The apple in Now Wave’s eye, this four-floored venue is located in a former auctioneers house on Charles Street, where it hosts some of the city’s best small gigs. Bonuses? Its food traders are top drawer, the happy hour cocktails are banging, and the DJs know exactly what to spin and when.

Originally built in 1963, this huge dance-hall, complete with a sprung-floor, was for that decade, and during the acid house era, an iconic part of Manchester’s music scene. Following a multi-million-pound transformation project, it’s picking up right where it left off, and some.

Under the railway tracks on Whitworth Street West, this bar, kitchen and music venue boasts both a gin parlour upstairs, and a super sound system in the 700 capacity performance space, which has a stage backed by old valve and amp cases from the old BBC basement on Oxford Road.

Ah The White Hotel, the things you must have seen… This self-proclaimed sin slide is located in an unhipstered industrial zone in the shadows of Strangeways prison. There, this former mechanics workshop throws the wildest parties around, while also hosting some excellent leftfield gigs.

Forever on the precipice of closure due to mystifying noise complaints from locals who have knowingly moved into a flat metres away from a music venue, Night & Day Cafe must be protected at all costs. This characterful and timelessly cool Oldham Street venue is a vital one for emerging bands and music lovers alike.

A young venue with an old timey feel, Blues Kitchen is an undeniably gorgeous gaff, all ceramic tiles, revealed brickwork and stained glass windows. The sound system is brilliant, it flexes it well, drawing in rising stars from across the worlds of soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and more. It also does an enviably good cocktail and top BBQ fare.

Split across three flours, the Grade-II listed, neo-Gothic Deaf Institute features a dome-shaped music hall, complete with tiered seating and a giant mirror ball. There, it hosts scores of critically acclaimed acts, and while it’s developed a few rivals over the last few years, it still does what it does very well.

Manchester’s cherished Band on the Wall, with its 200 year history, underwent a major renovation and expansion recently. It now has a slicker bar (which doubles us a second gig space), extended capacity in the main room (without losing any of its soul), and a whole floor dedicated to the venue’s innovative World of Music learning programme.

Albert Hall is an objectively stunning venue, the kind that could never be built again. Originally a Wesleyan Chapel, its huge stained glass windows, ceiling arches and ornate vestibules create a very atmospheric backdrop to live gigs. Downstairs you’ll find cook haus, bakery, bier palace and wunderbar, Albert’s Schloss.

The RIBA award-winning Stoller Hall is an acoustically-excellent space directly opposite Manchester Victoria Station. Since opening back in 2017, its year round programme of live concerts have enhanced the city’s already enviable live classical music provision.

Formerly Soup Kitchen. Now just Soup. Nestled in the corner of Stevenson Square, this place finds the right balance in everything. It’s cool but unpretentious, the food and drink menu is great but also pretty cheap, and the industrial-style basement earnestly nurtures Mancunian talent while also attracting international names.

Okay, so the sound leaves a little to be desired these days, as does its extortionate drinks prices, but this O2-owned venue does still have a lot more soul than many of its counterparts. Opened as a dance hall in the roaring 20s, it still retains its original sprung dancefloor, which makes for a truly exquisite excellent mosh.

Home to the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic orchestras, The Bridgewater Hall attracts some of the biggest names in classical music. The hall was designed around its acoustic needs, floating on 280 earthquake-proof isolation springs that mute all external noise, perfect for shielding around 250 performances a year from the trams outside.

Jazz bar Matt and Phred’s must have been concerned when The Blues Kitchen arrived on the scene a few years ago, but really, these places are very different. Matt and Phred’s, the OG, is much cosier, more underground, and with way more actual jazz on. It also wins happy hour: you literally get a free pizza when you buy two pints. Good God…

Hailed as something of a cry back ‘to the way the Northern Quarter used to be’, The Peer Hat is Old English styled and yet determinedly celebrates current grassroots musicians in its basement gig room and club space.

Billed as Manchester’s next-generation music venue, members’ club, late-night bar and restaurant, Canvas shoulders a lot, but it’s more than managing. While it might not be the most atmospheric space to watch live music, it does attract some great little touring artists, whilst hosting regular R&B club nights.

Okay so it’s another O2 venue, but here us out. Originally built as a cinema in 1938, The Apollo is a majestic, Grade II listed Art Deco building which, for a 3500-capacity venue, offers great views of the stage wherever you stand, thanks to sloping steeped floor.

One for the rockers. Offering a much-needed alternative to the slick bars under the arches on Deansgate Locks, Rebellion is the place to go if you like your music heavy and your anthems alternative. A welcome thorn in the side of the Locks’ standard rosy fare.