Manchester Academy

The Manchester Academy, originally known as the University of Manchester Main Hall, is composed of four concert venues, located on the campus of the University of Manchester, in Manchester, England. The four venues are: Academy 1, 2 and 3 and Club Academy. Utilised by the Students' Union, the venues are housed in two buildings, the original Students' Union built in 1957 and the academy, built in 1990. In 2004, after the merging of the universities, the venues carried the "Academy" moniker. History Known as Victoria University, the Student Union building was erected in 1957. It began hosting concerts in 1963. The venue hosted many jazz artists in its early dates. The first performance was by Humphrey Lyttelton and His Band, 16 November 1963. The main building housed three of its original venues: the University of Manchester Main Hall (now "Academy 2"), the "Hop and Grape" (later became known as "Solem Bar" and now "Academy 3") and "The Cellar" (also known as "Cellar Disco" and now "Club Academy"). Other music venues on campus were Whitworth Hall and "The Squat". After operating for eight years, the building was demolished and became a carpark. With the music scene expanding in Manchester, there was a need for a larger capacity venue on the campus, in 1984, a proposal was submitted for building a concert venue, adjacent to the original Student Union. It opened on 18 October 1990 and was first performed in by Buzzcocks. It was closed completely between March and October 2007 when a major refurbishment and rebuilding programme began, completed in early 2008. It had had a capacity of 2000 and hosted about 50 gigs a year prior to closure, the capacity was increased to around 2,300 with the expansion and further increased to 2,600 in September 2013.