Stockport Plaza – Live Review

Strawberry Studios Forever
The Plaza, Stockport
31st March 2025

A host of Manchester music legends and up and coming Stockport musicians came together at The Plaza Stockport with one objective: to honour the music recorded at the town’s iconic Strawberry Recording Studios. All of this was done as a celebration concert under the name Strawberry Studios Forever – a rather obscure reference to The Beatles.

With performances from Peter Hook, former bass player with Joy Division and New Order, Clint Boon, keyboard player with Inspiral Carpets, and Gaz Whelan, drummer with Happy Mondays, Strawberry Studios Forever’s live sets featured new versions of the classic tracks that were recorded at Strawberry in its heyday from: Love Will Keep Us Together by Neil Sedaka, to Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division

Alongside this roster of classic stars, recent #1 in the charts The Lottery Winners hit the stage to perform The Smiths first two singles, This Charming Man and Hand In Glove. Both of these singles were recorded at Strawberry 2 in 1983.

To kick off the night’s performance, this event’s organiser, John Barratt, curated a selection of young talent from the Stockport area to perform on the Plaza’s stage. But before anyone started their set, Peter Tattersall (Strawberry Studios Founder) and Peter Wadsworth (curator of Strawberry archive) were invited up on stage to discuss their years and experiences at Strawberry Studios. Bec O’Malley, Anya Mia, Charlie Andrew, Scarla and Barratt followed, performing a wide variety of hits on stage, all recorded at Strawberry Studios. All songs were backed by former Fuzzy Sun members Kyle Ross and George Fitzgibbon.

To finish off the first act, Nancy Dinan, performed her ethereal cover of Joy Division’s Transmission. Her cover managed to capture Peter Hook’s attention, so much so that he invited her to perform with him on stage at the Manchester Camerata for Joy Division’s orchestrated performance. Alongside Transmission, Nancy also performed Love Will Tear Us Apart, with Jim Richardson on guitar and Colleen Langan on fiddle.

Jumpstarting the second act, Clint Boon came up on stage with his son Oscar Boon on bass guitar, Inspiral Carpets member Kev Clark on drums, and Charlie Cole on guitar. Clint Boon danced in-between centre stage, showcasing his prevalent singing abilities, before going to his trusty keyboard to play the Inspiral Carpets classic, This Is How It Feels. Keeping the ball rolling of famous musicians on stage, Gaz Wheelan, Happy Mondays drummer, performed as Yogi G And The Family Tree to play a few Happy Mondays classics. To follow this up, up-and-coming Manchester band Dantzic performed the Stone Roses classic I Wanna Be Adored – introduced by no other than Andy Couzens, founder member of The Stone Roses.

To close the curtains and celebrate the long life of Strawberry Studios, Peter Hook took the spotlight to play two classics from his highly decorated musical career: Ceremony from New Order, and Love Will Tear Us Apart. Joined on stage by Nancy Dinan for backing vocals, they exchanged stage banter and put on a wonderful performance for all 1310 seats in the Stockport Plaza. As Love Will Tear Us Apart came to an end, the majority of the Plaza was standing up, singing back the lyrics to the song in a beautiful moment of solidarity.

The event was used as a launch pad for the Strawberry Studios Forever vinyl, released on Seven Miles Out Records, the entire album being produced by Fuzzy Sun members Kyle Ross and George Fitzgibbon at their studio in Pear Mill, Stockport.

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All words and photos by Elliot Davies. This is Elliot’s first review for Louder Than War.