Check out this live gig from 1989 featuring some of Madchester’s finest

Before the advent of 24-hour TV, late night broadcasts tended to be a somewhat random affair – just how many Charles Bronson movies do you need? – so thank heavens for The Other Side of Midnight, an irreverent weekly culture programme hosted by Factory Records head honcho Tony Wilson.

Broadcast on Granada Television, OSM, as it was known, saw Wilson holding court on topics such as “acid house, himself, the opening of the Liverpool Tate, […] Martin Amis, Peter Greenaway, Factory Records, himself, why Manchester was the greatest city in the world, the Hacienda, why Ian Curtis would have been bigger than Bono, and himself,” as TV Cream put it.

The real highlight, however, was the music – which given the period in question (the late 80s) was a regular who’s who of Manchester greats.

This particular edition, from July 1989, is a particular highlight, featuring T-Coy, A Guy Called Gerald and Happy Mondays, as well as some seriously freaky dance moves… the ‘whistle posse’ are also particularly well represented. 🙂

As the great man once reportedly put it, “This is Manchester, we do things differently here…” Turn it up loud! [Kudos to Asto for the YouTube upload]