Punk has a lot to thank the Electric Circus for. And it is a venue that has defined our beginnings as a footwear store in Manchester.⠀ ⠀ We all know by now that Warsaw went on to become Post Punk icons Joy Division, but maybe we don’t know enough about the Manchester venue that house their first live performance. London may have been the capital of the Punk scene, but so much of Punk’s growth and history had its roots in the northern city of Manchester. Now that lies in thanks to likes of Tony Wilson, but also thanks to venues like the Electric Circus or the Lesser Free Trade Hall. They were intrinsic to the scene’s expansion, offering the safe space needed for subculture to propagate.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ The interior remained very much a visual metaphor for the city at the time: bleak, rundown and a little dingy. The perfect setting for alienated youth to congregate and create. Opening in October 1976 in the rougher area of Collyhurst, Punk was already burgeoning underground in the UK, but the Electric Circus originally opened as a hard rock/heavy metal venue. Early gigs included John Cooper Clarke, Mott the Hoople, AC/DC, Motorhead, The Enid, Scorpions. Punk nights on Sunday began to appear, but were usually less popular than the other hard rock acts. Moreover if you even offered the faintest whiff of spiked hair and safety pinned clothing, you were likely to be rained down on hard by the locals, who totally begrudged their presence. But the moment that re-routed the venue’s destiny took place in December 1976- the Bill Grundy show. You may recall that this moment comes up a lot in our posts- as it really marked a massive U-turn in the lives of many Punk followers. Midway through their Anarchy in the UK tour, the Sex Pistols were subsequently banned from performing at a number of venues. One of the only venues open to having them play was the Electric Circus, so they played two shows that month, supported by The Heartbreakers, The Clash and Manchester openers Buzzcocks. It’s written that the Buzzcocks signed their record deal on the bar. From this moment, the Electric circus became one of the most important Punk venues in history. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

resul80k2さん(@resul80k2)が投稿した動画 - 2018/06/27 23:08:40