When we take a look back at the past 18 months, it’s difficult to see another industry that’s taken a harder hit than the Night Time Economy.
As the reality of the COVID-19 crisis began to set in back in March 2020, nightclubs and culture venues were forced to close their doors and largely remain shuttered until merely a few weeks ago, and while theatres and live music venues were able to reopen for short periods of time to stage performances, this had been under strict restrictions around capacity, movement, mask wearing, and social distancing to keep people safe.
Those ongoing restrictions, combined with “insufficient sector specific financial support from government”, at one point meant that the sector and its supply chains were at real risk of collapse.
A dedicated group of cross-party MPs, peers, and leading industry figures even had to come together in December 2020 to establish an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to represent the best interests of the sector – which it said had been particularly under-represented politically, and undervalued both culturally and economically by government.
The group stated that the Night Time Economy had “borne the brunt of COVID restrictions”, and that it believed the crisis was an “existential threat” to the industry.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The sector has faced enormous challenges, and thousands of bars, nightclubs, and live events businesses are at risk of collapse,” Labour MP for Manchester Withington Jeff Smith said at the time the AAPG was formed.
To put it simply, it wasn’t looking good.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s difficult to see another industry that’s taken a harder hit than the Night Time Economy over the past 18 months / Credit: Pixabay | pxhere
And for a region with a cultural footprint as significant as Greater Manchester’s, and a proud tradition of music, arts and entertainment – with music tourism alone having been said to generate £169 million for the local economy pre-pandemic – it truly could have been devastating.
But when the final stage of the government’s roadmap to lifting lockdown was confirmed to commence from 19 July, venues were finally given the long-awaited green light to reopen as normal, and the struggling industry could breathe a collective sigh of relief.
While reopening may have been the goal, the challenge was far from over though.
ADVERTISEMENT
Our venues arguably needed support from the community at this time more than ever, and so to make sure were doing our bit to help Greater Manchester get back on its feet, The Manc teamed up with multi award-winning streaming platform StreamGM last month to show some serious love and support to the region’s renowned theatres, nightclubs and live music hubs with the launch of SeeGM – a digital campaign to shine a bright spotlight on many of the amazing events, club nights, gigs and shows in our region.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRW2vepoXl8/
The aim of the #SeeGM campaign was to inspire residents to revisit their favourite haunts, buy tickets for future events, and safely experience more of the region’s vibrant culture and nightlife.
“Greater Manchester is the city of 24-hour party people,” our Brand Director Anna Gledson said on the launch of the SeeGM campaign last month.
“We hope with everyone’s support, our region’s venues will be thriving again very soon.”
We were keen to encourage people to take to social media to post both their happy memories of times spent at gigs, shows and events gone by, as well as share their first experiences of heading ‘out-out’ after 19 July, all while promoting being kind and respectful to staff, other audience members, and partygoers.
ADVERTISEMENT
We did this through a dedicated social and editorial content strategy that involved the views and suggestions of our audience of over one million loyal Mancunians across our social media platforms – touching on everything from the best nights out in Greater Manchester, to some of the best arts and culture events to visit this summer.
We also had the pleasure of speaking to some leading industry figures for the SeeGM video series to get their take on why Greater Manchester’s nightlife is so world-renowned.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRo4WB6oBft/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CR657MYID1l/
Speaking on the wealth of content created for the SeeGM campaign over the last month, Laura Graham – co-founder of StreamGM – said: “For the SeeGM video series, we interviewed different people who curate, promote, perform, or work in these places and ask them about reopening, what safety measures they have in place and why they think Manchester is the best for nightlife and culture.
“We got some real insight, charisma and heartfelt quotes from our interviewees, and this helped to raise awareness and remind people why Manchester is just a cut about the rest.
“Our grassroots venues, nightclubs and performance spaces are helping us heal emotionally from the pandemic through enjoying shared experiences and being able to socialise properly again.”
ADVERTISEMENT
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSM7hJyIBKC/
Touching on the success of the campaign, Laura added: “It’s been ace getting positive feedback from local operators about SeeGM and so good to see people out in these places having a blast and dancing together again.
“A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the campaign for helping make SeeGM so much fun to create.”
___
The #SeeGM campaign may be drawing to a close, but Greater Manchester is still thriving.
So, what can you keep doing to help? Well, as the region continues to open up and adapt to the new normal over the next few months, the support of residents will still be as important as ever, so make sure you experience all the region has to offer as safely you possibly can, while respecting staff, surroundings, locals and fellow partygoers – and most of all, keep making Manchester proud.
