oooh i saw sonic youth here i think...

You probably did Mat. Dave Haslam promoted that gig and they slept on his floor. As described at www.davehaslam.co...

This was indeed a great gig in a cheezy but fun venue (think Working Man's Club meets local Bingo Hall meets Stripper Bar) that's much missed - somewhere I've got some really bad snaps I took of the Fugazi boys playing in front of the glittery curtains that bedecked the stage - and YES Sonic Youth played a great gig in the same venue a few years earlier if I remember correctly :-)

The building got demolished to make way for that little business park (Manchester Science Park) opposite the back of the dental hospital along with some beautiful old trees and Abbey Pond :-(

I just found this set of flickr photos (not mine although bizarrely I know most people in them and one of them's even holding my video camera so I must have been around too) of the Abbey Pond protest - the New Ardri was, if I recall, the distinctive barrel shaped building in the back of some of them - it looked rather like an aircraft hangar!

www.flickr.com/ph...

Just did some web-surfing (Sundays, huh) and got the following : Sonic Youth @ New Ardri Ballroom 8th June 1987. This was actually their 3rd visit to the city (Hacienda 25th April 1985 and The Boardwalk 17th May 1986) and support came from fIREHOSE and AC Temple, the album they were promoting was 'Sister', the setlist was as follows : Schizophrenia / Catholic Block / Tuff Gnarl / Pipeline / Expressway to Yr Skull / PCH / Cotton Crown / Stereo Sanctity / Beauty Lies in the Eye / Tom Violence / White Kross -- Hotwire My Heart (source www.sonicyouth.com)

Hi, I've just added some photos of the venue which I spotted in a book.

Something's been niggling me about that flickr photo of the barrel-shaped building (I don't recall the New Ardri being two-storied for example) so I took an early morning walk down memory lane today and realised that it is actually the back of the Macdougal Centre (a sports facility) that was next door - the Macdougal's still there but sadly no sign of the New Ardri at all :-(

I'm sure it also had a vaulted ceiling however...

thanks to fugazi/ dischords extensive live archiving, you can download the gig for $5
www.dischord.com/...

I was at this gig! I remember the New Ardri Ballroom as hot and sticky and like a small bingo hall; very atmospheric. I left Manchester in April 1994 and I've just noticed that I missed out on David Holmes and Orbital at the Ardri in June 1994 - gutted, even now!!

I designed the flyer for promoter Paul Morley (of Slum Turkeys fame) - I was paid in tickets (which I also designed).

Filmed the earlier Boardwalk Fugazi gig where the Slum Turkeys and Jail-cell Recipes supported.

Gig was May 1992, link above to recording and my (admittedly poor) memory says so, the flyer may well have been out in 91 I guess