Night and Day Café

...quirky venue such as the Night and Day Café in Manchester - a little independent place that serves up what it likes and isn't another faceless chain venue. My first visit was in November when I went down to Manchester to see Jesse Malin play (check him out - he is the best!); he was in England for two low key gigs to start promoting his third solo album, the Manchester show was the closest for me.

We telephoned to enquire about tickets ...
...website.

The Night and Day Café is exactly that; it opens late morning for lunches and acts as a café-pub, later on as people leave work it becomes a place for the arty, studenty types to catch a quick drink and around eight it becomes a venue for live music.

It is located on Oldham Street in the very heart of Manchester and just across the road from the Piccadilly Interchange so handy for buses and trams; Manchester ... more

Autumn is the busiest time of year for gigs and my tickets for concerts in October and November are mounting up. Alas, several of the shows we are going to are at the Carling Academy in Newcastle upon Tyne. I do not like "branded" venues - the Labatts Apollo will always be the Hammersmith Odeon to me, the Metro Arena in Newcastle is just "the Arena" and I despise the Carling chain of music venues with a passion. It is expensive enough to go to gigs (and I go to lots) without having to go somewhere that has only a limited choice of beers available at high prices. As well as Carling, this venue sells Grolsch - awful, nasty Grolsch out of bottles that make it taste like gnats'…you get the idea. While I could refuse to buy a drink in there, it can get quite hot and when you're with friends you do feel obliged to have something - even if just a soft drink.

I would much rather go to an interesting unique and quirky venue such as the Night and Day Café in Manchester - a little independent place that serves up what it likes and isn't another faceless chain venue. My first visit was in November when I went down to Manchester to see Jesse Malin play (check him out - he is the best!); he was in England for two low key gigs to start promoting his third solo album, the Manchester show was the closest for me.

We telephoned to enquire about tickets and were referred to Ticketline but you can find links to buy tickets via the venue website.

The Night and Day Café is exactly that; it opens late morning for lunches and acts as a café-pub, later on as people leave work it becomes a place for the arty, studenty types to catch a quick drink and around eight it becomes a venue for live music.

It is located on Oldham Street in the very heart of Manchester and just across the road from the Piccadilly Interchange so handy for buses and trams; Manchester Piccadilly train station is less than five minutes walk away.

From the outside you realise quickly that this is a very casual place; I wouldn't say the place is going to fall down but it's a far cry from some of the designer bars and clubs that Manchester is known for - basically you aren't likely to catch any Manchester United WAGs popping in for cocktails after they have given the credit card a hammering.

During the day there are plenty tables and chairs but these are either removed or pushed back against the walls when bands are playing. The bar is on your left as you go in and the stage is directly in front of you. It's quite a long venue but it's quite open and there aren't any little nooks to sit in. Behind the bar everything is lit up with quirky fairy lights and adorned with unusual and wacky items. As well as a comprehensive row of optics there are bottles and bottles of spirits including some quite unusual ones - there is a good range of tequilas, something I always like to see.

Carling-haters will be glad to know that there is an excellent range of bottled and canned beers so I was able to drink plenty of reasonably priced Budwar (my downfall). Himself was pleased to find that there was Red Stripe - something it's increasingly difficult to find these days.

Food is available until around seven in the evening and is nothing exciting but it is reasonably priced and the portions are decent. A friend of mine says that the veggie breakfast is excellent and makes the trek across town for them regularly. I can only comment on the sandwiches I've had there and they were fine. There are curries, salads, simple jacket spuds and soups as well as burgers and lasagne. To be honest I thought they would have made more of a thing about the food, perhaps with Fairtrade and organic featuring highly but the food is really quite standard.

The music is really what Night and Day is all about. The emphasis is on indie music and over the years many now well-known bands have cut their teeth here. There are regular club nights when there are no gigs and they hold lots of showcase events for up and coming local bands. In my opinion the sound wasn't fantastic but the atmosphere more than made up for that.

The real problem, however, lies with the layout and when the venue is packed it's really difficult to get to the toilets which are down the stairs at the very back of the venue almost behind the stage and almost impossible to get the bar. Arrive late and you run the risk of not being able to see at all unless you are close to Robert Pershing Wadlow in the height department (I always wanted to get his name into a review).

The place was packed the night we went but it was a good natured crowd and it did seem very safe. However, there didn't appear to be any staff looking out for peoples' safety at the front and I would hope that this is something that they do address for more 'physical' shows.

The reality is that if you want to see a particular band you are pretty much tied to going wherever they are playing and you don't get to choose the venue yourself. But the Night and Day Café is a perfectly fine venue for gigs and I would certainly go back there if a band I wanted to see wasn't playing any nearer to me. There are better places to just go for a drink or something to eat and I do think this is an area they could improve on. Recommended for gigs but not for food.

http://www.nightnday.org/ 

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