ADVERTISEMENT
Don’t forget to check out all our content from the #SeeGM campaign over on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as on themanc.com.
A beloved Manc gig venue is hosting a special afterparty following Manichester tribute festival
Danny Jones
A much-loved live music institution in Manchester is set to host a dedicated afterparty for the inaugural ‘Manichester’: the live tribute festival in memory of Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield.
Seeing the grassroots music scene gathering together in moments like this is the kind of stuff that would make the man himself SO proud.
With Manichester 2026 announced this past March and set to take place later this month in honour of the legendary Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist, tickets for the main event sold out very quickly.
This came as no surprise, of course, but now other Manc venues are joining in toasting the life and career of Mani for one very special evening.
Shared by Madchester.com, who are helping organise the Manichester ’26 along with surviving members of the Mounfield family, as well as Mani’s friends and peers such as his brother Greg and Damon Minchella of Ocean Colour Scene, gig space Gorilla are hosting it.
The small-cap live music room, bar and restaurant has hosted many a special night over the past decade or so – hosting multiple War Child charity shows in the past few years, for instance – and even when they’re not hosting a set themselves, they’re always more than happy to join in the celebrations.
With that in mind, there always likely to pay their respects to the late, great and iconic local musician in some way, but now they’re teaming up with Madchester directly.
Positioned as the official ‘aftershow’ following the mini tribute festival, as you can see, there will be just 600 tickets available, with general admission for the main event already gone as mentioned.
At one point, it looked like the kind-spirited and well-meaning idea might be scrapped altogether after some confusion between the organising partners.
Thankfully, that all looks to have been put to bed, and all those involved can focus on what’s important: honouring Mani in the best way possible – with a load of live tunes and a good time.
In terms of those who will be playing on the night ahead of the aftershow, the likes of the equally legendary Peter Hook, Rowetta, The Kowloons, Jon McClure from Reverend and the Makers, plus many more, have been announced as part of the lineup.
There is also still a ‘AAA’ headliner still yet to be confirmed, so watch this space.
As for the Manichester afterparty at Gorilla, keep an eye out on socials for the ticket link to drop and, hopefully, we’ll see you there for a night to remember.
Tame Impala at Co-op Live, Manchester – lasers, lights, and a bit of a hangover
Daisy Jackson
The coolest man in the southern hemisphere has finally made his way back up north, for his first Manchester gig in a decade.
That cool man in question is Tame Impala, the music project of what-the-hell-can’t-he-play multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker.
Sure, last year’s single release ‘Dracula’, and then its remix re-release with K-pop megastar Jennie, may have propelled Tame Impala up towards the top of the UK singles chart for the first time, but he’s got almost two decades-worth of music to dig through beyond that too.
It’s a hefty discography and it leads to a setlist that seems to almost peak about six times.
‘How could it possibly get better than this?’ we seem to ask as he plays The Moment, Elephant, Dracula, and Let It Happen pretty early on – but better it does indeed get.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether he’s up on the main space-ship-esque stage surrounded by lasers and lights, or sat on the floor of the B Stage playing around with a keyboard, Tame Impala has an irresistible, enchanting charisma. A lot more charisma that you’d expect from a man called Kevin.
Early on, he confesses that he’s quite severely hungover from last night’s show, where he had Dua Lipa (he wrote and produced her Radical Optimism album) as a surprise guest.
But you can see the hangover clear from his eyes in real time as 23,500 Mancs scream in his face. Which might not sound like a likely hangover cure, but who am I to argue with the evidence in front of me?
Although Kevin writes, produces, and records his music solo, he’s got half a dozen musicians up on the main stage with him, which looks like a convoluted space ship that fires confetti out of its thrusters (FOUR TIMES!).
With revolving lights, dancing lasers, and a metal grid base spewing out dry ice, it’s really one hell of a production.
It’s a light show designed to give us all a glimpse of his synesthesia (meaning he sees colours when he hears music (Billie Eilish has it too)) – essentially, if you couldn’t hear a thing and could only see the stage, you can still tell exactly what song is playing.
Still, when he saunters straight through the crowd to his smaller stage to mix tracks solo – no lasers, just a few lamps – flopping down onto a tangle of wires like a mad magpie building himself a nest, it’s a chance to remember this guy’s composing prowess.
A lot of the songs performed tonight are almost orchestral in their complexity, so that the whole show merges into one thundering, bewitching night of dancing and being blasted in the face by confetti.
It’s genius.
So can you not leave it another decade before you come back, Kevin?
The Manc -
17th August 2021 
