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McFly and Busted announce massive joint head-to-head tour – with Manchester arena gigs

Wow, fighting talk.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 10th October 2024

Two of the world’s greatest pop-punk bands, Busted and McFly, have just announced details of an unmissable head-to-head tour.

Busted last night stormed the stage at McFly’s 21st birthday show to announce Busted Vs McFly, which will include huge arena shows in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

The two groups, which are collectively behind some of the biggest pop-rock hits of the last two decades, will be visiting some of the biggest venues around the UK.

The shows announced (so far) on the Busted vs McFly tour include the AO Arena in Manchester, the Utilita Arena in Sheffield and the First Direct Arena in Leeds.

As of Thursday 17 October, they’ve just added a second date in Manchester ‘due to phenomenal demand’.

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It’s all set to take place next autumn, with both groups challenging each other to a live battle on stage.

Speaking of the tour, McFly threw down the gauntlet and commented: “Busted gatecrashed our show tonight (not cool), and challenged us to a VS tour next year. They’re old men now, and we are gonna blow them and their carers off the stage next year.

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“We’ve had a great time celebrating our 21st birthday this week and next year is going to be even better. P.S. Busted Suck.”

Busted fought back and added: “There’s been a lot of talk recently…. This is where the talking ends….! We are ready to show who is the better band once and for all. McFly suck and Busted Rock!”

McFly and Busted announce massive joint head-to-head tour - with Manchester arena gig
Busted. Credit: Publicity picture
McFly and Busted announce massive joint head-to-head tour - with Manchester arena gig
McFly. Credit: Publicity picture
McFly and Busted announce massive joint head-to-head tour – with Manchester arena gig

Busted’s biggest hits over the years have included Year 3000, Crashed The Wedding, and Air Hostess, while McFly have been responsible for hits like All About You, Five Colours In Her Hair, and Star Boy.

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Just last year Busted scored a number one album position with Greatest Hits 2.0, and sold out 26 UK arena gigs.

Meanwhile McFly’s seventh album Power To Play hit the number two spot on the UK Albums Chart last year, joined by a run of massive shows, including two sold-out gigs at the O2 Arena to mark 21 years since the release of their debut.

Busted vs McFly will now perform at the AO Arena in Manchester on 17 and 18 October 2025.

Tickets for the unmissable Busted vs McFly tour go on sale via artist pre-sale HERE from 9am on 16 October, and general tickets are on sale on 18 October at 9am HERE.

Busted vs McFly ticket prices

  • Ultimate floor seating – £149.85
  • Ringside Standing – £99.00
  • Floor seating A – £76.40
  • Tiered seating A – £76.40
  • Floor seating B – £65.10
  • Tiered seating B – £65.10
  • Tiered seating C – £53.80
  • Side restricted view – £76.40

Busted vs McFly Tour Dates in full

  • September 16 – BP Pulse Live, Birmingham
  • September 19 – OVO Arena Wembley, London
  • September 20 – The O2, London
  • September 23 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
  • September 26 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield
  • September 27 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
  • September 30 – P&J Live, Aberdeen
  • October 2 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
  • October 7 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
  • October 10 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle
  • October 14 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
  • October 17 – AO Arena, Manchester
  • October 18 – AO Arena, Manchester
  • October 20 – 3Arena, Dublin
  • October 21 – SSE Arena, Belfast

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Featured image: Publicity picture

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Posters around Manchester city centre spark serious rumours Charli XCX is set to headline Parklife 2025

Danny Jones Danny Jones Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025 rumours

Some pretty big, green posters are popping up around town and, not to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like they’re hinting at Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025…

Feel free to lose your bratting minds.

A number of tall, let’s call it ‘apple’ green posters have been sighted in various places across Manchester city centre this Friday, 22 November and the last time we saw this slightly low-resolution, plain black Arial font and colour combo we got a reworked version of Charli XCX’s brat album.

Listen, all we can tell you is that this is almost exactly the same marketing and the letters on the poster simply read, “PL25”. Come on… you do the math(s).

@the.manc Posters have appeared all over Manchester and it looks like a @Charli XCX headline slot at @Parklife Festival is coming. SCREAMING. #themanc #manchester #charlixcx #parklife #mcr #brat ♬ original sound – Saturday Night Live – SNL

Spotting at least two of the posters for ourselves around both Newton and Thomas Street in and around the Northern Quarter, plenty of people have been double-taking at the simple but bold and undeniably eye-catching portrait posters.

