Tag: Working Mens Club

Manchester Venue 114 – Albert Square Festivals

One of the most famous buildings in Manchester is the neo-gothic Town Hall which obtained Grade 1 listing status in 1952 and currently houses Manchester City Council and other local government staff. The town hall was completed in 1877 after a nine-year build and the small matter of the usage of 14 million bricks! It contains within the Great Hall, which is adorned with Ford Madox Brown’s Manchester Murals, there is also the impressive Clock Tower which is 85 metres high which even has a singular name for the clock bell, Great Abel. 

Manchester Town Hall. Image Credit citybaseapartments.com

The Town Hall’s resemblance to the Palace of Westminster resulted in it being used as a location for the original 1990 version of House of Cards and the BBC drama State of Play. The venue was in fact used to announce the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.

However, a report in 2014 highlighted the urgent need for modernisation and essential repairs to be undertaken on the building. Subsequently it was closed to visitors in 2018 to undergo a £330m renovation. I have read in the last month that due to ongoing pandemic impacts and the rise in pricing of materials the original completion date has pushed back from July 2024 to provisionally summer 2026.

The building faces St Peters Square to the South and Albert Square to the North. Due to its size and location, the latter named has been used for events and public gatherings including memorials commemorating the Manchester Arena bombing.

It is also a perfect site to host music events so in July 2018 I attended Manchester Albert Square Festival Hall when the 9-day Manchester Jazz Festival was taking place. I grabbed a couple of opportunities to dive into the site for some bonus gigs when heading from work to Manchester Oxford Road station for my commute home. On the first occasion, I saw Minor Swing and on the second I witnessed Squid Ink.

Manchester International Festival. Image Credit ilovemanchester.com

In March 2019 they also had a St Patricks day festival gathering around Cheltenham races time, and I saw the Ceilidh Boys at that soiree. A couple of months later when attending the Dot-to-Dot festival I managed to catch a bonus act called Gobe Band there at a separate event taking place on the square as they were not part of the festival roster of my event.

In 2019 the bi-annual Manchester International Festival took place with the hub location being Albert Square. It was a relaxed set up with lots of food outlets and a couple of real ale tents and with music starting at noon I also had a sally over at lunchtime on the days I was in the office. They set up the music stage under a covered marquee with comfy seats and I always had room when I visited, but I heard it was extremely busy when The Orielles and Working Mens Club played a late evening set there.    

The Orielles. Image Credit soundofbrit.fr

Thus, my first attendance was on 05/07/19 when a group of us were in town and we headed to the site and happened to see House of Ghetto. On my next visit I witnessed Chloe Foy, a singer-songwriter from Gloucestershire who subsequently released her debut album ‘Where Shall We Begin’ in 2021.

The following day there was a Welsh oriented bill hosted by 6 Music DJ Huw Stephens. He introduced a Welsh-language pop band called Gwilym (translates as William), who sounded like they have been influenced by their forebearers Super Furry Animals. Mary Anne Hobbs also hosted a 6-music show on the festival site in a temporary DJ booth and there was the obligatory appearance from the omnipresent John Robb.

The following week I saw a seven-piece local band called Kara. On the lunchtime the next day I witnessed a solo singer Matthew Whitaker and after work the artist was Hannah Ashcroft, a local indie lass who has collaborated with Beth Orton and had support slots with BC Camplight and the Lathums.

My final appearance was when I met up with Gill and we grabbed some tea on the site. Playing that day were acts called Aim Sky High and One Little Atlas who are a local two-piece dream pop combo. They had an ethereal sound and have composed a couple of film scores and have had the opportunity to play at unusual venues such as John Rylands Library and the Whitworth Art Gallery in the city.

Manchester Venue 68 and 69 Gullivers NQ – Part 2

I have encountered many free bonus gigs at Gullivers NQ when visiting before and after attending another scheduled gig in the local area, it is also a useful ten-minute easy jaunt from Manchester Piccadilly station for the trains to and from home.

Upstairs via some cramped stairs leads you to Gullivers NQ Ballroom with a capacity of 110.  It is a windowless room with a raised stage at the end and can be very warm and a tad claustrophobic when busy. When less populated a gap on the side walls can be located to lean and sway upon.  I have attended fourteen gigs there in total.

My first visit prior to a gig at the Ruby Lounge on 21/10/10 was to see a local band called Blackjack Boys. Eighteen months later I witnessed Manchester trio the Onions who were in the Talking Heads mould, they garnered some attention in the following couple of years with a suite of 6 music sessions.

I visited three times in 2014, the initial one to watch Young Mountains, a six-piece post-rock band from Atlanta, Georgia who I surmise were named after their compatriots This Will Destroy You’s debut album.

Young Mountains. Image Credit listenherereviews.com

The second was a slightly anomalous one as it was the only time, I have paid for a singular gig there and not as part of a festival. The band in question was History of Apple Pie from London, a shoegaze act in the vein of Pains of Being Pure at Heart who I had seen previously at Salford Arms. They weren’t quite as good as that debut performance as the sound was a bit muddy prior to asking the audience ‘do we need to turn our guitars up?’ which received categoric assent from myself.    

History of Apple Pie. Image Credit NME

The final piece of that trilogy was Walton Hesse, another Manchester band who produced a fine slice of Americana with pleasing harmonies, reminding me of a country version of Nada Surf. Next on the roster was a double bill of London three-piece Mayors of Miyzaki and Personal Best, a punk band from Bristol. The latter acts initial line up having future members of Attack! Vipers! and Caves in their ranks.

At the 2016 edition of the Dot-to-Dot festival I saw the mod band Pleasure Beach, somewhat appropriately deriving from Blackpool formed by two schoolmates from Carr Hill High School in Kirkham. That school bizarrely being the first team we played at football when I was goalkeeper in the fifth year for Cuthbert Mayne High School in Preston.

Next on the list was a post-hardcore band from Leeds called Unwave, who were a very bracing challenging listen. At the tail end of 2017 another Leeds act called Mush were in town, they had an enjoyable off-kilter sound reminiscent of alt-rock luminaries such as Sonic Youth and Pavement. The band are currently about to go on a British tour.

Continuing the Yorkshire theme at the 2018 Dot-to-Dot I saw KAWALA who met originally whilst studying in Leeds but now reside in London, they were a tad limp for my tastes. Later that year I see roots singer Debra Ohalete who had African influences within her music.

Next on the Gullivers roster was Brighton based folk singer Bess Atwell. She was prolific from a tender age and started writing her own songs at the age of thirteen. My penultimate attendance there was to witness local post-punk four-piece Springfield Elementary. They reminded me a little of Stump of C86 fame.

My only post-covid visit thus far in April 22 was at the Fair Play Northern Quarter festival to see YAANG. Originally a Manchester duo called YANG they added a third member Ben White, previously of Working Mens Club during lockdown resulting in adding an extra A to their name. They were difficult to quantify but perhaps an apt description might be an electro doomy Joy Division, am I selling them well?