THE UK’S NEXT CAPITAL CITY
Or it will be if some people get their way. Welcome to Manchester, a city on a roll. ROB CROSSAN rolls with it
Local boy ROB CROSSAN explores Manchester’s energetic mix of food, music and culture
英倫新都
在曼徹斯特土生土長的Rob Crossan發掘家鄉的美食、音樂與文化
英國遷都曼城也許不是某些人的癡人說夢。來到這鴻個 運當頭的城市，回溯它一路走足來的 跡
Teenagers in tie-dyed t-shirts are draped around industrial black and yellow striped columns. These hazard lines for fork-lift trucks are covered in a writhing, seething mass of blissed-out revellers – some catatonic, others whirling dervishes – as the bellowing beats reverberate around the cathedral-sized space.
This is the Hacienda nightclub, Manchester, 1988. A group called The Stone Roses are about to release their first record. In the years to come, a mash-up of electronica and psychedelia fuelled by various legal and illegal chemicals will create ‘Madchester’ – and one of those interesting intervals in British social history when it was here, rather than London, that innovation in culture, industry, music and fashion flowered.
The pages of fading newspapers and academic journals show us more of these moments. In the late 18th century, as the industrial revolution began in this corner of Lancashire, there were thinkers who believed that Manchester was the future: a more egalitarian society based on industry and graft as opposed to the class-ridden snobberies of London. Manchester became an alternative ideology as well as a place name: the city rattled the Establishment good and proper. It still does.
Revolutionary spirits love it here. The co-author of The Communist Manifesto, Friedrich Engels, was a resident in the 1840s. In the 1960s and ’70s, a raft of outsiders found that Manchester was the perfect place to shape their own future creative direction. Bob Dylan went electric at the city’s Free Trade Hall in 1966 to a crescendo of boos from disgruntled traditional folk music fans who abhorred the electric guitars he now relished.
‘It rains quite a lot in Manchester,’ admits local music historian CP Lee when we meet outside the Free Trade Hall (it closed as a music venue in 1996).
‘It might sound silly to some people but the weather is a massive contributing factor as to why Manchester has always been such a powerhouse of music and art. Rain means a lot of creative people tend to be indoors, in their studios, bedrooms and warehouses creating things. This city seems to have such a desire to create magic in the everyday world.’
With this comes a sense of slight intimidation. Mancunians have a reputation for not suffering fools gladly, for being blunt and for living in a city that still conjures up images of grinding cotton mills and terraced, rain-sodden Victorian streets.
Strolling across the Santiago Calatrava-designed Trinity Footbridge on a sun-dappled afternoon, voluminous clouds scudding across the horizon and the white lines of the bridge glinting like the strings of a harp over the River Irwell, the sense of renewal in this city is overwhelming. Those old images of Manchester are as distant to today’s locals as visions of a London where everyone wore bowler hats. And the days when the ‘real’ Manchester football team, City, languished in the lower reaches of the leagues, will be finally forgotten as manager Pep Guardiola’s team of expressive superstars canters to the Premier League title.
‘For a long time Manchester had quite a defensive attitude and wasn’t good at taking criticism from
MANCHESTER BECAME AN ALTERNATIVE IDEOLOGY AS WELL AS A PLACE NAME: THE CITY RATTLED THE ESTABLISHMENT GOOD AND PROPER. IT STILL DOES曼徹斯特不但是一個地名，更成為令建制惶恐不安的另類意識形態，直至今天仍未改變
在一個大如教堂的空間裡，條多 大柱子都髹上黑、黃二色的條，紋 作用是提醒鏟車司機注意。這時強勁的節拍在這個空間裡迴盪，大柱的子 四周，擠滿身紮穿 染T恤的青少年，隨著節拍亢奮地手舞足蹈，有些人動作僵硬怪誕，有些則瘋狂地轉圈，狂歡的人群擠得洩水不通，柱子上顏色醒目的條紋都被他們掩蓋掉。
這是1988年曼徹斯特夜店Hacienda的情景。當時一， 隊名為The Stone Roses的樂隊即將推出首張專輯。隨後幾年，合法和非法藥物陸續催生出糅合電子和迷幻音樂的「Madchester」（瘋徹斯特）現象，令新一波文化、、工業 音樂和時尚變革在曼徹斯特而非倫展敦開，英成為 國社會史上其中一個別開生面的時代。
從發黃褪色的舊報紙學期和 術 刊裡，可以找更到多由曼城獨領風騷的歷史時刻。18世紀，末 工業革命在位於夏蘭開 郡邊端的曼徹斯特發軔，部分思想家深信曼城就是未來的典範：它以工業和辛勤工作為基礎造，就一個更平等的社會，與階級分明而勢利的倫敦分庭抗禮。曼徹斯特不但是一個地名，更成為令制恐建 惶不安的另意類 識形態，直至今天仍未改變。
具有革命精神的人對曼徹斯特情有獨鍾；，畢竟《共產黨宣言》的共同作者恩格斯於1840年是代這個市居城的民。1960至1970年代，一群外來者認為曼城是就 塑造他們的未來創作路向的完美。地點 1966年， Bob Dylan於市內的Free Trade Hall會堂表演時改走電音路線，傳令 統民謠樂迷對其轉投電結懷子 他 抱而大感不滿，喝倒采之聲不絕。
1996年後， Free Trade Hall會不堂 再用作音樂表演場地。我與當地音樂史學家CP Lee在這幢建築物外見面時他， 對我說：「曼徹斯特經常下雨。有些人可能會覺得這種講法有點匪夷所思，但天氣的確是令曼徹斯特音的樂和藝術特別發達的重要。原因 下雨意味著多許 極富才華的人會留在室內，在工作室、睡房或倉庫裡埋首創作。這個城市似乎非常渴望在日常生活中創造魔」法。
這話令我有略 壓。迫感 曼徹斯特人向來以坦率直接、愚對 蠢行為不留情面著稱；而曼市仍然教人聯想起發出吵耳噪音的紡織廠，以及維多利亞時代排屋立林 、滿地濕滑水雨 的街道。
某個陽光斑駁的午後，步我漫 走過西班牙建築師Santiago Calatrava設計的Trinity Footbridge行橋人 。
厚厚的雲層掠過地平線，橋身白色的吊索在艾威爾河上閃閃發光，看上去有如豎琴弦線。曼城到處散發清新的朝氣，對這一代的當地人而言，曼徹斯特昔日的形象就跟倫敦男人仍普遍戴圓頂硬禮帽的年代一樣，遙已經 不可及。而「真代正」 表曼徹斯特的曼徹斯特城足球隊，曾在聯賽的游下 苦苦掙的扎往事，亦終將被遺忘。球隊現時星光熠熠，領在隊Pep Guardiola領軍下發揮高超水準，英朝著 超錦標穩進步。邁
曼徹斯特手工藝及設計中心位於市內創意澎湃的Northern Quarter區，該幢建築物於世時19 紀 曾為魚市場，現時則是數十家藝術工作室的所在地，出珠售 寶、拼貼畫、手工藝品和畫作。27歲的Chloe Travis是當地的導遊，她在設計中心裡閒逛時表示：「長久以來，曼徹斯特人對外來人都有強烈的