‘I Saw David Bowie at Stretford B&Q.’ Before there was hardware... there was Hardrock.
Laughing Gnome improvement. The Thin White Emulsion Duke. Ziggy Stardusters. Right, that’s enough of that. Guest cult contributor Nick J. Brown takes us back to a time when Stretford was the home of the Hardrock music venue… and Bowie put the B into B&Q.
Some years ago, back when B&Q’s Stretford store was still standing and still in operation, the above claim about Bowie playing at that very spot was imparted to a workmate of mine by an older colleague. Now, I know what you’re thinking… because it’s what I thought too. Every workplace has a teller of tall tales and its share of jokers - a bloke at my place of work once said to me that he’d done some boxing, I said, ‘oh, really?’ He replied, ‘yeah, at Kellogg’s.’
Remarkably, though, the Bowie story was true. At least partially.
The gist was, should you find yourself in Stretford B&Q, then pass by the nuts and bolts, the brushes and paints, politely decline any offers of help from members of staff - unless you’re taking the opportunity to return that angle grinder your uncle gave you last Christmas - and make your way to the gardening supplies section. There you’ll find the spot where Ziggy Stardust had stood. Strumming his guitar. Striking a pose. Right by the trellises.
On 2 September 1972, David Bowie’s alien alter ego played the opening night of the Hardrock Concert Theatre on Greatstone Road, Stretford. The show would be repeated the following evening (see ticket above). In fact, Ziggy and his Spiders from Mars would infest the place, returning for two more appearances that December.
For a little over three years, the venue would host a range of the music world’s great and good. Lou Reed, Santana, Hawkwind and Led Zeppelin all played there in the first few months, to be followed in time by the likes of Chuck Berry, Black Sabbath, Elton John, Fats Domino, Wings, Small Faces, James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Slade, Cockney Rebel, and Focus. Reports vary, but Tangerine Dream seem to have been the last act to grace its stage in October 1975, before closure a month later due to growing violence inside and out of the venue.
Since then, it appears to have been largely forgotten. No picture seems to exist of it, though there are rumours of a book being written, but until that sees the light of day, the Hardrock is little more than a one-hit wonder consigned to the ‘where are they now?’ file.
One regular at the venue was a local youth who grew up only minutes away on Kings Road and is the focus of a further anecdote. Steven Patrick Morrissey was 13 in 1972 when a band he’d later profess his love for in the letters pages of the NME were touring as support for Roxy Music - what’s more, they were due to play literally round the corner. Imagine having a ticket and pressing yourself up at the front of the crowd, waiting for that band, only to be greeted by an announcement that their appearance had been cancelled due to the death of their drummer three days earlier. Heaven knows how miserable you would be.
This tale of woe was recounted during the 2004 Move Festival at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, right next door to the long-gone Hardrock. The former Smiths frontman having been preceded on stage by the very band he missed seeing 32 years earlier, the New York Dolls.
Echoing the lifespan of the Hardrock, the Move Festival would run for only three years before lack of a sponsor brought about its end. As well as Morrissey and the Dolls, the 2004 lineup featured The Cure, Pixies and Jimmy Cliff. The year before offered Manic Street Preachers, The Charlatans, Teenage Fanclub and R.E.M. The inaugural 2002 event included New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, Paul Weller, and - almost three decades after opening the Hardrock - ladies and gentlemen, Mr David Bowie.
Whether he recalled his earlier visits to the area is unknown - his mid-70s excesses being rather, well, excessive. But I like to believe that, during a quiet moment prior to his set, he may have slipped out of the cricket ground and into the DIY emporium, passing by the nuts and bolts, the brushes and paints, politely declining any offers of help from staff - unless he was taking the opportunity to return that angle grinder Brian Eno had given him the previous Christmas - and made his way to the gardening supplies section to stand in the same spot he did all those years ago. Ziggy Stardust, once more. Strumming his guitar. Striking a pose. Right by the trellises.
Look out for an eyewitness report of the B&Q Bowie show and other cult gigs from the 70s from Cult Manchester favourite Ian Moss - coming soon. The Manchester District Music Archive can be found here.
