Band on the Wall

Band on the Wall, the venue owned and operated by Inner City Music, has been at the very heart of Manchester culture for many years. A showcase venue for some of the best music in the world, it presents an internationally-acclaimed programme of live music events, both in-house and externally at venues across the UK.

It emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic with a brand new venue. After six years of fundraising and planning and finally re-building, Band on the Wall has been truly reborn after a £3.5m physical transformation which will truly make it the best showcase music venue of its scale in the UK. Its mission is to celebrate the music of all the diverse communities of the UK.

Its unusual name harks back to the building’s days as The George and Dragon pub in the early 20th Century. Regulars would affectionately refer to the ‘Band on the Wall’ as the place where house musicians quite literally played on a stage halfway up the back wall to make room in the busy pub.

While gaining a reputation for bringing the finest jazz, folk, blues and international music to Manchester, Band on the Wall also found itself at the centre of Manchester’s famed post-punk scene in the late 1970s when Buzzcocks, the Fall and Joy Division played some of their earliest gigs at the venue.

More info about Band on the Wall:

• Address: 27 Swan St, Manchester M4 5JZ
• Website: www.bandonthewall.org
• Coming to an mjf gig with Band on the Wall? Learn more on their accessibility here:
• Manchester Jazz Festival would like all of our guests to feel welcome in our city and at our partner venues so therefore please feel free to contact our audience specialist Aiyisha, (aiyisha@manchesterjazz.com) regarding our piano trail, opening weekend and just generally getting around the city. We will also have a whole host of volunteers who will be happy to support you.  

Check out our previous collaborations with Band on the Wall: