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Blossoms set to headline big summer festival set in Delamere Forest

There IS a reason why I never returned your calls — I'm getting tickets... (this article contains affiliate links)

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia - 22nd October 2024

Stockport five-piece Blossoms are set to perform at a festival set within a forest not too far from Manchester next year in line with the rollout of their latest album, Gary.

Yes, after announcing their tour dates throughout the month of September, Blossoms are also playing a special festival in none other than Delamere Forest in addition to their fantastic five-night run at five different Manchester venues.

The newest announcement sees the cheeky chappies/stylish Stopfordians set to headline Forest Live 2025 set in Delamere, Northwich, which has been running since 2001.

Blossoms are the newest addition to the concert series as both The Script, music legend Sting and Manchester’s very own Elbow are headlining various dates in other green spaces. The local lads have also announced a number of other open-air gigs along with their Forest Live date.

This marks the second year that Live Nation has partnered with Cuffe and Taylor to deliver the forest-bound festival. Other Forestry England locations taking part include Cannock Chase, High Lodge, Thetford and Westonbirt Arboretum.

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Last year, Forestry England – who is hosting the event as the organisation that looks after Delamere Forest and the surrounding areas – planted 7.4 million trees and welcomed 285 million visits throughout the 2023/24 season, as every person in England lives within an hour of one of their forests.

As for the local band themselves, Blossoms have gained a huge cult following since releasing breakout hit ‘Charlemagne’ back in 2015, amassing hundreds of millions of streams following their debut.

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Lead vocalist Tom Ogden, drummer Joe Donovan, lead guitarist Josh Dewhurst, keyboardist Myles Kellock and bassist Charlie Salt have had an unreal year, with their biggest-ever gig at Wythenshawe Park and their brand new number-one album.

Inspired by an eight-foot gorilla of the same name that was stolen from a Lanarkshire garden centre in 2023, Gary has been an instant critical and commercial success.

Come on, how stunning a setting is that? (Credit: Supplied)

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80s pop sensation Rick Astley has even performed with the band this year as they returned to BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge to play a special rendition of ‘360’ by Charli XCX.

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Support will be provided by up-and-coming Oldham act Seb Lowe and another North West breakthrough, The Guest List.

Blossoms are set to play Forest Live 2025 in Delamere Forest on Saturday, 21 June 2025 and tickets will be available from 9am on Friday, 25 October.

Prices for the festival pass start from £61.50 and you can get ready to grab yours HERE.

Blossoms playing Castlefield Bowl for Sounds of the City 2023.
Tom and Gary at Wythy Park this past summer.
We’ve had very good fun watching these lads over the past few years – don’t miss out on this one.

Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)

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MTV EMAs reveal full list of performers and presenters ahead of Manchester debut at Co-op Live

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia

The performers for the 2024 MTV EMAs have been announced today, with some very famous faces making an appearance.

This year sees Manchester crowned the home of the prestigious award ceremony for the first time ever, and what better way to celebrate than hosting in the UK’s newest live entertainment venue Co-op Live

Tooting-born Rachel Keen, more famously known as Raye, is flying the flag for the UK on the MTV EMAs stage as she will be the only British act performing this year so far.

The musical talent is no stranger to award shows as this year has been very successful for her following a sweep at this year’s BRITs such as ‘Song of the Year’ and ‘British Artist of the Year’.

Earlier this month, the entertainment brand announced the full awards list and nominations including household names like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Ariana Grande.

Taylor Swift is leading the nominations for the MTV EMAs. Credit: Supplied
Taylor Swift is leading the nominations for the MTV EMAs.
Ariana Grande has several MTV EMAs nominations. Credit: Supplied
Ariana Grande has several nominations of her own.
ema nomations 2024
Beyoncé is always in the conversation.
Credit: Press Images (supplied)

Raye will be sharing the stage with a handful of acts like Shawn Mendes and Teddy Swims with more names to be announced very soon.

Mendes has amassed a large cult following for his guitar-heavy singles like ‘Stitches’, ‘There’s Nothin’ Holding Me Back’ and the steamy 2019 single ‘Señorita’ with Camila Cabello.

Pop singer and vocal belting God, Teddy Swims has come into the spotlight recently since releasing his songs onto social media with his standout single ‘Lose Control’ – which he also performed with the one and only Kelly Clarkson – gaining lots of traction, especially on TikTok.

For Mancs who want more of Teddy Swims, he’ll be returning to Co-op Live playing a selection of hits and album deep cuts next spring.

There’s also buzz around rising star Benson Boone after his hit ‘Beautiful Things’ followed the same trajectory of Swims becoming an overnight star due to its virality.

Mexican rock band The Warning are also taking to the stage and like many other acts who are set to play, this will be their first time performing at this incredible new music venue.

teddy swims mtv
Teddy Swims has been announced as a performer at the MTV EMAs 2024 in Manchester.
raye mtv emas 2024 manchester
Raye is also set to put on a showstopper.
shawn mendes
Shawn Mendes fills out the stunning 2024 lineup.
Just a handful of the performers confirmed for the 2024 MTV EMAs. (Credit: Supplied)

The performers and nominees won’t be the only recognisable faces attending the event as the presenters helping give out the awards are stars too.

Manchester is set to become a mini Hollywood for one night only as acting royalty Jodie Turner-Smith, known for her role as Anne Boleyn, is just one of the presenters for the award show.

Aaron Taylor Johnson, who has starred in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bullet Train, as well as UK cult classic film, Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging, will also be there on the evening.

Lucien Laviscount and Gavin Rosendale are joining the presenting team too, with more big names set to be announced very soon.

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The MTV EMAs are making their big debut in Manchester at Co-op Live this 10 November and you don’t want to miss it.

As part of the celebrations, the entertainment brand is also teaming with some iconic local gig venues for a series of special shows.

It’s going to be a great week for the city.

MTV is hosting a week-long venue takeover with some exciting artists to celebrate the EMAs coming to Manchester

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

Featured Images — Wikimedia Commons/Press Images (supplied)

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A frustrated Ben Howard fights through sound issues to spellbind a nevertheless adoring Manchester crowd

Danny Jones Danny Jones Ben Howard live gig review Manchester Aviva Studios 2024

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 howard sound issues manchester
ben howard tech issues aviva studios
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)

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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)

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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