The historic Manchester live music venue Band on the Wall is due to open brand-new NY jazz bar-inspired, The Copper Bar; a welcoming, inclusive and intimate setting featuring new lighting, art installations, future-thinking programming, and free live gigs every Friday and Saturday night.
The iconic multi award-winning live music venue has partnered with Brooklyn Brewery to create The Copper Bar, with a nod to NYC’s jazz venue Zinc Bar (previously the legendary Cinderella Club, where Thelonius Monk was the house pianist and Billie Holiday sang her earliest shows), with its beautiful hand-crafted copper bar, and inspired by the brass instruments running through the jazz, reggae, soul and funk genres.
The Copper Bar, has a striking copper bar-top, Brooklyn-based neons, is steeped in Band on the Wall’s extensive history as the longest established music venue in Manchester, with a focus on its everyday international programming. It will feature a bespoke hand- painted mural, and collages curated by the musician-led venue team from the venue’s archive content, along with other striking pieces of memorabilia
The Copper Bar houses Band on the Wall’s second stage, which opened as part of the venue’s £3.5m redevelopment two years ago, and creates space for the diverse and creative community that has built up around its experimental content, featuring artists from Manchester’s Elf Traps, Club Clam and Make me Feel to US based, French-Carribean singer Adi Oasis.
The new decor and The Copper Bar brand highlight Brooklyn Brewery’s partnership with the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIGBI) and the bar will serve its Stonewall Inn IPA, a beer for all, with no exceptions and the venue’s deep held commitment to inclusivity.
The Copper Bar’s free live weekend gigs will launch on 20th September, and will continue every Friday and Saturday night; on Fridays you can check out ‘La Fiesta’ billing some of the city’s best afrobeat, latin and reggae artists, while Saturdays will be filled with upbeat jazz, soul and funk at ‘Funk Street’.
Launch weekend will see dynamic crew of session musicians Bacana transform your favorite tunes into a spicy blend of Latin, funk, soul, and afrobeat on Friday 20th, and Saturday 21st will welcome conga-crammed, horn-heavy, soul-stuffed nine-piece Plimp Soul to the stage as they bring a boundless energy to a burning mission to put the fun back into funk.
During the weekends running up until the end of the year La Fiesta will host sets from the likes of Afrodesia, Chilli ChaCha, NGUVU, Trees.R.Good, and Good King Steady, while Blush, Flat Moon, Make Me Feel, and Maya Blandy will be cruising down to Funk Street, with more to be announced.
CEO at Band on the Wall Gavin Sharp says: “It’s been two years since our amazing venue re-opened and the new second stage has embedded itself as a unique and safe space for our local creative community to come together and make music, test ideas and collaborate.
“We now, with the support of NYC’s Brooklyn Brewery, are launching a brand-new bar within the venue; The Copper Bar. It will have new lighting, artistic installs and free live gigs every Friday and Saturday night, and we are really excited to invite all our friends along to try it out.”
