Joy Division

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The venues of the early 21st century

Manchester's biggest popular music venue is the Manchester Evening News Arena, which seats over twenty thousand, and is the largest arena of its type in Europe, with the City of Manchester Stadium and Old Trafford's cricket grounds also providing large ad-hoc open air venues outside of the sporting season. Other major venues include the Manchester Apollo and the Manchester Academy. There are over 30 smaller venues for signed and unsigned artists of all genres to perform in, ensuring that the music scene in Manchester constantly remains vibrant and interesting. An area known as the Northern Quarter, considered the cultural and musical heart of the city, houses some of the best known of these venues such as Band on the Wall, the Roadhouse and Night and Day Cafe, and various other venues exist in various pubs and clubs throughout the city.

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Resources on the WWW

    * The definitive independent northern resource is available at:

ManchesterMusic - An independent website established in 1999 cataloguing hundreds of local acts and with thousands of reviews available on-line:-"Manchester Music". http://www.manchestermusic.co.uk.

    * Other major long established websites with music review content include :

BBC Manchester's indispensable Music & Entertainment Section:- "BBC Manchester: Music and Entertainment". http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/entertainment.

    * Manchester Evening News (includes City Life) Music Pages:

"Manchester Evening News Music section". http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music.

    * High Voltage—long running fanzine and local music site

"High Voltage (fanzine)". http://highvoltage.org.uk.

    * Manchester is Music Radio - a free online local music station exclusively playing unsigned bands

"Manchester is Music". http://www.manchesterismusic.com.

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Broadcast media

The region is now served well by its own local radio shows, notably some regular weekly slots on BBC Radio GMR. However the recent addition of London based commercial station Xfm in Manchester, has helped elevate the city's media facilities and Xfm has developed a real presence on the local live circuit, as the only daily on-air resource for local music.

The continued development of programming by TV broadcaster Channel M (part of the Guardian Media Group) has provided an opportunity for many contemporary unsigned acts to appear on live television and a healthy diet of interview shows, in studio sessions and in-venue recordings have boosted the profile of the North West's already diverse array of emerging talent.

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Pop songs about Manchester

Many Manchester bands, and those from elsewhere who have been influenced by the city's musical heritage and unique atmosphere, have immortalised it in song - see List of songs about Manchester.

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Royal Albert Hall, London, a major venue for all forms of music

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Rob Gretton

Rob Gretton (January 15, 1953 - May 15, 1999) was best known as the manager of the post punk bands Joy Division and New Order. He was also a partner in Factory Records, proprietor of the Rob's Records label and a co-founder along with Tony Wilson of The Haçienda nightclub in Manchester, England.

Gretton's involvement with the Manchester scene began when he contributed £200 to co-finance Slaughter and the Dogs' first single, the punk classic "Cranked Up Really High". Between 1996 and 1999, he managed his last Manchester fledglings Gabrielles Wish, signing them to his own label, Rob's Records.

Gretton was a loyal supporter of Manchester City F.C..[1]He died in May 1999 at the age of 46 as the result of a heart attack.[2]

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Gretton was portrayed by Paddy Considine in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, which documented the rise and fall of Factory Records, and by Toby Kebbell (who coincidentally plays Considine's brother in Dead Man's Shoes) in the 2007 film Control, a biopic of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.

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References

   1. ^ “Get The Files” : Remembering Rob Gretton
   2. ^ Dickinson, Bob. "Rob Gretton". The Guardian, 21 May 1999. Retrieved on 8 February, 2009