Trust us, we weren’t the only ones stopping to take a picture and frantically send them to half of our phonebook either.

Charli herself hasn’t given us any other clues on social media thus far – to be fair, this one feels fairly obvious to us – but it’s well worth keeping your eyes peeled on her stories as she did plenty of teasing before dropping Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.

Still can’t get over that actually being the title, by the way.

It’s also worth noting that Parklife themselves recently confirmed that festival fans can expect to find out their headliners and the full 2025 lineup very soon. Check out that colour…

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Oh, who are we kidding? That’s not apple green it’s straight-up BRAT green, b*tch. We’re fully getting carried away and you’ll just have to deal with it.

Even if it somehow turns out she’s not headlining it’s certainly looking like she’s going to be there and it wouldn’t be the first time.

Better yet, fans of the pop sensation won’t have to wait too long to see her right here in Greater Manchester because Charli is bringing her already smash-hit tour to Co-op Live next Wednesday, 27 November and in case you couldn’t tell by all the shouting in capitals, we’re very excited.

Roll on ‘PL25’. Other than Charli XCX, who else would you like to see as your Parklife headliners next summer?

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

Featured Images – The Manc Group

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Bez and Shaun Ryder are starring in a new gangster movie – nope, not kidding

Danny Jones Danny Jones Bez and Shaun Ryder acting in new gangster film

No, you didn’t misread the headline and you’re not on acid: Manchester music legends Bez and Shaun Ryder are set to feature in a brand-new gangster film.

Yes, the ones from the Happy Mondays – why are you having such trouble processing this?

Seriously though, we did a little double-take ourselves when we came across this news, but the familiar Manc faces look to be among the ensemble of a brand-new gangster movie by Irish writer, actor, producer and filmmaker, Ciaron Davies.

And this is just a little leak or rumour that may have been blown out of proportion: you can take it from the horse’s mouth as Happy Mondays frontman, Ryder, recently shared the news on social media.

As you can see, the new film is called Geezers and is billed as a “British crime caper” written and directed by Davies, featuring Shaun as hard-man Robbie and Bez as ‘Monk’. If you saw Ryder shaking off that snake biting his hand like it was nothing then you already know he’s hard as nails.

Although it’s not strictly listed as a comedy per se, ‘caper’ would suggest plenty of humour and light-heartedness, so we’re thinking more like The Gentleman, Italian Job, or maybe even Four Lions, rather than a serious crime thriller.

Now, while we’ve seen both of the Salfordians on screen before not only in the likes of music videos, interviews, panel shows and even as two of the funniest guests to ever go on Celebrity Gogglebox, this latest venture will serve as their respective acting debuts.

According to the IMDb page, the synopsis of the film is as follows: “Crime caper about a stolen bag of money. Caught in the crossfire are ‘The Geezers’ a bunch of wannabe criminals who have bitten off more than they can chew. With 24 hours to grab the cash, London may just go up in smoke tonight.”

Shame it’s not set on the mean streets of Manchester, or better yet Salford, but you’ve still very much caught our interest.

You can see the first promotional poster for the film down below.

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As for Davies, he has been involved with a number of small-budget TV film projects, as well as appearing in shorts and even video games, so it’s fair to say that getting 62-year-old Ryder and his ever-energetic hype man, 60, involved is quite the coup for his movie-making career.

We’re still not over Bez rather randomly delivering a curry to our offices, to be honest, so seeing him act is going to feel like one long fever dream.

Although the film has no release date just yet, we know that filming locations having included parts of Warrington and Pinewood Studios, will be produced by Loose Gripp Films and distributed by publishers High Fliers.

Given the high-octane nature of Geezers and its genre, the feature will involve lots of action, stunts, violence and even martial arts – though how much kung-fu these two will have learned for the project remains to be seen…

All we know is that the film is supposedly “coming soon” and if you don’t want to see Bez and Shaun Ryder doing their best impression of a Guy Ritchie gangster movie then you’re lying to yourself. Praying for a Rowetta cameo to put the cherry on top.

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

Featured Images — Shaun Ryder (via X)/Loose Gripp Films/IMDb

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