Free Trade Hall

10 Iconic Live Music Spots in Manchester for Peak '90s Nostalgia | Condé Nast Traveler

"In the 1960s and early 1970s, when council licensing laws left Manchester with little nightlife beyond folk sessions in dark pubs, this palazzo-style sandstone behemoth built on the site of the Peterloo massacre was the place to catch touring artists. Inside these walls, an irate folk fan shouted “Judas!” at Bob Dylan in 1966 for going electric, and a decade later the Sex Pistols played to a minuscule audience that included future architects of the city’s music scene—Ian Curtis, Pete Shelley, Peter Hook, Mark E. Smith, Tony Wilson and Morrissey. It’s now a Radisson hotel, but only a 15-minute walk to the Eagle Inn where a new generation of tyro noise alchemists keeps sneering, strutting and swaggering." - Rob Crossan