Audio

Reading and Leeds festivals confirmed to be going ahead this summer

"We can't wait to get back to the fields".

The Manc The Manc - 24th February 2021
Leeds Festival

The organisers of Reading and Leeds Festival have confirmed today that the two events are due go ahead this summer.

The twin events – which both take place annually over the August Bank Holiday weekend, and attract hundreds of thousands of music lovers from across the globe – are two of the most popular dates in the summer festival calendar, but due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they joined the long list of mass events that inevitably had to be cancelled in 2020.

The festival-goers who were understandably disappointed at last year’s cancellation will be pleased to know that the party is back on once again this year though.

Reading and Leeds took to social media to confirm the news to those eagerly awaiting it.

The statement posted by the festivals’ organisers read: “Following the government’s recent announcement, we can’t wait to get back to the fields this summer”.

Stormzy, Post Malone, and Manchester legend Liam Gallagher will headline the festivals this year.

Today’s announcement confirming that the festivals are to go ahead in 2021 comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his roadmap to take the UK out of its third national lockdown, which says the government plans to remove all legal limits on social contact by 21st June.

While we are still awaiting final confirmation news on the go-ahead of several other of the country’s major music events – including Manchester’s own Parklife, which takes place annually in Heaton Park – the UK’s biggest festival, Glastonbury, has sadly announced that it will not take place in 2021.

This is a BREAKING NEWS story – More to follow.

Audio

The story behind one of Noel Gallagher’s best bits of songwriting and greatest ever peformances

Danny Jones Danny Jones The

Noel Gallagher is not only one of the greatest songwriters of a generation, but perhaps one of Britain’s best-ever; he’s certainly in the top five of all time from Greater Manchester, but did you know how the story behind how one of his best (you heard) songs, ‘Dead In The Water’ came to be?

Or rather, do you know how one little radio performance produced one of his best vocal performances to date? Keep reading…

In case you’ve never heard the haunting ‘Dead In The Water’, taken from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds LP three, Who Built The Moon?, it is very much just that: an almost ghostly and preciously quiet, acoustic song that became a cult favourite on the LP and even more beloved live track.

But this tune was never even supposed to be on the album; the deep cut, which was only ever played live a few times during concerts prior to its being released to the world, was taken from a radio show on Irish station RTÉ 2FM – and Noel didn’t even know it was being recorded.

Played during 2015, and it barely even needed ‘mastering’ before being released in 2017.

As explained by RTÉ’s Damian Chennells, Noel was promoting the previous album, Chasing Yesterday (his sophomore HFB outing and just second solo album up to that point), and during the session in the studio, Damian decided to hit record on an otherwise behind-the-scenes moment.

You can actually hear him going back and forth with the sound engineer at the start of the track – one he’d only just finished writing the night before – before he actually starts playing and the rest, as they say, is history.

We love the notion of the piano player didn’t even know what he was doing until Noel started playing.

Taped and ultimately tracked thanks to a spur-of-the-moment decision made in 2FM Studio 8 at the national free-to-air network’s radio centre in Dublin, Oasis and High Flying Birds fans, as well as lovers of Noel and music in general, got one of the most beautiful stripped-back listening experiences imaginable.

Returning to Ireland some time later, and just four years prior to getting Oasis back together for the Live ’25 world tour show that is now well underway, he performed it once again for The Late Late Show, which goes out on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

Some might argue he sounds even better this time around, but just as he says in the interview above, there is something truly special and unfiltered about that first raw and ridiculously good live recording.

From 2015 to 2021, and even present day, the story behind the original ‘Dead in the Water’ recording is fascinating.

Many have even speculated that the chatter recorded at the start and played to crowds on just a handful of occasions may have even foreshadowed the eventual reunion, as it seems to feature discussion surrounding Liam

The radio tech himself said in the recent retrospective interview of his own, he felt in the moment that “this song is an Oasis B-side” and was the only one played on the day that could easily slip onto one of their records.

As for Who Built The Moon?, a.k.a. HFB3, the album never featured ever B-sides of its own; instead, it just had one extra bonus track right at the very end of the 48:46 run-time – ‘Dead in the Water (live at RTÉ 2FM Studios, Dublin)’.

So there you have it: one of Noel’s most emotional, in-the-zone/lost-in-the-moment vocal performances in history, and one that so many still rate right up there with his very bits of music, may never have been if it wasn’t for ‘Damo’. So thanks, mate, I guess…

Are there any other tracks like ‘Dead in the Water’ where you love the back-story almost as much as the song itself? Bonus points if they’re by Greater Manchester artists.

A new online series spotlighting Manc songwriting is set to debut this month
Speaking of songwriting, there’s still plenty of it coming out of Greater Manchester.

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Jose Francisco Del Valle Mojica (via Flickr) RTÉ One/Sour Mash Records

Audio

Ed Sheeran announces ‘intimate’ Manchester date later this year

Danny Jones Danny Jones Ed Sheeran Manchester December 2025 tickets

The king of contemporary male pop music, Ed Sheeran, is returning to Manchester for one of his biggest dates ever, as well as his venue debut.

Yep, Teddy’s coming to Co-op Live.

The 34-year-old solo star and songwriting extraordinaire hasn’t played a standalone Manchester show since 2023, when he played the legendary AO Arena barely a year on from playing four sold-out nights at the Etihad Stadium.

And now he’s back for more with his first-ever gig at the city’s newest and Europe’s biggest indoor entertainment space.

Confirmed on Wednesday, 3 September, Ed Sheeran is set to play just a small handful of huge headline spaces this winter, including dates in Paris, Munich, Coventry and Dublin, as well as here in Manchester.

Announced ahead of his new LP and eighth studio album, Play, of which we’ve already heard four new tracks: ‘Sapphire’, ‘Old Phone’, ‘A Little More’ and ‘Azizam’ – the latter of which went straight to number one and stayed there for five whole weeks after it dropped.

These upcoming shows will be an extra and rare chance to see Sheeran before his all-new ‘Loop’ stadium tour, which kicks off in Australia next January.

If you saw the scenes at the Etihad, you know how big that one’s going to be.

Revealing details about the limited number of EU dates via his own social media channels, Sheeran wrote: “Coming to play some shows in Europe. These shows will be more intimate than a stadium show, obvz, but still will be incredible.”

We don’t know how he plans to make a room as big as the Co-op Live arena ‘intimate’, but we’re looking forward to seeing what he has in store…

He went on to add that he loves “playing these venues so much”, urging fans to pre-order the new record if they want to get their hands on tickets ASAP.

Play releases on Friday, 12 September, and those who pre-order the album exclusively through Amazon.co.uk before 7pm BST this Sunday, 7 September, can put themselves in with a chance of securing pre-sale tickets.

Elsewhere, early access will also be available to official Co-op members next Wednesday (10/9/25) ahead of general admission going live on Thursday, 11 September.

You can get ready to grab your tickets for Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live on Sunday, 7 December HERE.

Read more:

Featured Images — Press shots (supplied)/Ed Sheeran (via Instagram)

More Audio

StreamGM new YouTube series Manchester: Unplugged

Art & Culture

A new online series spotlighting Manc songwriting is set to debut this month

Audio

A bring-your-own booze music venue is opening in Manchester

Foreigner Manchester arena gig tickets

Audio

Soft rock heroes Foreigner announce UK tour including big Manchester gig

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches