What are IV drips and how do they work? Inside Manchester’s health clinic REVIV
REVIV is one of the growing numbers of specialist venues set up to give people access to IV drips - which have become hugely popular with the mainstream in recent years.
The picture of ‘perfect health’ is always changing with the times.
Throughout history, we’ve reached conclusions on a person’s condition based on their appearance; but the warning signs have been different depending on the decade.
As recently as the turn of the 20th century, for example, a red-faced, rotund patient could stroll into a doctor’s office puffing on a cigarette and enjoy a diagnosis of being in fine fettle. Back then, a heavyset physique and smoking habit weren’t anything to worry about.
But as science has evolved, so have our ideas of what it means to be healthy – and exactly how that looks.
One of the most astonishing interpretational changes, however, has without doubt been the IV Drip.
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A figure sitting in a chair, hooked up to a tube, staring at a television set was the portrait of a sick person mere years ago. Nowadays, people actually pay for the pleasure.
Intravenous (IV) therapy – which involves inserting a tube into the arm and pumping solutions directly into the bloodstream – has exploded in popularity over the past five years or so.
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Historically, IVs have been used to aid recovery; a tried and tested method of getting essential nutrients to those who cannot consume them the ordinary way. But now, they’re being used to treat people before they even get ill.
Nutrient therapy was first seen outside of hospital settings on Instagram accounts, with A-listers posing alongside bags of liquid at flattering angles for Instagram selfies and likes.
It was initially dismissed as a fleeting celebrity fad, but several years down the line, IV drips have only gotten more popular; with the solutions now being soaked up by the mainstream.
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Why?
Well, one reason may be due to the growing trend of health awareness in modern culture.
Statistics show that people are spending hundreds of pounds on health and fitness supplements every year these days; wanting to learn more about their bodies and how to keep them in top condition.
REVIV is one of the growing numbers of specialist venues set up to give people access to that kind of information and treatment – including the IV drips themselves.
One of these sites is based in Barton Square in Manchester – and it has all the hallmarks of your typical health clinic.
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Treatment rooms with crisp-clean chairs, storage tables topped with carefully-arranged medical utensils; and slender steel drip stands being wheeled around by masked nurses.
But the people who come here aren’t patients. They’re clients.
Hundreds walked through the door and asked to be hooked up to drips in 2019 – but the treatment is also hugely popular with staff.
“I have one every day,” one REVIV nurse tells us, grinning from behind her face shield.
“I love it.”
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Like a high-class restaurant
Manchester’s REVIV site is slick, shiny and stylish from top to bottom (you’d do well to find a smudge on a mirror here). But still, as classy and well-kept as it looks, it’s far from exclusive.
There are in fact 90 other clinics just like it scattered right the way around the world – and a reminder of the brand’s global presence is splashed across the walls (including mentions of metropolis’ such as Las Vegas, Johannesburg and Hong Kong).
The Manchester venue books over 3,400 appointments per year – and a large majority are for IV drips.
“Oh yeah, we’re often really busy,” a nurse tells us during our visit.
She cocks her head at a pair of visitors in the waiting area, who are animatedly pointing at an info sheet on the table.
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“We have a lot of regulars – these two are here most weeks,” the nurse explains.
“They’re probably here to get their B12.”
Amazingly, some customers are such frequent flyers that the REVIV team know which orders to prep ahead of their arrival.
We watch as the duo catch up with clinic staff, before eagerly bouncing from the waiting area into the treatment room for their ‘B12’ – which is just one of the IVs available at the clinic.
A full list of options beams out from a monitor in the waiting area, where customers can mull over the menu and pick one, like it were a high-class restaurant, and roll up their sleeves ready for the chosen ‘dish’ to be delivered directly into their veins.
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Choices include; Hydromax, Megaboost, Ultraviv, Vitaglow and Royal Flush – with boosters designed for energy, weight loss and fitness.
Each IV has its own finely-tuned recipe – which can be tweaked according to the client’s needs .
A sprinkle of antioxidant here, an extra dash of Vitamin C there, etc.
“There’s no one size fits all,” our nurse tells us.
“We work out what each person wants to achieve and take their diet and lifestyle into account to see which IV might work best.
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“We can also do blood testing so you can get a clearer picture of your health overall.”
Sometimes results can be surprising, we learn.
