Live music is finally returning to Manchester as The Stoller Hall becomes the first venue in the city centre to launch a full live concert programme since March.
The 500-seat music venue has announced an exciting line-up of concerts – including a mix of in-person and online performances – this week, making it the first full programme of live music events to return to any music venue in Manchester since lockdown restrictions began back in March.
The concert series will begin this November – with performances streamed live for online ticket holders – as well as live shows for reduced capacity, socially-distanced audiences in the venue itself.
In response to global travel restrictions as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this concert series has been curated to explore the theme of travel, and will bring the world’s finest classical, jazz and folk music from around the world to audiences in Manchester, performed by leading local, national and international performers.
The Stoller Hall is also thought to be the first venue to launch a public concert programme with the support provided by the UK government’s Culture Recovery Fund.
Speaking on the launch of the concert programme, Fran Healey – General Manager of The Stoller Hall – said: “We’re fighting to return to a world-class live music experience in the face of this pandemic.
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“With Tier 3 lockdown restrictions now in place in Manchester, we’re abiding by the strictest of COVID-safety measures [and] reduced capacity ticketing in our venue means that audiences will be treated to a very exclusive experience.
“Thank you to everyone whose generous donations have helped The Stoller Hall to stay on its feet since the pandemic began.
“Now the government’s Culture Recovery Fund grant has given us the means to move forwards, we will play our part by bringing some spectacular live music to our stages, supporting the cultural economy and returning world-class live music to the nation.”
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The Stoller HallThe Stoller Hall
She continued: “Most of us aren’t doing much travel at the moment, so this programme will bring sounds from around the world to audiences, as well as music from the best of our homegrown talent. This is the first step on the road to recovery, and there’s a long way to go, but it’s a huge milestone,
“Not just for us, but for the whole live music industry.
“Our autumn-winter programme is always a busy one, but this year it will be more emotional than we could ever have imagined.”
So, what’s in store for audiences from next month then?
Launching The Stoller Hall ‘Broadcasts Series’ is a celebration of the best of British brass, as the British Horn Society present a recital by Ben Goldscheider and Huw Watkins streamed live on Sunday 1st November, and then on 18th November, British concert pianist Murray McLachlan – who has appeared as concerto soloist with many leading UK orchestras – will perform a live of Beethoven piano sonatas in honour of the composer’s 250th birthday year.
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The Stoller Hall will be also hosting a series of three concerts with Manchester Camerata, and will be blending physical and virtual audiences to embrace the best of Manchester’s music scene within the programme.
Yesterday something special happened! ⭐️⚡️
Musicians, educators & performers – all together again! ❤️
Performing for both socially-distanced in-venue audiences and live stream ticket holders are 2019 Parkhouse Award winners, The Lux Trio.
The award-winning group – which was formed in Berlin by pianist Eunyoo An, violinist Jae Hyeong Lee and cellist Hoon Sun Chae – has performed all over the world and received an array of awards including the first price at Gasteig Musikpreis competition in Munich, the Alice-Samter-Stiftung Kammermusikwettbewerb in Berlin, and the Artsylvia Foundation chamber music audition in South Korea.
Their first album on the Korean label O’ New World Music was released in 2018, and they will be one of the first live European acts in The Stoller Hall programme on Thursday 26th November.
The European leg of The Stoller Hall’s world tour will take audiences on a journey through Polish classical music.
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British violinist Jennifer Pike MBE – former BBC Young Musician of the Year award winner – will perform pieces celebrating her Polish roots, and Manchester Collective – one of The Stoller Hall’s ensembles in residence, known for creating intimate and captivating live music experiences – will perform work by remarkable Polish composer Górecki, for an exclusive audience in the venue only.
You can book tickets to events, find more information, and familiarise yourself with all COVID-secure procedures via The Stoller Hall website here.
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Bez and Shaun Ryder are starring in a new gangster movie – nope, not kidding
Danny Jones
No, you didn’t misread the headline and you’re not on acid: Manchester music legends Bez and Shaun Ryder are set to feature in a brand-new gangster film.
Yes, the ones from the Happy Mondays – why are you having such trouble processing this?
Seriously though, we did a little double-take ourselves when we came across this news, but the familiar Manc faces look to be among the ensemble of a brand-new gangster movie by Irish writer, actor, producer and filmmaker, Ciaron Davies.
And this is just a little leak or rumour that may have been blown out of proportion: you can take it from the horse’s mouth as Happy Mondays frontman, Ryder, recently shared the news on social media.
