Story by Dile:

Photo of Mr Bowie onstage. Great gig. I actually wasn't much of a fan until I saw him live at this very gig and he was just amazing, total performer from the very first note right up until the final chord! Needless to say, I'm a fan now.

Story by Abigail:

I tweeted this photo to Iman a few years ago and she replied saying, 'What a night! Wonderful memories!'

This is a thing of beauty: the ticket stub book from David Bowie's appearance at the Academy during his Earthling tour in 1997.

With thanks to Sean Fintan Morgan.

Source: Youtube
User: Matt Day

Story taken from a YouTube video description when Bowie arrived at the Academy for a show during his Earthling tour in 1997.

'I just found this footage on an old VHS tape filmed by my mam and little sister at Bowie's show in Manchester 23-07-1997. Forgot I had this!

It shows some of Zachary Alford's entrance signing autographs. He is then followed by Bowie who approaches the crowd, but when a fan bumps the railings and startles him he walks away, disappointing fans who were waiting to see him. Then we see a brief clip of Bowie leaving the venue filmed by my mam after the show.'

To promote his Earthling album David Bowie headlined festivals and played a short series of intimate venues, including an appearance at The Academy on 23 July 1997.

This is a review of the show taken in The Metro newspaper.

With thanks to Sean Fintan Morgan

Stereolab live. Sadly I've never managed to see them. I remember buying a gorgeous 7" of the 'Wow and Flutter' single in 94. Each sleeve had a unique Pollock-esque paint splash design (real paint). I sold it for a fair whack about 10 years later.  

Dots and Loops was the album being promoted on this tour.

Tragically, Stereolab guitarist Mary Hansen was killed in a bike accident in 2002.

The flyer advertising ex-Take That boy Robbie Williams' first ever solo tour, 1997.

Sent in by Ted Tuksa.

Robbie Williams played the Academy on 6 October 1997, the week his debut album Life Thru A Lens was released.

For the encore, Robbie took to the stage in his birthday suit with just a guitar to cover his gentleman bits but as this review mentions, not everyone approved of the bare flesh, one audience member was compelled to complain, saying "He ruined the illusion. I always thought he was dead fit."

With thanks to Sean Fintan Morgan.

Would've loved to have been at this one.

1997 was the year Daft Punk took off. 'Da Funk' has originally come on Scottish techno label Soma. Following a bidding war, Virgin Records landed the duo and re-released in 1996. The debut LP 'Homework' came out in January of 1997 and was followed the 'Around The World', with its brilliant Michel Gondry video.

Story by Mark:

The sound was first class. It had that chest thumping kick to it. They had clearly considered the setup and layout in there.

I also remember a story about a venue change either because it hadn't sold out or had done better than expected. Academy 2 vs 3 etc. The latter might be true due to this gig being later in the year.

Daft Punk were positioned in between two massive stacks, with lots of analogue gear on show. There was a huge screen behind that then from what I recall (and I was sober) that showed various repetitive films. For example, during Burnin', I remember I think it showed clips from the video like the fireman / trucks etc though played forward then backwards in sync with the tempo. I also recall lots of breakdancing footage too at different times.

The atmosphere was unusual throughout–I remember looking around thinking it felt a bit flat although from a personal perspective the set was one of the best I'd heard in a long time.

I remember a huge cheer from the crowd when they announced Mr Roger Sanchez was going to continue the party. He played up in bar raised area which meant everyone turned around to face up/him. I don't remember much from his set though it was typical sound from that time.

It was still a great gig and from a personal perspective it was ace to hear non-album tracks. I reckon Teachers was played in Manchester too.

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

In 1997 they did their Daftendirektour to promote Homework in several cities throughout the world. For this tour Daft Punk opted to utilize their home studio equipment for the live stage. As Thomas Bangalter stated, "Everything was synched up—the drum machines, the bass lines. The sequencer was just sending out the tempos and controlling the beats and bars. On top of this structure we built all these layers of samples and various parts that we could bring in whenever we wanted to."

25 May 1997 saw them perform at the Tribal Gathering festival at Luton Hoo, England, headlining with Orbital and Kraftwerk.
Also of note is the performance of 8 November in Birmingham, UK, from which came the recording of Alive 1997.

