Overview

Manchester's Free Trade Hall was arguably the most important popular music venue in Great Britain between 1951 and 1996. After several incarnations, the building was re-constructed in the wake of the Manchester Blitz and opened in 1951 as the new home of the city's esteemed Halle Orchestra. Yet it was popular music which would secure the venue its fame as it responded to each wave of popular music from jazz and skiffle, through rock 'n' roll and folk to prog, punk and heavy metal. From Billie Holiday to Blondie, Duke Ellington to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd to Happy Mondays, Rolling Stones to The Beach Boys, David Bowie to Suede, just about everyone who mattered played there. The Free Trade Hall was also the venue for incendiary gigs by Bob Dylan in 1966 and the Sex Pistols a decade later which changed the course of music history. Richard Lysons' meticulously researched tome will be of interest to anyone who ever attended a concert at the venue or has an interest in the history of popular music in Britain's most musically important city. Alongside his own expert commentary on every headline act he gives the reader a sense of what was going on at other venues in Manchester. There are photographs of several seminal blues gigs by Brian Smith who attended concerts at the Free Trade Hall throughout the 1960s.

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9781909360815

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Reviews

An absolutely incredible book; a lovely read. If you are into music and music history, you're gonna need this book on the shelves of your bookcase. - Mike Sweeney, presenter, BBC Radio Manchester Congratulations on making a colossal amount of research so readable. - Paul Jones - The Blues Band; The Manfreds A fascinating factual account .....Told with wit and great warmth throughout. (4 stars out of 5.) - Lenny Helsing, Shindig magazine Richard Lysons' engrossing Were You There? (4 stars out of 5) - Tim Peacock, Record Collector One of the more agreeably odd books to have reached Strong Words in recent weeks ... - Ed Needham, Strong Words

Author Information

Richard Lysons attended his first Free Trade Hall concert in 1972. After a career teaching English, he is now a music researcher and writer. He was chief researcher for the highly-acclaimed Discover Amazing Women by Rail project. Were You There? is his first book.

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