russell T Davies scripted landmark drama ‘It’s A Sin’. The venue is renowned for indie nights, Smile running for 20 years from 1993 to 2013 and the famous Smiths night which has been running for an even longer period than that.

The Star and Garter. Image Credit NME

It has hosted many diverse groups including Anti-Nazi league meetings, the 30-strong WBA supporters club of Manchester, Vampire Society and a comic night called Anti-Hoot which included the semi-legendary Bolton poet Hovis Presley!  It has mainly a rock/metal roster and was once coined as the ‘Temple of Doom’. Bands that have played there including Half Man Half Biscuit, Discharge, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, Low and remarkably Status Quo in 1999.

For many years I intended to visit but without success, until finally a gig was located, and a sabbatical trip was arranged in March 2015. It does look a little like a haunted house from the outside, evoking comparisons to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer ‘Fear Itself’ episode, but that was instantly dispelled by the warm welcome in the downstairs bar!  We then sallied up to the 200 capacity venue room and the first act on stage was You Want Fox, a noisy female two-piece from Nottingham.

The headline act was the East Town Pirates who travelled in from Ipswich to air their stompy sea shanties and have been referenced as sounding like ‘Motorhead meets the Pogues’. I returned once more in 2022 to see a band called the Reverbs.

In December 2021, local legend Tim Burgess put on a record fair themed event which had a novel set taking place on a Sunday lunchtime at the Manchester Piccadilly Station Mezzanine. The first challenge was actually finding this location and it transpired to be in the aforementioned metro entry level. By the time we found the spot, we only caught the last three tracks of an acoustic set from Starsailor’s James Walsh, who had an appropriate fine busker’s voice which matched the setting!  

Preston Venue 60 The Ferret – Part 3

If you walk to the back of the Preston Ferret there is a well utilised beer garden, where you can seek some quiet solace and grab some air in the gaps between bands. In a spot just before you head outside there was for a spell the traditional cramped pub pool table.

The Ferret beer garden. Image Credit visitpreston.com

In November 2012 after seeing an underwhelming Eddie and the Hot Rods gig at the Continental I witnessed Bobbie Peru for whom the driving force is Bert Genovese. He originated from Connecticut but is now based in Manchester. Next on the list was False Flag who supported Piatcions. The main band were from Domodossola in Italy and originally named Thee Piatcions, they provided some enjoyable psych infused shoegaze but sadly only ever produced one single EP.

In March 2013 I attended my mate Jez Catlow’s 50th birthday shindig where he played sets from his three bands in Strettles next door. During breaks in those sets we wandered the 20 yards to the Ferret and saw local bands The Escobars and Binary. The same month after a Nine Black Alps gig at Preston Blitz I witnessed the bruising punk of Beard of Wolves, a two-piece from Wolverhampton who wore pig masks on stage. They memorably described their sound ‘as getting beaten by a meth addled Scarlet Johansen’ and unsurprisingly imploded for ever in 2014.

Beard of Wolves. Image Credit thrashhits.com

In May 2013 I saw Dave Clark and the Stones who proceeded Orphan Boy from Grimsby. The latter combo split in 2015 but reformed in 2022 and seem to be still active on the gig circuit. The following week I saw again The Chapman Family alongside Rook and the Ravens who feature the Fay brothers in their lineup. Also on that bill were Brassic and The Laze who evolved from a sludge outfit called Doom Cow. For a three-year period, The Laze had their own Valhalla club night at Liverpool Zanzibar’s club and their sound was heavily influenced by Frank Zappa.In August 2013, I saw the Escobars for a second time alongside the Locals.

A couple of months later I saw Deadwood Dog’s first headline set across the road at 53 Degrees. After the Dog’s show I sallied over to the Ferret and continued the canine theme by catching the scuzzy grunge sounds of Cat Called Dog. They must surely or at least subconsciously derive their name from Cat Deeley’s character Cat the Dog from SMTV Live which used to salve my hangover on Saturday mornings in the late 1990’s!

My first appearance of 2014 involved local combo The Kausters who were supported by Local Girls. Also on the bill was Matthew Cogley who performed solo but also doubled as the guitarist and singer with Chorley band Failsafe. His band once appeared on an episode in the third series of the successful Inbetweeners TV series and appeared at the famous South by Southwest festival in 2010. There is however a desperately sad postscript in that he subsequently died whilst on a trip to Belfast on New Years Day 2015 at the tender age of 30.

Later that month I saw the quirky four-piece Hello Bamboo. Soon after I saw an absolute belter of a show when Massive Wagons who are a rock band from Lancaster hit the stage. They reminded me of the Darkness in a good way and were terrific fun and incited a febrile audience reaction. Since that gig they have had a steady but exponential rise with support slots with Status Quo and Ugly Kid Joe prior to two individual headline tours and a top ten UK position with their ‘House of Noise’ album released during the pandemic.

Massive Wagons. Image Credit planetradio.co.uk

Next up was some soulful folk from Bill Orrick followed by some reggae rock crossover vibes from Conscious Collective. In November 2014 it was Moon and the Beams with their self-described slightly-delic rock who supported Mothertongue who provided some prog rock sounds. The final show of 2014 was a four-piece from Leeds called Clay who revolved around the nucleus of the Harvey brothers. The main band that night was Avalanche Party who provided some gritty garage punk and they hailed from the windswept ‘Wuthering Heights’ North Yorkshire moors. 

After my first exposure to the delightful Lovely Eggs at the Continental in March 2015 we decamped to the Ferret to catch some ska punk with Honour Roots and some prog with Jagwar. Next up was Nikki and the Styx (not the Motley Crue bassist) who supported local glam rockers Dragstrip Junkies whose members had the evocative names of Adam Wired, Johnny Rocker and Paul Wasted. A double bill followed with Monster as Humans, who reminded me of Aerogramme, preceding Midas Fall. The main band being a Scottish female duo who had gothic tones.