As you can see, the new film is called Geezers and is billed as a “British crime caper” written and directed by Davies, featuring Shaun as hard-man Robbie and Bez as ‘Monk’. If you saw Ryder shaking off that snake biting his hand like it was nothing then you already know he’s hard as nails.
Although it’s not strictly listed as a comedy per se, ‘caper’ would suggest plenty of humour and light-heartedness, so we’re thinking more like The Gentleman, Italian Job, or maybe even Four Lions, rather than a serious crime thriller.
Now, while we’ve seen both of the Salfordians on screen before not only in the likes of music videos, interviews, panel shows and even as two of the funniest guests to ever go on Celebrity Gogglebox, this latest venture will serve as their respective acting debuts.
According to the IMDb page, the synopsis of the film is as follows: “Crime caper about a stolen bag of money. Caught in the crossfire are ‘The Geezers’ a bunch of wannabe criminals who have bitten off more than they can chew. With 24 hours to grab the cash, London may just go up in smoke tonight.”
Shame it’s not set on the mean streets of Manchester, or better yet Salford, but you’ve still very much caught our interest.
You can see the first promotional poster for the film down below.
As for Davies, he has been involved with a number of small-budget TV film projects, as well as appearing in shorts and even video games, so it’s fair to say that getting 62-year-old Ryder and his ever-energetic hype man, 60, involved is quite the coup for his movie-making career.
Although the film has no release date just yet, we know that filming locations having included parts of Warrington and Pinewood Studios, will be produced by Loose Gripp Films and distributed by publishers High Fliers.
Given the high-octane nature of Geezers and its genre, the feature will involve lots of action, stunts, violence and even martial arts – though how much kung-fu these two will have learned for the project remains to be seen…
All we know is that the film is supposedly “coming soon” and if you don’t want to see Bez and Shaun Ryder doing their best impression of a Guy Ritchie gangster movie then you’re lying to yourself. Praying for a Rowetta cameo to put the cherry on top.
Featured Images — Shaun Ryder (via X)/Loose Gripp Films/IMDb
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Blossoms at O2 Ritz Manchester – five-night hometown residency is already a triumph
Daisy Jackson
Blossoms are a band who were born and forged here in Greater Manchester, and now they’re back retracing their steps with a five-night residency across the venues that launched them into the big leagues.
Their star has risen all the way to arena level and headline shows at Wythenshawe Park at this point, especially here in their hometown, so the chance to see them back in these cosy-ish little venues is special, and a little bizarre.
For night two of their landmark sold-out gig series, it was the turn of the O2 Ritz, that sweaty spot off Oxford Road where the floor bounces downstairs and you stick to the carpets upstairs.
Poetically, the first time I ever saw Blossoms was in this very room in 2016, when they had the mid-afternoon slot at Neighbourhood festival and the queue to get in went all the way back to St Peter’s Square.
Since those days, Blossoms have come a long, long way, and their live show has evolved and matured from five lads thrashing on their instruments to this well-oiled, hip-swaying, flares-wearing, chart-topping machine.
There’s even choreography now – how fancy!
A stand-out moment from the show is actually a song from their new, fifth studio album Gary, which is still barely eight weeks old.
A spoof recording of legendary Manchester indie club 42s rings out, then all five band members abandon their stations, slinging keytars and marching drums around their necks so that they can dance together in front of neon signs.
Blossoms have just done their second of five shows in Manchester, this time at the O2 Ritz. Credit: The Manc GroupBlossoms on stage at the O2 Ritz in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Blossoms promised more disco with this album and they bloody meant it. It’s not just the flares and the blow-dries and the moustaches (though those do help) – it’s in the funk and groove that’s gradually crept into their music exponentially with each album release.
This is still indie rock but it’s the most danceable of its genre. Good luck keeping your shoulders from wiggling and jiggling in here. Good luck keeping that grin off your face.
And Gary is one of the most unexpectedly fun albums to be released in the last year – the fact they called it Gary, named after a giant fibreglass garden centre Gorilla, should’ve been our clue. It could border on silly were it not such a masterpiece.
It seems like the only thing Blossoms are trying to prove is that you can be wildly successful without taking yourself too seriously. They just seem like a group who want to have a good time and it’s totally infectious.
Case in point – when each band member is introduced, keyboardist Myles Kellock plays the riff of Satisfaction by Benny Benassi and The Biz. Unexpected.
Blossoms also clearly give a sh*t about their live shows and graft at it – I’ve seen these guys an awful lot and it’s because their tour dates are plentiful and consistently worth the ticket price.
This is definitely the biggest era of their career so far, but have they peaked? Not even close.
Emily Sergeant -
30th October 2020 
