The legendary venue is where many people discovered a love for alternative music and spent countless nights out in their formative years as university students.
Based on the stories sent to The Manc, Fifth Ave was the venue where people met their wives and husbands and celebrated some serious milestones.
Even the bad bits – like the way your shoes would aggressively stick to the floor and the toilet doors never locked – now seem like part of its charm.
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Fifth Avenue on Princess Street. Credit: Google Maps
It also had its own microclimate, with the sweat from the dancefloor turning into condensation across the ceiling and dripping back down on revellers. Lovely.
Across the board, the nostalgia is real, and as Joe commented: “So, my youth is officially dead.”
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Some people are so upset, they’re actually calling on Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to save the club.
Here are some of our favourite tales from this cornerstone of Manchester’s nightlife scene.
Will wrote: “Arctic Monkeys getting rinsed in 2007 when they broke through! Such good times with three VKs in hand.”
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Mark said: “First ever nightclub i went in when it was Legends in 1988.Remember going in and Blue Monday ’88 booming out.”
Bev posted: “Indie night on Thursday was a great night. Another icon of Manchester closing , very sad.”
Chelsey added: “Friday nights, university, sticky floors, finding love for alternative/rock music. Getting excited if they threw in a bit of Skrillex.”
Claire said: “Spent many a Thursday night there in the early-mid 90’s during my student days! The best indie tunes.”
Shelly remembers the indie music too, saying: “Was mostly a great place to work during the indie revival in the early naughties x”
This one’s funny – Mark said: “I remember going to lean against a wall, and only realising it was a fire escape when a bouncer was picking me up off the floor and pulling me back into the club.”
Jude said: “Ahh gutted! Creep and I Am The Resurrection playing at the end of the night, about 2002 maybe? Quality nights sticking to the floor and getting dripped on from the sweaty ceiling!”
Melissa on Twitter said: “RIP throwing vodka Red Bulls over myself whilst screaming Mr Brightside hysterically at 2am on a Thursday.”
Chris wrote: “Spent most Friday nights in there around 2007. £1 Vodka Redbulls and an amazing set list every time. You could never forget you’d been there as your jeans and trainers absolutely stunk of Red Bull the next day.”
Jude said: “The security guard asking us if we’d been ‘on the rob’ when he found shot glasses from a vodka bar in our bags, picking up pound coins from the dance floor after ‘Jump Around’ had been played (paid for my night out several times), leaving the club one frigid New Year’s Eve and standing out in the middle of the icy road in a strappy dress and heels trying to flag literally ANY car down to get a ride home!”
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Yvonne wrote: “Vodka and a cheap equivalent of red bull, shoes always stuck to the floor. 75p a drink and never, ever remember leaving the club as was too intoxicated. Christmas bank holidays were always good! Oh and the candy floss machine in the middle of the dancefloor.”
Fifth Ave was pretty significant to Stephen, who said: “When it was legends night club met my 1st wife 1984. Great club with all the mirrors and lights.”
Andrew met his other half too – he wrote: “Met me wife of nearly 10 years in there, awesome memories of cheap drinks, sticky floors and good music!”
Jamie, too, said: “Met a girl there one night, now we are married and have a baby girl!”
Adam said his career started there, writing: “Fifth nightclub offered me my first ever residency as a DJ, played my first ever DJ set in the mezz (if you know you know) met some amazing people along the way staff and regulars. Fifth Nightclub will always have a special place in my heart.”
Sara said: “1/ throwing up all over my now husband’s James t shirt on only our second date ( never drink tequila then beer) and getting thrown out by the bouncers and 2/ arriving there for my hen do having a fab time dancing with friends to find husband to be and all his group were also there on his stag do (they couldn’t get into 42nd st apparently).”
Chris seems to be having an existential crisis about the whole situation, writing: “Weird how somewhere can be such a big part of your life for so long and then one day you go for the last time and don’t even know it. And then next thing you know a decade has passed and it’s gone for good.”
Legendary pop duo Erasure announces huge Manchester arena gig on 2027 UK tour
Emily Sergeant
Legendary pop duo Erasure have announced a UK arena tour next spring, and they’re set to stop off in Manchester.
Andy Bell and Vince Clarke – better known by their duo name, Erasure – have announced details of their long-awaited upcoming 20th studio album today, titled Radio!! Radio!!, alongside details of an arena tour in spring 2027 across the UK and Europe.
Described as a ‘deeply personal’ project, the BRIT and Ivor Novello award-winning duo’s first new studio album in six years sees Bell and Clarke continue to refine and deepen the pop catalogue they’ve been building over the past 40 years.
The album will be comprised of a set of songs about love, loss, and injustice that they hope speaks to our ’empathy-starved times’.
Erasure will take to the road in 2027 for an arena tour that kicks off at Cardiff’s Utilita Arena on 25 April before travelling throughout the UK, including a stop in Manchester at the AO Arena on 1 May, before finishing off in London and heading over to Europe, with more dates to follow.
Vince Clarke will be Musical Director for the tour, but will not be appearing onstage alongside Andy Bell, it has been revealed.
Bell says: “I’m so pleased that we were able to find a way for the tour to work for Vince. He’s always too modest but he’s so much more than the Musical Director, Vince is one of the great loves of my life and everything we do as Erasure we decide together.”
Erasure will be performing at the AO Arena in Manchester on 1 May 2027, and tickets go on presale this Thursday 1 October at 10am, before general sale begins a day later (2 October) also at 10am.
Sir Rod Stewart announces Manchester gig on final ever tour
Daisy Jackson
Sir Rod Stewart has announced his final ever tour, with the legendary singer set to perform in Manchester along with some of Europe’s biggest arenas in 2027.
The ‘The Final Encore’ tour will mark the end of a live career spanning more than six decades, with Stewart kicking off the run in Dublin next spring before heading across the UK and Europe.
The music icon will be heading to the Co-op Live in May next year, with support from synth-pop pioneer Howard Jones.
Announcing the tour, Rod Stewart said: “The time has come to say farewell to life on the road. After more than six decades, The Final Encore will most definitely be my last.
“I’ve been singing the music I love since I was 19 years old, and I’ve had the privilege of taking it around the world to all of you. It has given me a life beyond anything I could ever have imagined, and I hope I’ve given you some fond memories in return.
“I hope you’ll join me so I can thank you the best way I know how… with the music and one hell of a show. See you there.”
The Final Encore is expected to feature many of Stewart’s biggest songs, including Maggie May, You Wear It Well, Tonight’s the Night, Hot Legs, Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?, Young Turks, Baby Jane, Forever Young, You’re in My Heart, Rhythm of My Heart, The First Cut Is the Deepest, Sailing and Have I Told You Lately.
Credit: Denise Truscello Credit: Jonathan Kammen 2007
Stewart has sold more than 250 million records and singles worldwide and has amassed 31 UK Top 10 singles, including six number ones. His career has also seen him inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice and named a Grammy Living Legend.
His touring career has been just as remarkable, with Stewart having performed for an estimated 20 million fans around the world.
That includes his famous Guinness World Record-setting performance on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 3.5 million people watched him perform, as well as a 13-year, 200-show residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Now, after more than 60 years on stage, Stewart is preparing to bring the curtain down on his touring career.
General release tickets for Rod Stewart’s The Final Encore will go on sale from 10am on Friday 2 October, with a number of presales taking place in the days prior.
Rod Stewart will perform in Manchester one last time on Thursday 6 May 2027 – tickets will go on sale HERE.
Daisy Jackson -
16th February 2022 
