Richard Ashcroft has been confirmed as the first support act for Oasis – which should come as a surprise to no one.
Liam Gallagher has been heavily hinting for weeks that the former Verve frontman would be joining them on their massive tour next year.
And now both Oasis and Richard Ashcroft have confirmed that the fellow 1990s music legend will support their run of 2025 shows.
The news was announced with a nostalgic video
The Oasis reunion gigs are starting to feel very real now as new details get released – though if you were hoping to buy tickets, all shows are (obviously) very sold out.
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The Gallagher brothers will be getting back together for five hometown shows here in Manchester, taking over Heaton Park on 11, 12, 16, 19 and 20 July.
That’s alongside stadium shows in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin.
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Richard Ashcroft has said that he’s ‘buzzing’ to be joining what he’s described as a ‘momentous tour’.
Speaking of the chance to support Oasis for their reunion concerts, Richard Ashcroft wrote (and we have added some punctuation to help you translate): “Buzzing to announce my special guest slot on this momentous tour.
“We go back along way as you can see. Gonna be some big tunes being played.
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“Thanks to the brothers for getting me on board, time to make more history, love and peace RA.”
Oasis meanwhile said: “Just Announced. Richard Ashcroft will be joining as a special guest for all UK and Ireland Oasis Live ’25 shows.”
Over on X, one fan said: “Least surprising news ever. Really hope you give some new artists the chance aswell,” to which Liam Gallagher himself replied: “There all sh*t I’m afraid.”
On Instagram, someone commented on the announcement: “This post should be titled: another reason you should feel sad about not getting oasis tickets.”
A frustrated Ben Howard fights through sound issues to spellbind a nevertheless adoring Manchester crowd
Danny Jones
Ben Howard brought his 10th anniversary tour of I Forget Where We Were to Aviva Studios on Monday night under a moody Manchester sky and while the gig was by no means perfect, it was still as transportive as we’ve come to expect from the seasoned solo artist.
Still up there with one of the most boundary-pushing singer-songwriters in the country for our money, as one person in The Manc office put it, Ben Howard has always seemed like a talent who simply loves making art but has absolutely no interest in the fame that comes with it.
It seems like a pretty astute assessment, especially judging by his performance at the home of Factory International, which for many will no doubt have been a great start to the week but for the man himself, it looked like a tough one to get through.
That being said, there are few things that can hold back that kind of talent and it was still a stunning set for so many reasons.
Ben and his technicolour tree. The stage design and bespoke visuals really added to the experience. (Credit: The Manc Group)
First off, a special mention needs to go to support artist Billie Marten, who we’ve been waiting to see live for some time and did not disappoint. A pitch-perfect warm-up act that felt completely in line with the tone of the evening of music ahead.
A soft, sweeping, beautiful voice much like the headliner. Definitely one to get in the earphones if you haven’t done so already.
But on to Ben himself, the 37-year-old opened the show on seemingly top form, welcoming more than half a dozen band members with him onto the stage and doing what he does best: starting quietly before building out the songs from an acoustic guitar to what feels like producing an album track live on stage.
Although his career may have started with just him and his instrument, it doesn’t take long to understand why he has so many other session musicians on these tours: there are just so many layers to these truly enchanting soundscapes he creates that merely playing a backing track wouldn’t do it justice.
From the haunting horns knitting together these 10-year-old tracks (still hard to believe, we know), to the multiple guitars and strings elevating the overall profile of each song to something closer to an orchestra, you don’t get to hear many albums this authentically realised in every aspect.
A big shout-out to the venue as well; it was our first time visiting Aviva Studios for a straightforward concert and the one thing that struck us besides the sheer size of the place – no, seriously, the room was beyond massive – was the acoustics.
You could hear every inch of that extremely fulsome sound no matter where you were in the enormous gig space gig and they were only further complemented by the visuals which were genuinely mesmerising at times.
Both visually and sonically, we couldn’t really fault anything about the performance for the majority of the evening, but then things started going wrong and it resulted in an unfortunate tail-off from a visibly frustrated performer.
It wasn’t just some moody auteur pageantry playing into the ‘troubled artist’ vibe either as far as we could tell – he even apologised for losing his temper at one point.
We’re not entirely sure what headspace Ben Howard was in on the night but let’s just say he gave Manchester an honest performance, at the very least.
Highlights included ‘Oats in the Water’, ‘End Of The Affair’, ‘Rivers In Your Mouth’ and ‘Conrad’. (Credit: The Manc Group)
He continued to have tech issues the longer things went on and battled through them charmingly, for the most part, but it became apparent that it was becoming too much of a distraction to plough through as he would have liked to.
With so much distortion and various effects being pumped out, it was almost like he was fighting with the pedals more than they were doing him any favours and at one point he simply decided to do away with them and revert to the stripped-back string-picking that he has always excelled at.
We kind of wish he would have just stuck that rather than try and persist when things were clearly going wrong; at one point he even kept playing with three broken strings and that was arguably more impressive than any other moment in the entire set.
It culminated in him walking in the middle of the encore whilst his band were still left to play out the title track people had people waiting all night to hear. There were rumblings of confusion in the crowd and some understandable grievances; it’s not the first time it’s happened either, sadly.
Whatever the case may be, we hope he’s ok and that no one involved has to struggle through the same issue we did. He’s already said music in general is more difficult following his two mini-strokes, but it still goes without saying that he’s one of the most unique singers and guitar players around.
‘Keep your head, keep your heart strong.’
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Not how we wanted it to end but it still gave room for the fans to show their appreciation for the fantastic band. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Sugababes announce massive UK arena tour including huge gig at Co-op Live
Clementine Hall
Sugababes fans rejoice, because the iconic girl group have just announced they’re coming to Manchester on their next arena tour.
Set to play a series of massive arena dates all over the UK, the queens of pop will be performing at the Co-op Live next spring, and we’re already excited.
With six number-one singles and millions of global sales, the iconic trio of Siobhan Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan are returning bigger and better ever before, continuing their triumphant comeback with a tour the biggest of their career.
Since reuniting in 2019, the pop group have solidified their place in girl band history as one of the most influential vocal groups of the 2000s.
Since their return, they’ve performed to thousands of adoring fans at Glastonbury festival, sold out the O2 and we’re sure this tour is going to be no different.
Sugababes have announced a massive UK arena tour including a huge gig at Co-op Live / Credit: Supplied
The tour will kick off at Leeds’ First Direct Arena on Tuesday 8 April before coming to us here in Manchester on Friday 11 April, they’ll then close the UK leg of the tour in Glasgow.
Sugababes said: “We are so excited to announce our biggest ever UK tour. The last few years have been an absolute blast, and we can’t wait to hit the road together next spring.
“Wait until you see what we’ve got up our sleeve. See you in April.”