Music Venues in Manchester

YES, 38 Charles Street, Manchester, M1 7DB - Visit now

It’s not been open long, but YES has very quickly become one of Manchester’s most important venues. The programming here is second-to-none with smart bookings of up and coming acts like Black Midi and Another Sky. Happily, YES is situated off Oxford Road and is yet to be discovered by the city’s throngs of visiting stag-weekend revelers. Long may it continue.

Gorilla, 54-56 Whitworth Street West, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M1 5WW - Visit now

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

The Deaf Institute, 135 Grosvenor Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M1 7HE - Visit now

In a Grade-II listed, neo-Gothic former Deaf and Dumb Institute you’ll find one of the city’s best loved music venues across three floors, complete with two bars and a kitchen. The Deaf Institute’s dome-shaped music hall upstairs, complete with tiered seating and a giant mirror ball, has hosted scores of critically acclaimed acts, and is a focal point for the city’s musicians and promoters.

The Stoller Hall, Hunts Bank, Manchester, M3 1DA - Visit now

Manchester’s new kid on the concert hall block, The Stoller Hall, opened its doors in April 2017 to further enhance the city’s already enviable live music provision. Since opening, it has has cemented itself as one of our favorite music venues in Manchester.

Band on the Wall, 25 Swan Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M4 5JZ - Visit now

It was the place with the funny name hanging on up there in the city’s Northern badlands. Edgy, hard, grotty, a bit studenty. Some people are bound to say the new Band on The Wall – which opened in 2009 – isn’t the same and inevitably there will be those ready to bitch about slick transformations somehow robbing cherished old venues of their soul. They’re entitled to their nostalgia trips, but we’re excited about having another place to see good live music in this town. Long may it rock.

The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M2 3WS - Visit now

Home to the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic orchestras, the Bridgewater Hall attracts some of the biggest names in classical music. Purpose-built to the tune of £42m, the hall was designed around its acoustic needs; it floats on 280 earthquake-proof isolation springs that mute all external noise, perfect for shielding around 250 performances a year from the trams outside.

Albert Hall, 27 Peter Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M2 5QR - Visit now

A former Methodist chapel, the Albert Hall reopened as a music venue and bar in 2014, after exploration of its long-forgotten upper floors revealed a 2000-seat hall and stunning stained glass windows. Manchester’s most atmospheric venue has hosted the likes of Young Fathers, Nils Frahm and Maxine Peake as part of Manchester International Festival 2013. Downstairs is cook haus, bakery, bier palace and wunderbar Albert’s Schloss.