Tag: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Manchester Venues 84 to 85

At the rear of the previously reviewed Blues Kitchen venue on Quay St lies Artillery St which runs into Longworth St. It is a hidden unprepossessing street with many industrial units and at its intersection resides the renowned Rafa’s Tapas restaurant. I have never sampled their wares and have heard it is a challenge to book due to the enduring demand for punters to find a table. My preferred Tapas option is either one of the Evuna’s in town or nearer home the terrific Casa De Moor in Heaton Moor.

Rafa’s restaurant. Image Credit Yell.

Next to there is the ‘superclub’ History nightclub which unsurprisingly I have never felt the need to visit! Back round the corner on Artillery Street you would have found Manchester Sub 61, a very short-lived gig venue, and I can now source only scant information on its history, but it looks like it existed between approximately 2009 and 2010.

They did hold a regular indie-rock night there which was showcased as the ‘Little Black Book’ and also operated as a Visual Arts space for local artists to exhibit. It is listed as a basement club, but I have memories of heading upstairs so perhaps the venue had a separate gig room. Apart from the gig I attended the only other band I can reference playing there was Chameleons Vox in December 2009.

On 25/09/09 I met up with Uncle George in the Old Monkey pub on Portland Street after he had been watching the cricket at nearby Old Trafford. I mentioned I had just heard of this new venue, and we decided to go and check it out. The venue was housed in an industrial unit redolent of what a New York apartment looks like when portrayed in the movies.

The first support was Die Der Daus, the name translates from German as three different descriptors of ‘The’, namely the Masculine, Feminine and Neuter Noun versions. The main support were called  Tamallas.

The headline act was Doll and the Kicks from Brighton who were a four-piece formed in 2005 and were personally chosen to support Morrissey on his 2009 European tour. They had just released their self-titled debut album and disbanded in 2011 but it does like they subsequently reformed and are still active.

Doll and the Kicks on stage at Sub 61. Image Credit flickr.

In a half empty venue Hannah Scanlon (Doll) was an engaging energetic presence on stage and their music had elements of Be Your Own Pet, Blondie and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the latter perhaps reflecting the aforementioned NY vibe of the venue.

Manchester Satan’s Hollow is situated just off Princess Street between China Town and the Gay Village and a stone’s throw away from the nearby Night People venue. It was opened in 2000 and is firmly in the rock/metal genre. They have club nights and also a regular roster of gigs.

The entrance aims to exemplify the gates of hell replete with devil horn insignia and inside is an archetypal ‘toilet circuit’ venue with sticky floors and lamentable beer. We visited there on 06/02/10 on a whim as we were passing, and the chance presented itself to tick off the venue on the Jimmy roster. We were en route to our debut attendance at Sound Control.

Looking at the archive listing of gigs that have taken place in the venue, one caught my eye when I saw Leatherface performed there in 2007. I quite liked their material, but I am more of a fan of their spin off band Former Cellmates and particularly their terrific 2008 album ‘Who’s Dead and What’s to Pay’.

  

Manchester Satans Hollow. Image Credit homes4u.co.uk

The band on stage during our visit was Envy of The State, a rock band from the musical backwater of Telford and the band were unmemorable but there was the novelty of having a stage in the middle of the room allowing you to stand behind the band and watch them from a rarely seen angle!   

Leeds Venues 8 to 11

Continuing on the monorail of the 2014 Live at Leeds festival brought us to our next venue, Leeds Town Hall. Originally built in the 1850’s in a Baroque style on The Headrow, it was the tallest building in Leeds for over a century and it housed the law courts and council chambers and a public hall and was opened by Queen Victoria.

These elements were gradually relocated via the completion of the Civic Hall in 1933 and the Leeds Crown Court in 1993. At that point it morphed into primarily a concert, conference, and wedding venue. It is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment in time for the 2023 Leeds city-wide cultural festival.

Leeds Town Hall. Image Flickr.

We arrived at the Victoria Hall which was a really striking location and contained a 6,600-pipe organ, the largest in Europe. The band on stage was Lanterns on the Lake, a five piece from Newcastle on Tyne who produce some swirly dreamy shoegaze with hushed female vocals, what’s not to like, I hear Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Cocteau Twins in their music. They were subsequently nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2020.

Unfortunately, as is the wont of these multi-event festivals we arrived late to their set and only caught their last two tracks, including their soaring outro. That was a crying shame as they sounded an extremely vibrant live act and I have never yet seen them since.

The building on Cookbridge Street that the Leeds O2 Academy is now housed in has a long history. It was originally opened in 1885 by Prince Albert and is a grade II listed gothic building. It was originally named the Coliseum where it staged circus shows and political gatherings. For the majority of the 20th century, it was the home to a cinema, television studio and a bingo hall.

In 1992 it became a bespoke music venue under the moniker Town and Country Club and Stereophonics and Stone Roses graced the stage there. It closed in 2000, before reopening the following year after refurbishment as Creation Nightclub before converting back to a singular music venue in 2007 under Academy’s ownership.   As with many venues in Leeds, the chosen band for the opening night on 08/10/08 was the local boys Kaiser Chiefs. Over the years the Pogues, Anthrax, Proclaimers and Deftones have played there.

Despite the striking exterior which could resemble a church, we entered into the cavernous main room with its capacity of 2300 which was a tad soulless. There is apparently also a smaller venue downstairs which can contain 400 punters. On stage was Ella Eyre, a soul singer from Ealing in West London, the previous year she had featured on a number one single with Rudimental. It was not my Yorkshire cup of tea and was a little warbly for my tastes.

Leeds O2 Academy. Image Credit able2uk.com

Progressing onwards brought us to Leeds Met Stage contained within what is now known as Leeds Beckett University. They have two campuses, one in Headingley and the other in the city side where we were located. It is a thriving establishment with 24k students and 185k alumni worldwide.

On the stage were The Bug, a dance music collective formed by London based producer Kevin Martin. They had been in existence since 1997 with an ever-changing line up.

We then sallied over to Leeds Met Stage 2 where we had a little wait before the Canadian power punks PUP (abbreviated from Pathetic Use of Potential) hit the stage.  They had only released their self-titled debut album six months earlier and they were very engaging, energetic, and downright good fun!