Over the years there have been many stand-out gigs in the city of Manchester. From the Sex Pistols to Madonna, we look at the most talked- about performances of the 20th century.
Beatles at The Oasis Club (1962)
On the 2nd February 1962, The Beatles played their first professional Manchester gig. They were booked to the Oasis Club, a venue that formerly stood on Lloyd Street, in the heart of the centre.
Brian Epstein had just taken over as the Beatles’ manager a month prior, so this was one of the first gigs where the Beatles donned their iconic suit and tie combinations. The queue for the gig was allegedly halfway down the road, despite their first single “Love me Do” not yet being released. Such was the buzz of BeatleMania in the North-west.
Gospel and Blues Train (1964)
In 1964, Granada Television productions filmed a concert at a Chorlton train station, which included iconic blues acts such as Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Brownie McGhee.
The station was transformed into a Wild West set and one could be forgiven for mistakenly believing the footage was shot in New Orleans rather than what is now a Morrisons car park.
This gig really put Manchester on the map as a city that embraces music from all cultures and the mini festival was wildly ahead of time, in particular for having a Black American woman as one of the headliners. Sister Rosetta Tharpe even cheekily remarked “pretty good for a woman ain’t I?” to the adoring Manchester crowd.
Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall (1976)
This performance was the subject of David Nolan’s book and subsequent documentary “The Gig That Changed The World“. Despite this, a mere 40-50 people were reported to have turned up. This was in the early stages of punk and the Sex Pistols themselves had only been performing under that moniker for roughly 6 months.
So why is it regarded as such an iconic gig?
Well, among those few dozen people were members of the Buzzcocks and Morrissey of The Smiths. Those young musicians watched this gig and were inspired to change the music scene with their own writing.
Madonna- The Hacienda (1984)
Garlic… bread? Madonna… Hacienda? Sometimes the strangest of combinations result in an incredible result. The year was 1984 and neither Madonna nor The Hacienda had reached their future worldwide fame and notoriety. Madonna had just released her first single, but was yet to reach fame outside of New York.
The gig was booked as part of the music television show “The Tube” presented by Jools Holland and featured a young Morrissey as one of the support acts. While not as iconic in terms of the musical performance, this gig makes the list for its pure absurdity and its foreshadowing of the future explosion of the Hacienda.
Arguably THE biggest Manchester gig of all time, Oasis’ first sell out pair of performances at their beloved Maine Road have forever etched a mark in music history.
Oasis- Maine Road (1996)
Originally intended to be just the one date, the 40,000 capacity venue sold out in less than a few hours, so the band’s management added a second date two weeks after the first. It cost music lovers just £17 for entry, even adjusted for inflation this puts ticket prices for recent stadium gigs to shame!
Going Underground 