A brand new gig venue with a late-night bar and restaurant and a plunge pool is opening in Manchester city centre next month.
Canvas will throw open the doors to its ‘next-generation’ music venue at the new Circle Square development just off Oxford Road.
The new three-storey hangout will have live music, club nights, a members’ lounge, and a bar and restaurant open until 4am, seven days a week.
It comes from the team behind two legendary London venues, The Pickle Factory and Oval Space, as well as the MAMA Group, which operated Lovebox and Wilderness festivals as well as the Manchester Ritz, G-A-Y and Hammersmith Apollo.
Canvas comes from the team behind Oval Space in London. Credit: Supplied
Canvas will also welcome creative music, art, wellness and technology programmes.
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The 600-capacity gig space itself will host live concerts, album launches and listening parties.
It will be kitted out with cutting-edge technology to deliver a world-class sound and visual experience, with video mapping and projectors enveloping audiences.
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Canvas will host panel talks for members. Credit: Supplied
It hopes to create a ‘blank space’ for emerging and underground talent.
The Canvas members’ lounge will invite members to participate in events, panel discussions and wellness classes, and will host some of Manchester’s most enterprising young professionals.
Later this summer, a plunge pool and sauna will be added for members to find their own serenity in the city.
At Your Beat dance classes will take place in a dark room filled with colourful lights and pumping tunes.
Memberships will be held in the form of a Canvas token (an NFT) which will include benefits like free access to gigs and club nights, discounts on food and drink, and part-ownership of the members’ club platform.
They’re priced at £15 per month for under 30s, with a different option for older members.
A food and drink lounge will serve global small plates – curated by Miam Miam Glou Glou – all day, before switching to a late night bar after 10.30pm.
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Diners can expect breakfasts like the Persian (Merguez sausage, hummus, spinach, harissa and poached egg) and the Cali (avocado, chilli, lime and egg) with sides of fresh juices, breakfast cocktails and health shots.
The rest of the day, small plates will incorporate dishes including sumac lamp chops, disco fries, and Korean barbecued chicken, plus slow-cooked chicken thighs, steak bavette, and road plum duck leg.
It will also serve sandwiches between 12pm and 5pm every day.
Cocktails will champion ‘a new breed of bartending’, like the Jasmine Margarita (El Jimador Blanco, Muyu Jasmine, silver needle and citrus), the Jungle Bird (Bacardi Cuatro, Appleton 8, Campari, pineapple, galangal and tamarind cordial) and Cafe Torino (Mr Black Coffee Amaro, Martini Rubino and soda).
Dean James, co-owner and co-founder, said: “We’re thrilled to finally open our doors at Canvas. With authenticity at the forefront of everything we do, our key ambition is to provide the most innovative space where emerging music and new talent can grow.
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“We’re incredibly proud of our diverseness; in both what we do and who we are – from our growing Canvas community, right through to our teams.
“By giving people a platform to share and collaborate, Canvas has a really unique way of bringing together artists and audiences from underrepresented backgrounds. We try hard to avoid being polarised – I think it’s this passion that keeps us ahead of the curve and relevant to what our communities actually want adjoin to.
“Through the development of Canvas membership programmes, our long-term vision is to forge an environment that young creatives and grass-roots talent are not only excited to be a part of, but we also hope that they share in a sense of ownership with us too.”
Featured image: Supplied
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Oasis, Joy Division and New Order named as 2026 inductees into world-famous Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Emily Sergeant
It’s official – three of Manchester’s most iconic bands are joining history.
That’s because it’s been announced today that both Oasis, and Joy Division/New Order (as one act) are being inducted into the world-famous Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the 2026 cohort, which is not only a huge deal for the bands individually, but also for our city’s music legacy.
It would not be an understatement to say that these past few years have been some of the biggest in Oasis‘ career, given the fact that they played all across the world 2025 on what is one of the biggest reunion tours of all time – including five nostalgia-drenched gigs in Manchester’s Heaton Park last summer.
But despite everything they’ve done over the past three decades, this could still be one of the iconic Manchester band’s greatest achievements.
Announcing Oasis’ induction this week, a statement on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame website reads: “Oasis are one of the most successful and influential acts of all time. Exploding out of the 1990s UK music scene, they reclaimed big, brash, hook-filled rock & roll with their anthemic sound, cool swagger, expertly crafted lyrics, and electrifying live performances – eventually selling over a hundred million records.
“Their songs have become England’s go-to anthems, sung in unison by fans at sporting events and social gatherings and inspiring countless bands.”
The Gallagher brothers reunion last year was also noted by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as being one of the key reasons for their induction, proving that the band’s influence ‘remains as strong as ever’.
I wanna thank all the people who voted for us it’s a real honour ever since I was a little kid and singing in the shower I’d dream about 1 day being in the RnR hall of fame it’s true what they say anything is possible if you have a dream LG x
It’s not just celebration for Oasis, of course, as two of Manchester’s other most revered bands, Joy Division and New Order, have also been chosen as 2026 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
A statement on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame website about Joy Division and New Order’s joint induction reads: “Joy Division and New Order were postpunk pioneers and electronic dance-floor innovators, inspiring thousands of bands and becoming a beacon for millions of listeners.
“Spearheading the late 1970s Manchester music scene, their story is a remarkable tale of revolution, metamorphosis, and influence.
“Their dark and droning transmissions ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and ‘Blue Monday’ were foundational to both dance music and alternative rock, and they still resonate deeply with outsiders and adventurous souls.
“They were innovative musicians who created something revolutionary and massively influential – not once, but twice.”
The 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on 14 November at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Featured Image – Jill Furmanovsky (Publicity Picture)
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Morrissey claims sole credit for The Smiths’ iconic Salford Lads’ Club photo shoot idea
Danny Jones
Morrissey is once again raising the issue of credit and disputes over The Smiths’ legacy, as the controversial former frontman has now claimed that their iconic photo shoot outside of Salford Lads’ Club was entirely his idea.
The 66-year-old lead singer turned solo star from Urmston is no stranger to sparking debates and attracting controversy, and it seems his latest is to do with one of the most iconic images in British music history, let alone just Greater Manchester.
The Davyhulme-born bard and divisive artist goes on to claim that the other co-founding members of the iconic Manc band initially viewed as more of his “lunacy” – the suggestion seemingly being (as it often is with Morrissey) that they simply didn’t understand the ‘genius’ at the time.
Many of his most die-hard fans still believe that most don’t and never will.
He even jokes that, in another life, it could very well have been something entirely different and random, such as the Kellogg’s factory in Trafford, basically suggesting that other members would have simply followed suit.
In his words, he argues that “now millions of people come from all over the world to be photographed on that very spot, it is claimed as a Smiths idea. It wasn’t, it isn’t, and it never shall be.”
Once again, this is by no means the first time he’s called into question, ‘who did what’ and/or who owns what bit of intellectual property; in fact, there was apparently another one of these instances with Johnny Marr only recently.
‘Moz’ and Marr have been at loggerheads pretty much ever since the group disbanded back in 1987, and still look to be far away from seeing eye to eye on virtually anything.
Daisy Jackson -
12th May 2022 
