Next week, one of the city’s most beautiful spaces will once again step out into the limelight after years in the shadows. The hall at New Century, the listed building that was built as the Co-op’s own ballroom, is set to become the hottest ticket in town.
“It was a gig venue in the early 60s, people like Jimi Hendrix played here, Tina Turner, Rolling Stones, The Kinks. It stopped being used for music in around the 90s, and it was used for things like council fairs and accountancy exams!” says general manager Sam Litten, who’s previously worked at venues like the Albert Hall and the Printworks in London.
Painstakingly refurbished, it will be able to entertain 1000 people on its original sprung dancefloor, which has been fully restored, and bathed in a wash of light from its stunning original sculptured ceiling.
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“Over the last two years, it’s been brought back to its original purpose,” says Sam. “The light fixtures for instance, were all original features, so we’ve rewired it and had some huge creative input in how it looks and the way it works. The beautiful murals either side of the stage, they’re all original pieces too.
“And we spent about three months lifting up every floor board, recutting it, and putting it back,” he goes on. “It’s been pretty overwhelming to be honest,” he says. “It’s only good things that we can see going forward. Positive vibes, basically.”
1008 new LED bulbs have been installed, replacing the original bulbs in the room’s ceiling, all of which can be controlled by the venue’s lighting guru Emma Towers. Some of the state-of-the-art lighting equipment on stage, usually used on film sets, is the first to be used anywhere in the world.
As the colours wash back and forth from the stage to the back wall, Emma says that some of them stick now and then, then race to catch up. “It gives it all a bit of personality,” she beams.
Programme manager Ruth Hemmingfield has worked at every live venue in Manchester that matters, from The Deaf Institute to Band On The Wall, and more recently at the venue Yes on Charles Street, ushering some of the best bands in the country into its amazing ‘pink room’. But with New Century, she and Now Wave’s Wesley Jones and Jon Wickstead, will be able to extend their vision to bigger shows and bigger acts.
In the opening week there will be shows from The Charlatans, Sunset Rollercoaster, and Los Bitchos and then coming up will be the likes of Australia’s Confidence Man, who have sold out two nights and nearly a third, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.
Also on the bill will be the likes of Toro Y Moi, Surf Curse, and even wrestling. Manchester’s own Futureshock Wrestling will arrive for its first bout on October 2. There are plans for comedy shows too.
New Century opened up its food hall on the ground floor earlier this month too, with food vendors including Wild By Ply, Tallow, and The French’s Adam Reid, who is debuting his ‘Butty Shop’ concept.
Meanwhile, in the basement is the new campus of the dBs Institute of Sound and Digital Technologies, a music school kitted out with state-of-the-art recording equipment, and which welcomed its first intake a few weeks ago.
The students in the stunning basement facility will have full access to the gig venue a few mornings a week, applying what they’ve learned to the live setting. It’s hoped that soon enough, one of those students will make their way from the bottom floor all the way to the top, appearing on stage in front of the whole city.
“We want it to be like a whole ecosystem,” says Sam.
It's also hosting a family festival on September 24, which will spill out onto Sadler's Yard. From 12pm, there will be interactive music activities with Born To Be Wild Child in the hall, giant inflatables, a mini wrestling performance from Futureshock, the Williams Fairey Brass Band and nature workshops from The Locust Gang.
In a pleasingly cyclical move, iconic punk poet John Cooper Clarke is booked to play the opening night next week. Back when Hendrix was about to go on stage inside in 1967, a young Cooper Clarke was instead standing dejected on the pavement outside. They wouldn’t let him in because he wasn’t wearing a tie.
New Century opens once again for business on September 20. Ties will not be required.
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