Forgive me, I’ll get to the band, but first I want to talk about our newest Manchester venue. We’re in the middle of what was once an inner city suburb of Manchester called Greenheys. In the 1800s an affluent semi-rural area (and home to original Madchester drug enthusiast Thomas De Quincey, socialist Robert Owen and Sir Charles Halle) before the Industrial Revolution turned it into a traditional estate of back-to-back terraced streets by the 1890s when The Old Abbey was built. A place that generations called home. By the 1970s, the bulldozers moved in and the whole neighbourhood was gone again. Pretty much all that remains was The Old Abbey – one of those wonderful ‘blot on the landscape’ pubs that cannot be destroyed by conventional means and remains while everything around it changes beyond recognition. See also The Salutation up the road from here, and the Star and Garter next to Piccadilly Station – immovable objects refusing to budge as developers erect drab student flats and soaring skyscrapers around them.

Unlike the rest of Hulme and Moss Side next door – Greenheys didn’t turn into new housing development and instead The Old Abbey found itself no longer the pub on the corner, but strangely marooned in the middle of a huge Science Park where it now hides -a wonderful anomaly amid anonymous looking office units, labs and University buildings and strangely bland and artificial looking bits of landscaping and greenery (apparently home to over 150 businesses but deserted at night).

In recent years The Abbey was a lesser known part of the ‘Kro’ chain of Manchester bars, before becoming a makeshift but thriving community pub/hub which unfortunately closed down in 2025. Local music promoters Now Wave came to the rescue (of the building at least) and the pub has been given a refurb and a purpose built live music space added at the back (along with a spruced up beer garden). It’s very much being promoted as ‘Old Pub, new music’ rather than purely a venue. Once again the beer flows as do in-depth pub conversations, music, games, hot pies and crisps.

Walking in the smartly restored entrance you enter what feels like an old pub that has been there forever, it feels lived in rather than ‘poshed up’ and hopefully anyone who remembers the old days will feel reasonably at home in the snug. Through a door past the bar is a neat little annexe housing a wood panelled venue, almost like a miniature version of the lovely New Century Hall. Modern lighting effects combine with a glittery silvery backdrop curtain that might have felt at home in it’s 1960s heyday.

It’s a small room, probably around the capacity of the basement venue at Yes but more opened out and a higher ceiling. It’s a really well laid out space clearly built with music in mind – there’s a mini bar, a ticket window and – the one thing so many live venues forget (and so important to touring bands this century)- a dedicated space for bands to set their merchandise out which is conveniently placed on the way in/out of the gig room. One criticism – there is no air conditioning (yet?) and it is very clammy and stuffy on a moderately warm night – with a capacity crowd in a heatwave it’d be unbearable. All in all though, a great restoration of what could easily have been a lost pub. It does feel in the middle of nowhere that’s also part of it’s charm and it’s only really a short 10 min stroll from Hulme, the Academy venues on Oxford Road and the University.

Oh yeah, the gig. Tonight’s turn are Golomb, all the way from Columbus, Ohio. Another great band with a confusing name (see every single Indie band ever since 2020). My immediate response is to assume they are some of sort of unimaginative Prog Rock band who are reaching for something Tolkien-esque for inspiration but is apparently the maiden name of one of the band members, and they are not Prog Rock (well maybe slightly). They are a three piece – married couple Xenia on Bass and vocals, Mickey on guitar/vocals and Xenia’s brother Hawken on Drums. A family affair then. I’m sure other writers would get several paragraphs out of how that shapes their sound and songwriting – I’ll just say it probably saves on hotel bills on tour.

There is something reassuring about an effortlessly cool looking girl and two boys who walk on stage, take their time plugging in and getting settled while a feedback loop gradually gets louder and louder – calm and collected and sure enough as soon as they launch into the first song – a brilliantly simple Velvet Underground riff with a catchy chorus – ‘Real Power’ – I’m immediately “in”. It’s loud, melodic and irresistible. They’re not a one-note drone rock band either, they can meander a bit – with Mickey seemingly making the sound that Sonic Youth need 3 guitars to achieve, not one. Xenia on bass drives along at points almost overwhelming the sonics but she also knows when to leave gaps and as the set progresses things veer into spacier territory and the basslines veer dubwise . Things get quite Spacemen 3/Sonic Boom at times too and no surprise that the latter has contributed a remix for the band’s latest excellent record ‘The Beat Goes on’.

Golumb have tunes to burn, and a really natural easy chemistry as a band that makes them really appealing to listen to. They don’t play safe either, every time you think they’re settling into something generic they take it somewhere slightly off – suddenly segue into a new song, or extend it or bend it out of shape – and there are lots of changes of pace and mood. They can do sharp, short pop songs but they can also do extended wig-outs and slow burning drones without descending into hackneyed ‘psych rock’ cliches and you’re never far from another choppy riff and a sharp hook. They are the very definition of a Power Trio. Go and follow Golomb.