The set list of the November 8th gig is likely to be similar if not identical to the Academy set:

Musique
Short Circuit
Da Funk / Daftendirekt
Ten Minutes of Funk Mix
(Armand van Helden cover)
Rollin' & Scratchin'
(Unknown)
Alive
Can You Feel It
(CLS cover)
Burnin'
Rock'n Roll
Oh Yeah
Fresh
Disco Erotica
(DJ Sneak cover)
Revolution 909
Around the World
The Chase
(Giorgio Moroder cover)

Encore:
You Can't Hide from Your Bud
(DJ Sneak cover)

This is the gig that changed my life.

Faith No More were the band I had loved since I was a teenager. I had recently started my own fanzine mainly to get free gig tickets and whilst I hadn’t managed to secure an interview with FNM (although god knows I tried) I did manage to get a couple of promo tickets for their Manchester show which I was very pleased about. I took along my friend Gareth who lived in the Student Village with me. He was a photography student so I asked the record company if he could have a photopass and they agreed. I was also getting into photography myself so Gareth suggested I bring my second hand SLR with me just so he had a spare in case he needed it. When we got to the Academy I asked for the photopass and was given an envelope which contained two. This never happens and has never happened to me in all the years since. Talk about serendipity; I had a photopass for my absolute favourite band in the world and I had a camera. But I had no film. I started mentally running through camera shops which might still be open (none) but then Gareth told me that he had planned to shoot initially in colour but also had a spare black and white film in his bag which I could have. This was incredibly kind of him and as a result it was the first gig I ever photographed.

I think I would have probably got into gig photography eventually even without the mysterious spare Faith No More photopass but I don’t think I would have started out photographing touring bands. This pass started me doing something I really love and whilst my pictures were a bit crap it gave me the confidence to do more gigs at the Academy and never be afraid to at least ask for a pass.

This was a promo show on the eve of Puressence's breakthrough single This Feeling and although it was at the start of their commercial journey it had the sense of occasion you'd expect for a conquerors return hometown show. It felt like everyone in the Hop and Grape knew something good was finally going to happen with 'our' band, you could feel the anticipation of success in the air, and the band played an absolute blinder.

Just like a Morrissey gig, the crowd sung the lyrics back to the band louder than the monitor vocals, even to the new songs, which we'd previewed courtesy of Liam Walsh's Red Alert samplers. <3

I don't think I've experienced a show quite like it since, their Apollo show was a huge celebration, but this gig, we just knew something good was heading their way.

Sen Dog and co hit the Academy in 1998. He's insane! Got no brain!

Ticket for the late Ian Dury with his marvellous Blockheads at Manchester University in 1998.

Ian had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer two years earlier and undergone surgery, but was told not long after that the condition was terminal.

He recorded with Madness in 1999 and did a charity gig in aid of Cancer BACUP in Feb 2000, supported by Kirsty Maccoll and Phil Jupitus.

Ian died in March of that year.

Sent in by Ted Tuksa

Ticket for Dr John at the University, promoting his 1998 album 'Anutha Zone'

Sent in by Ted Tuksa.

Story by Tony:

This was a great gig. Ultrasound 's 22-stone lead singer, Tiny, was as big and as "What you gonna do about it?" as the Gossip's Beth Ditto.

The buzz band of the moment, when Tiny sang (pre arrest) "Gary Glitter's gone to seed, who will lead us now?" a spontaneous response of "You! You will!" came from the new faithful.

I've got a copy of their album still sealed in a cool, black leather-esque vinyl bag. Just as well perhaps - whilst some hail it as genius, many reviewers panned it as hugely overblown and Prog-tastic and the band split soon after. Shame - we need more characters than that. Too many identikit, corporate indie bands these days.

Story by Kath:

The Roots: Main Debating Hall. Hot and exciting and amazing. They were 'my' band. You can see how quick off the mark I was by the ticket numbers!

?uestlove was great, very memorable. It was the 'Things Fall Apart' album. Crowd were going mad. Nice mixed crowd. Loads of energy and no aggro.

Saw them again in 2002 at the Academy, 'Phrenology' album tour. They had Cody Chestnutt with them and he was the best thing about it.

I went to the aftershow at the Roadhouse. Got drunk, popped a pill and ended up telling The Roots that Cody Chestnutt was the best thing about the gig. I asked them why didn’t they make good records like they used to. Woke up horrified.

Story by Tony:

Guided By Voices - One of my favourite ever gigs this.

Not knowing much about GBV at the time I went mainly to see the hugely under-rated support band Beulah. Think Pavement with a trumpet, mega-catchy tunes, great lyrics.

GBV played for hours with singer Robert Pollard downing a bottle of beer every couple of minutes - never a dull moment. Great tunes - Ric Okasek had just produced their breakthrough album.

