Live Forever (if the rent holds out)
- Alyssa Speight
- Aug 8
- 3 min read
Some Might Say… The System’s Starting to Work…
Manchester was recently overrun by full-blown Oasis mania. Five sold-out nights at Heaton Park with a combined crowd of more than 320,000 people. Nothing to turn your nose up at.
And yeah, we know not everyone in our scene was overjoyed about it. Fair play. But personally? My only issue was not getting a ticket.
If you rolled your eyes at the reunion announcement, we get it. Mega-shows are often overhyped, overpriced, and don’t feel like they have anything to do with the grassroots culture of the city. We’re delighted to report however, that the Oasis gigs didn’t just take over Manchester, they gave back to it.
Manchester City Council have just announced a £250,000 fund to support grassroots music venues. The fund is a direct result of increased earnings from the steady rise in high-profile gigs taking place in the city. It's refreshing to know that at least a portion of this pot is being shared with the grassroots scene. A rare case of stadium‑scale success reinvesting into the smaller venues that built the narrative in the first place.
t’s not charity, it’s rent. And for once, it’s being paid.
On instagram, the Music Venues Trust (MVT) posted recently that only 11 of the 34 grassroots venues that Oasis played on their very first tour remain open. See Post. Now, that same MVT will be overseeing the fund, a rare moment of infrastructure recognising its roots, and handing the power to the right people to facilitate real change. The pipeline from £5 gigs to £5 million tours is being recognised, finally.
The point is, whether or not you rate Oasis, the cycle of music culture has to be resourced from somewhere. And at least this time, that resourcing is primarily coming from Manchester artists, in Manchester venues, via Manchester money.
Now, will The Bag Factory see any of that cash?
Will most DIY spaces in the city get a penny? That depends on how the fund’s distributed and who’s allowed to apply. We've learned not to hold our breath, but who knows what the future holds? But that doesn’t mean the gesture’s meaningless.
It means we have a case study. Its leverage. It's precedent. And it means we have a new question to ask the next time a stadium tour rolls through the city: are you feeding the culture, or just feeding off it?
It might even act as a blueprint for other cities with grassroots artists grasping to get a break in a grassroots venue just like ours.
Culture isn’t top-down. It’s ground-up. And it’s about time we start treating it that way.
This city made Oasis. It made The 1975. It made Joy Division, The Stone Roses, New Order, Blossoms, Happy Monday, Bugzy, the lot. It’s still making the next ones, in rooms you’ve never heard of and might never step foot in.
What’s happening now is simple: the circle could feed itself. We just need to figure it out. Together.
And as always, we will see you at the front (Of The Bag factory)
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