“For some people, lots of fruit and veg is great; for others it’s not always,” the nurse explains.
“I happen to have the gene that means coffee is healthy for me. But other people don’t.
“Everybody is different.”
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A full MOT
On your first visit to REVIV, there’ll be no rush to the treatment chair. Quite the opposite in fact.
Before hooking each of us up, our nurse initiates a relaxed conversation about our health, lifestyles and general outlook.
The first few questions are routine stuff. How often do you exercise? How many alcohol units do you consume per week? What’s your smoking status?
But then, there’re a few more exploratory questions.
“What are you hoping to achieve in terms of improving your health?” our nurse asks.
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Getting rid of fatigue and improving energy levels are high on both our lists, and with all the info now collated, the ‘MegaBoost’ drip is recommended.
This solution is packed with minerals, antioxidants, electrolytes, Vitamin B12 and a high dose of Vitamin C.
But before the needle goes in, a REVIV nurse takes time to check my height, weight and blood pressure.
“Yep, you get a full MOT here,” she chuckles.
After a brief pause, I’m good to go. My numbers look ok.
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What’s going in is only good stuff, but the staff have protocol in place to make sure the human body isn’t taken aback when treatment begins.
The clinical bit – the cold spray, the prick, the tube insert – is over in seconds.
Once it’s set, we’re ushered into the serene surroundings of a small relaxation space – kitted out with a cream-white sofa and wall-mounted slimline TV.
We’re told to simply sit back, rest our arm on a cushion, and let the IV do its thing, watching Netflix whilst we wait.
The nurses periodically pop their head in to check everything is going swimmingly; twisting the dial to tweak the flow accordingly.
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“All good? Good.”
After a minute or two, I begin to feel a cool rush gently flowing up my arm.
“The solution is actually below room temperature, which is why it feels quite cold,” the nurse explains.
My body guzzles the whole bag in around the time it takes for an episode of Friends to play out on the tele. After twenty minutes of watching Chandler Bing wracked with emotional guilt over a crush on his best pal’s Mrs, the credits roll and a smiling staff member comes to disconnect me.
“You’ll probably feel the effects four to eight hours later,” the nurse explains, gently unhooking the tube and firmly pressing cotton wool onto the access point.
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“Some people say they enjoy a great sleep after it, too.”
New attitudes to health
An international pandemic has, inevitably, led to new questions surrounding health and wellbeing in the modern age.
After the distress of the first COVID wave began to pass, the national mood quickly turned to anger; with the government accused of being alarmingly ill-prepared for such an emergency.
Some politicians have since admitted that was indeed the case.
One argument is that more resources and time should have been allocated into ‘prevention’ – which is, in medical circles, often considered greater than the cure.
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The concept of preemptive health approaches were already trickling into the pool of public opinion pre-COVID – and the pandemic has only served to increase the flow.
Common ideas surrounding health and wellness are shifting away somewhat from ‘reactive’ treatment – with value recognised in taking active steps to prevent and protect.
There is no evidence to suggest that IV drips offer any protection from COVID-19. But the growing popularity of health-boosting services like nutrient therapy does reflect how people are starting to think differently about wellbeing.
According to Sarah Lomas, REVIV’s President and CEO, believes that one of the few silver linings of the pandemic is that new, modern ideas about health are now reaching high places.
“The World Health Organisation is starting to make this connection of nutrition being key to our ability to fight off viruses such as this,” she told The Manc last year.
“We’ve heard a lot about how people without underlying conditions are being affected by the virus.
“But having no underlying conditions is very different to actually being healthy.”
Sarah built an entire business off the back of an idea people might be interested in seeing their own body’s blueprint – and REVIV have services in place to do exactly that.
The company has also responded to COVID by launching testing at some sites – with several clinics also preparing to administer vaccine shots in due course.
But here at Manchester on this chilly January afternoon, it’s business as usual; IVs and insightful health checkups.
By the time we’ve popped plasters on our inner forearms and begun to head out the clinic, nurses are already prepping for fresh appointments.
REVIV is currently offering immunity support bundles – providing multiple health benefits all in one package. Included is a Megaboost Wellness IV, a Glutathione Push and additional Vitamin C. Priced at £225 – a saving of £58.
Feature
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | May 2025
Danny Jones
Oh, hey, didn’t see you there. Come looking for more top Manc tunage, have we? You’re in luck, because Greater Manchester just keeps pumping out top bands and artists all the time, hence why we do this.