There was a Beer Roadie at the side of the stage who must have passed him 20+ bottles throughout the show. You didnt know what he was going to do next - mainly because neither did he. I was converted.

Great gig!

1999 was a massive year for the Lips. they released their masterpiece, 'The Soft Bulletin' in May to a rapturous critical response. Pitchfork Media ranked the album 3rd on the Top 100 albums of the 1990s list, and awarded it a rare score of 10.0.

Am guessing this gig would have featured lots of balloons, people in animal suits, and singer Wayne Coyne doused in fake blood.

Luke Haines performing with The Auteurs, at the Hop and Grape, November 1999.

The decision to go and see The Auteurs play was entirely my boyfriend’s. He loved Luke Haines with a passion but I wasn’t so fussed. I thought the band were a bit dour and found my boyfriend’s obsession with them as baffling as his appreciation for Tindersticks. There was a whole section of his music collection which I tried to ignore and The Auteurs were most definitely part of that. I agreed to go to the gig as long as I could photograph the show (a deal I have struck with my partner on many occasions since) and he assured me that I would have a good night and I would be really impressed with the band. I can’t say I was exactly. Half way through the support slot Luke Haines wandered slowly through the middle of the crowd without causing the slightest ripple of acknowledgement and I couldn’t understand how someone who was practically being ignored could simultaneously be revered so highly by his fans.

I took my place at the front before the headline slot and after a while a man wandered across the stage towards me and leaned over with a concerned look. “Are you taking photos?” Fearing an argument I responded assertively that yes I was, that I had permission from the PR company to do so and I wouldn’t be using flash. The man said that was all fine but “It’s just that could you stop if Luke looks upset?” I had not seen The Auteurs play before so despite feeling that it was a slightly odd request I acquiesced, assuming that it would be really obvious if Luke “looked upset”. Perhaps he would yell at me or kick something over, whatever he did I would be ready to put down my camera in a heartbeat. What I didn’t realise was that Luke Haines was about to play a set where his facial expressions ranged from very serious to melancholic and he barely moved around the stage. He never looked happy so I had no idea how I would know if he was upset. I almost hoped I would provoke an outburst to see what it was like but I had no idea how I would even do that so I just took some pictures and went home.

Looking back through my pictures over 15 years later I have found one where Luke appears to be doing the smallest of smiles. It’s good to know that I didn’t upset him.

Photograph: Emma Farrer

Exterior shot of the Academy building entrance taken in summer 2000. The building was fully refurbished with significant changes made to the bars, toilets, cloakrooms, first aid facilities and the entrance of the building, as well as a larger stage, and a purpose built viewing area for wheelchair users.

With thanks to Sean Fintan Morgan.

Interview with Sean Fintan Morgan published in Audience magazine. Sean was the in-house artist booker at Academy and Students' Union between 1990 and 2011 and he talks about the success of his first ten years on the job.

With thanks to Sean Fintan Morgan

Story by Emma:

Photopass for The Wanndies gig at the MDH (Academy 2) in March 2000. I went to this show mainly to see Soulwax who were supporting but I took some pictures of The Wannadies too. When I was stood waiting in the pit for a band to come on stage I would occasionally take a picture of the front row (usually if some of the audience had started talking to me) but I didn’t always do this because in those days I used film, was reasonably skint and liked to save my precious shots for the bands. It’s a shame I didn’t take an audience shot that night because standing right behind me was a 16 year old Liam Frost who has subsequently told me that he was at the very front of the gig and that Par spoke to him from the stage. Since he told me that I now always take a picture of the audience because you never know who you might end up meeting in the future.

Story by Emma.

Setlist from Soulwax’s show at the MDH in 2000. We interviewed the band for the fanzine ‘This Is Not TV’ and were due to speak to both the Dewaele brothers before the gig but David was instead joined by bass player Stefaan Van Leuven, and they explained that Stephen had chickenpox and would be resting up until showtime. The interview was good and the band were great when they played; Stephen was on vocals and you wouldn’t have known that he was unwell from his performance. After the set I grabbed a copy of the setlist; partly to help us write the review but also because we had noticed that Stephen’s ailments had been incorporated into a couple of the song titles which we thought made the setlist a pretty cool thing to have.

Story by Abigail:

I've always had a soft spot for Luke Haines and particularly enjoyed this side project: great pop tunes, superb lyrics, as you might expect. I think they had a musical saw on stage.