There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is a free exhibition running at Manchester Central Library celebrating the famous history of Manchester’s music scene. Curated by photographer Jill Furmanovsky the founder of Rockarchive.com and music writer Jon Savage it charts the rise of the city’s music scene starting with the punk era in the late 1970s with bands like The Buzzcocks, moving onto the Hacienda years, Factory Records (Joy Division, New Order) through to The Smiths, then the Madchester years including The Happy Mondays and then the rise of bands like Oasis in the mid-1990s and further.
Photographers included are some of the UK’s finest such as Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery, Jill Furmanovsky and Pennie Smith to name a few. There are other bands included such as A Certain Ratio, Doves, The Stone Roses with some pretty iconic images such as a young Mark E. Smith and The Fall hanging out in a car park, Johnny Marr with cool shades and one of his guitars, Morrisey getting ready at a gig and pictures at the Hacienda as well one from the One Love Manchester concert plus Noel Gallagher’s fundraiser at the Manchester Arena post the tragic event of May 2017. Newer acts include The Courteeners and Bugzy Malone.
Punk owes its significant rise to the city due to the Sex Pistols fabled gig in 1976 at the Lesser Free Trade Hall before the Buzzcocks released their Spiral Scratch ep in 1977 which was the first British homemade record inspiring the Do-It-Yourself ethos of indie music that was to follow in the coming years.
The exhibition combines around 90 photos from Rock Archive’s own collection and Manchester Digital Music Archive and is a real treat for music fans. It runs until 22 February 2019 at the Exhibition Hall, First Floor Manchester Central Library, St Peter’s Square, Manchester.
For more information and to purchase images visit www.rockarchive.com
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