“PUNK, GRITTY, WEIRD AND UNAPOLOGETIC”: VOCAL GIRLS EXPLORES MANCHESTER’S FAMOUS DRAG SCENE
Our VOCAL GIRLS tour of Manchester wouldn’t have been complete without a stop at Canal Street’s Gay Village and a collection of queer Fringe events! Join us as we take a trip to some of the Drag community’s staple spots.
Image Credit: Josh Cadogan | @joshcadogan | Beau Azra
It’s safe to say we’re loving our first stop on the VOCAL GIRLS tour; as we’ve explored Manchester’s music scene throughout May, it is evident the city prides itself on the vibrant and diverse nature of its acts. From its underground urban beats, to its Californian guitar bops, the city is bursting at the seams with an incredible array of artistry. However, it wouldn’t be a full tour of the Manchester scene without a pit stop at the city’s renowned Gay Village- home to the acclaimed Canal Street - and a collection of its queer Fringe events, where the musical drag scene is thriving. So join us on our adventure along the strip to seek out Manchester’s best drag venues and events.
It may have been twenty years since ‘Queer As Folk’ was filmed on the rainy streets of Manchester, but the scene today is more spirited and chromatic than ever. From the cheap and cheerful ‘G-A-Y’ bar, to the boundless ‘Escape to Freight Island’, the city’s drag scene seamlessly exists across venues of all natures and demographics. And so we begin at the eccentric venue of Albert Schloss, which refers to itself as a “Bohemian bier palace”. Known for its luxurious catalogue of beverages and the ‘it’s showtime!’ attitude it promotes, the straight venue itself screams indulgence, especially considering its predominantly heterosexual audience. However, it is only when you take a look behind the curtains that you realise this venue is so much more than that.
Manchester drag queen, Cheddar Gorgeous, stated that: “Albert’s has changed the game. They pay incredibly well and have invested in the scene and the performers”, and this is extremely evident in the venue’s ever growing representation of Manchester’s drag artists. With the likes of Cheddar Gorgeous and Joe Spencer on offer, this stage represents avant-garde artistry, extravagance and glitz. It’s important to note that perhaps the atypical audience enjoying the entertainment here offers a new layer of flair to the queens’ performances, for they are not performing to the converted - rather, they are challenging the complied. The glamorous and limitless essence of ‘Albert Schloss’ is intoxicating, and, although it may be a walk from Canal Street, its uniqueness and platform for drag is undoubtable.
Speaking of Cheddar Gorgeous, it is necessary for us to mention the city-born Family Gorgeous - one of the UK’s most famous drag families. During our tour of the scene, we chatted with a member of the Manchester collective, Beau Azra, who is an undeniably valuable asset to the team. Beau (he/they) is a queer transgender performance artist, drag queen and show manager whose art centres around catharsis: “Drag has been a lifeline and a free space to access the power I do not feel in my everyday life as a queer and trans person”.
After living and performing in Berlin for three years, Beau returned to Manchester due to COVID-19 with their partner and collaborator, Grace Oni Smith, who is also a member of Family Gorgeous. They have since embarked on a huge array of queer fringe events and projects. This includes ‘Mon Salai’, an experimental jam project born from the collaboration of queer musicians; ‘Creatures of Catharsis’, a queer cabaret collective honouring drag, live music, comedy and spoken word performances; and they have also featured on the lineup of ‘Amuse Bouche’, a weekly drag event at Manchester’s ‘Escape to Freight Island’.
“The Manchester queer alternative scene celebrates the “other”… It is DIY, punk, gritty, weird and unapologetic. It is sensitive, emotional, welcoming and warm. It is everything”
Following the drought of physical drag events due to Coronavirus, ‘Escape to Freight Island’ became one of the hottest socially distanced venues to visit in hope of catching a glimpse of the city’s notorious queer artists. The outdoor venue’s roots lie in a long-forgotten depot beneath Manchester Piccadilly station. It is urban, gritty and, just as it says on the label, an escape. Combining quality street food, outlandish bars and novel entertainment, the landscape of the island is the perfect place to enjoy good grub in the midst of forward-thinking distinctive performances. ‘Amuse Bouche’ is where I caught my first show of Beau’s, and the usual underground venue was the idyllic representation of the Manchester alternative drag scene alongside their work.
We couldn’t complete a tour without mentioning ‘Bollox’! No - not the ones you’re thinking of! ‘Bollox’ is the epitome of Manchester’s alternative intersectional queer scene. Following the illustrious work of Foo Foo Lamar, which catalysed Manchester’s position as one of Britain’s queer capitals, the hunger for newness on the scene was unstoppable. This led to an increase in alternative drag events like ‘Bollox’ to build the foundations of today’s contemporary drag scene. Born in noughties Liverpool, ‘Bollox’ developed into a three-floor dance and club night takeover of Manchester’s Deaf Institute. The no-rules music policy of the venue speaks for the unbounded aura of the ‘Bollox’ events; think Joy Division meets Kylie and Madonna for a harmonious yet filthy celebration of queer extravagence, all in one of Manchester’s Grade-II listed pieces of stunning architecture.
‘Bollox’ sits amongst an incredulous list of queer events including ‘Body Horror’, ‘Miss Chief’ and ‘Fatty Acid’; your options here really are endless. From chatting to Beau, it has become apparent that the existence of Manchester’s drag scene really is all around if you’re looking for it: “It’s not like we’re inconspicuous, is it?”. With the city’s immense queer history - from the birth of ‘Foo Foo’s Palace’, to tens of thousands of Mancunians marching against Margaret Thatcher’s open discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community - the intersectional celebration of the queer community is a staple to Manchester’s cultural scene. Whilst the celebration of diversity in the city is clear, the free-spirited, boundary-pushing nature of the community here is what makes it so enticing and welcoming. In Manchester you can just be. So, go and immerse yourself in queer power and the extravagance of people being themselves; the Manchester drag scene is calling you!
