Hot Chip has just announced they will play a huge live show in Manchester in the new year, in what marks the band’s first appearance since the release of their newest album Freakout/Release.
The electronic band, most famous for mid-noughties hits ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Ready for the Floor’, will bring a specially curated line-up to the Warehouse Project’s home at Depot Mayfield for the very first time.
At the huge show, which will take place on 3 February 2023, Hot Chip will be joined by the likes of Todd Terje, Sofia Kourtesis, Yuné Pinku, Mona Yim (DJ Set) and Tarzsa.
The group’s most recent release Freakout/Release dropped this summer to resounding praise from critics, with music review authority Pitchfork comparing the album to “a homeopathic remedy”.
Image: Hot Chip
The eighth album from the band, a long-time favourite of electronic music heads, opens with what the site calls “a startling confession” from frontman Alexis Taylor before delving into a “litany of woes”.
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Elsewhere, tunes such as the album’s title track Freakout/Release pay homage to the group’s love of The Beastie Boys (inspired, in part, by the group’s cover of ‘Sabotage’) – joining “doubt with deliverance over the cleansing pulse of a disco beat.”
Since first debuting in 2004, the London indie electronic band has gone on to release seven more LPs, received Grammy and Mercury Prize nominations and perform at the likes of Glastonbury.
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Image: Hot Chip
Image: Hot Chip
Formed in 2000, the band have forged themselves a reputation as one of the most innovative bands to come out of the UK in modern times.
In their time, Hot Chip have released eight studio albums, with their latest being 2022’s Freakout/Release.
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So far, only two dates have been announced by the band in 2023 with Hot Chip playing their first show of the year in Manchester. Hot Chip will then headline Kaleidoscope Festival at London’s Alexandra Palace on July 15, 2023.
Tickets for the WHP show start from £29.50 plus a booking fee. You can register now via https://linktr.ee/WHPMCR for the exclusive presale and the only guaranteed access to tickets.
The presale for tickets goes live on Wednesday 30 November at 10am, followed by a general sale on Thursday 1 December at 10am.
Feature image – Hot Chip
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One giant house party – Ne-Yo and Akon at Co-op Live, Manchester
Hollie Wells
‘So Sick’ of seeing pilates and matcha; when all you need is a messy naughties night out? Iconic duo Ne-Yo and Akon can, apparently, take you there.
Imagine the best house party of the 2010s with 20,000 of your favourite guests on perfect form, and you know what Co-op Live has been like for the last two nights for R&B royalty Ne-Yo and Akon.
Hosting a collaborative catalogue of bangers from both the stars, the atmosphere was buzzing with nostalgia and a readiness to have the ‘Time of Our Lives.’
Not only were we treated to two icons, they shared the stage with amazingly talented dancers, performing on the ground and in the sky, and perfectly embodying the showmanship of Ne-Yo and AKON and amplifying the party atmosphere.
It feels like there are endless group numbers, and if that wasn’t enough, these dancers start hanging on aerial silks from the rafters of Co-op Live by one foot and dropping into the splits on Ne-Yo’s lap. Casual.
This is a night for screaming timeless heartbreak anthems like ‘Angel’ and ‘Lonely’, throwing some ‘Dangerous’ dance moves, and throwing your arms around your best pal while copious amounts of confetti fall over you.
Not only did we get the classics, the packed audience of party people were presented with a dance-battle style compilation of tunes that the singer-songwriters were involved with.
And of course, they had a plethora of perfect numbers, including Rhianna’s ‘Hate that I Love You’, Gwen Stefani’s ‘The Sweet Escape’ and Beyoncé’s ‘Irreplaceable.’ A triad of divas, and these songs never get old.
With a running time of two hours and forty minutes, it is clear that these two are not short on hits.
Needing an interval at a gig is a flex and I would confidently say this Manchester crowd would have parted all night long, particularly the three lucky ladies who were called on stage to two-step with Ne-Yo. The office wont believe that on Monday.
If you’re craving a time-hop to 2010 and a setlist with zero flops, you’re in safe hands with Ne-Yo and Akon.
Rare picture of David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport unearthed
Danny Jones
A rare picture taken from the night of the late, great David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport has been unearthed by a local whilst digging through his loft.
Imagine having that kind of history just squirrelled away in an attic…
As revealed by Stockport Music Story, after being supplied with the image by David Maynard, the snap was shared more than half a century on from the much-mythologised moment in Greater Manchester music history.
In fact, it was put on display and posted on social media quite literally 56 years to the day since Bowie played his only Stopfordian set on 27 April, 1970.
Maynard himself is featured in the newly discovered photograph (second from the left) and was one of the select and lucky few who were in the room for that very special show.
Organised by a group of teens on behalf of the Stockport Schools’ Students’ Union, the performance took place at the long-gone Poco a Poco music venue and club over in Heaton Chapel.
The storied space hosted many big names over the years – Gerry Marsden, Freddie Starr, Hank Marvin and more – but sadly closed in May of 1987 following a fire.
It went on to become the popular Hinds Head pub, which still serves punters to this day, but once had the honour of hosting a true artistic great and British icon.
For anyone wondering, this is indeed the same night on which David Robert Jones (yes, that’s Bowie‘s full birth name) missed his train home and had to sleep on the railway platform.
Here’s a BBC segment covering the tale back on its 55th anniversary in April 2025.
It may be a small and somewhat curious claim to fame, but native love the legend of it all nonetheless.
As for the other individuals pictured alongside him, Stockport Music Story (SMS) said: “The names of the people we know are David Maynard (2nd left), Roz Wood (3rd left), David Bowie, Bill Frost (2nd right), Stewart Rigby (right).”
They go on to add: “It would be amazing to find out who the other people in the photograph are and what they remember from that night.” We sincerely hope they do.
You can now see the plaque up close and personal at Stockport Station for yourselves and as for SMS’s growing archive of the region’s creative culture, you can find out tonnes more about other pieces of SK heritage right HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
29th November 2022 