If you’re new around these parts, first of all, welcome and secondly, the whole thing is very simple: every month, we round up some of the best talents coming out of 0161 and talk about why we like them. I know, groundbreaking stuff, right?
They don’t have to be born and bred in Manchester, but they do need to have made this their music home – the first the correct career decision they made, the second being working their way into our ears.
So, now all the housekeeping is done and dusted, let’s dive into some delightful new Manchester music, shall we?
Five Manc bands and artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. IST IST
This month we’re starting off with one of those Manchester bands that may not be new but still crop up for us at regular intervals to remind us of two things: first of all, that they’re brilliant and secondly, that they should have featured on our regular round-up of artists a long time ago.
We’re talking about IST IST, who returned with another live, multiple LP-spanning compilation (plus some extras) this past March, which we’ve had on plenty over the past month. It goes without saying that they sound brilliant live, and we feel bad for only just remembering how good and prolific they’ve been.
You always get plenty of New Order, but also White Lies and Editors; Future Islands, The National and lots of other baritone-driven bands that bring that element of melodrama to layer over the instruments themselves. ‘You’re Mine’ might be their biggest track, but ‘The Kiss’ and ‘Exist’ are also favourites.
2. Robbie Cavanagh
Now, we all know that country music is having a real moment right now and we, for one, couldn’t be happier about it, to be completely frank. Though arguably simplistic at times, it’s soulful, often impressively pared-back, and when something does impress you lyrically or technically, it sticks.
With that in mind, we recently realised that award-winning songwriter Robbie Cavanagh has been on somewhat of a comeback since 2023, and we hadn’t noticed until painfully recently. Returning after a six-year hiatus – bar some little ditties during lockdown – his latest project has some of his best work yet.
Fully tilting from folk into country and folk, the stunning vocalist belatedly blew us away with the bluesy single ‘Helpless’ and a gorgeous new collaboration with solo artist, Abby Gundersen (equally talented sister of Noah), but please still start with his 2016 Mahogany Session, where it arguably all began.
Named after Manchester city centre’s famously eclectic indie emporium, Afflecks Palace have never quite blown up in the way they way we thought they would when we first came across them years ago, but there’s still plenty of time and we’ll be damn it if they don’t deserve more regular listeners.
You’ll also be glad to know that, despite the name, they aren’t one of those trite, overly performative bands who wear a stereotypical Manc-ness on their sleeve that we sometimes come across; they’re just good and deserve a lot more recognition for their contribution to the neo-pysch genre.
As for where to start, we’ll admit we prefer their first album; ‘Forever Young’ is noodley and catchy, ‘Everything Is an Attempt to Be Human’ has those shoegazey guitars, but it just doesn’t get better than the incomparable ‘Pink Skies’, which still makes us feel some type of way – we just can’t quite describe.
We just love it. ‘Nu-Madchester’, or whatever you want to call it, its distinct sunniness never fails to tickle a part of our brains.
4. Findlay
Next up is Stockport singer-songwriter Findlay, who released more new music this past February, and has been making indie pop that ropes in plenty of other influences for more than a decade now.
That being said, she’s always experimenting with her sound, as her collabs with Blossoms, Miles Kane, Bill Ryder-Jones, Joris Delacroix have shown, and this latest iteration seems to have her tapping into everything from almost 50s and 60s female soul singers to slow electronic and more.
We love the smooth sexiness and sheer ambition of her latest single, ‘Stay Kinky’ and ‘Waste My Time’ always feels like a late-night chiller fit for music video set in a dingey bar, however, we still have a soft spot for her debut, ‘Your Sister’, with the riff that’s almost reminiscent of ‘Blockbuster’ by Sweet.
Last but not least, it’s the second time we’re featuring a returning artist and it comes in the form of young Alex Spencer, whose journey from busking around the streets of Greater Manchester to sold-out headlines shows and featuring on the likes EA Sports FC 25 (yes, FIFA) is a truly remarkable one.
The charming and still fresh-faced local lad from Droylsden is nothing short of proof that hard work and determination can pay off, and those ‘Bucket List’ dreams really are within reach. Obvious talent aside, this teenager has grafted his arse off and we couldn’t be more proudof how far he’s come already.
He last featured in this round-up back in April 2024 but even in the time between then, he’s released plenty and developed even further as musician, so much so that we’re not going to suggest which songs to try; instead, you can watch our most recent interview with him and relive his last year or so with us.
I’m Alex Spencer and This is my journey so far!
8 years of my music journey summed up in 1 minute 55😅 Thankyou to everyone who’s followed my journey so far, to anyone new or to anyone who doesn’t know my story, I made this video to show where it all started and how I got here❤️ pic.twitter.com/Hi3W7MHMxX
So, the next time you hear someone foolishly complaining that the Greater Manchester music scene ‘isn’t what it once was’, you can go right ahead of show them these bands and artists.
In fact, you could just point them in the direction of this very page and Audio North, in general, as we do this round-up every month and plenty more every week, meaning you’re headphones never dry up.
For instance, you can check out which Manchester bands and artists we were listening to back in April, both new, current and old, down below. We’ll see you again very soon.
Bruce Springsteen’s unforgettable final night at Co-op Live in Manchester – just wow…
Danny Jones
It’s rare you get to see legends in real life, especially this up close and personal, but there’s still just one key word that keeps coming to mind when we think of seeing Bruce Springsteen in Manchester at the Co-op Live last night: surreal.
We still can’t quite believe that he was here in Manchester, in the flesh, for three separate nights, but we do intend to replay it in our heads over and over again until it fully sinks in.
Springsteen, ‘The Boss’, Brucey, whatever you want to call him, there really is something to be said for someone who’s been going this long and still exerts so much energy at 75.
That goes for his desperately loyal and dedicated crowds, too. The legions that marched down ‘Thunder Road’ and back down the CityLink walking route and the Ashton canal in supreme spirits after all was said and done gave as good as they got.
We can only assume Springsteen was as incredible on the first night at Co-op Live as he was on the last. (Credit: Audio North)
From singing back every chorus to the chants of “Bruuuuuuuce!” between every single song, it was more apparent than ever that being a Springsteen fan is quite literally a way of life for these people; they know every line, every call and response, every micro-dance move and regular on-stage ritual.
Each show is roughly three hours long, by the way – he does have an absolute treasure trove of discography to work through, in fairness.
Put simply, there’s no messing about, just non-stop rock and roll of the highest order. Well, there are some brief pauses, but for good reason…
As a passionate political and philanthropic person throughout a career which spans more than six decades, he took the time to talk about America and the turbulent times they are once again facing.
He spoke about the craven billionaire class, poverty, uniting through art and, just as he did on night one in Manchester, Springsteen railed against a particular tyrant who happens to have found himself in the seat of power yet again back over in the States. He made sure to do this every single night.
‘Born in the U.S.A.’ (which he did decide to play, along with a plethora of the other biggest hits) now feels more like a protest song than ever. The war may no longer be in Vietnam, but there is one raging back home, and he’s even more wary of it than before.
He thanked those in the pit and the stands for indulging him, as well as the “wonderful space” of the Co-op and its “beautiful sound” for hosting him, but we have a feeling the New Jersey poet could have said just about anything and he’d still have 23,500+ in the palm of his hands.
All that being said, it wasn’t like this was a pseudo-rally or anything like that, nor was anything of this being foisted upon the audience, but there was a real sense of a congregation gathering in the church of Bruce to take in his sermon.
His followers have often been referred to in this way, and despite only previously considering ourselves a very casual Springsteen enthusiast, having now been to a sell-out arena gig with one of the biggest Boss fans we know, we can understand why millions of people around the world idolise this absolute icon.
It goes without saying that a huge amount of applause must go to The E Street Band themselves, who are just as much a part of what makes Springsteen sets so special as he is.
From the ever-charismatic Steven Van Zandt (still hard not to see him as ‘Sil’ from The Sopranos) to Jake Clemons on sax – who has been part of the group since 2012 and shared a touching embrace with Bruce as tributes to his predecessor and uncle, Clarence, played behind them – these lot are a family.
Our only minor gripe is that we sorely missed hearing ‘Atlantic City’, but what the concert did confirm is that much like the effect the recent Bob Dylan biopic had on us, we’re now more committed than ever to working through the Springsteen back catalogue from start to finish and seeing how obsessed we get.
To end on one final thought and echo the words of the man himself: “peace, love and freedom.”