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Manchester’s epic club night La Discothèque to take over AO Arena with huge lineup this summer

We already can't wait.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 18th March 2025

One of Manchester’s most epic club nights is taking things up a notch and heading to the AO Arena this summer.

Of course we’re talking about La Discothèque.

The global super glam party legends have announced a fully-flamboyant, flamingo-esque festival of disco starring a truly show-stopping lineup. 

Famed for throwing immersive disco and house parties, and normally a resident over at the equally iconic – but much smaller and more intimate – Albert Hall, you can expect La Discothèque to be just as heavy on the confetti, feathers, and sequins as it usually is when it takes over Manchester‘s massive AO Arena in June.

If the hugely-popular club night wasn’t already known for its unrivalled production as it is, The Disco Arena will be even bigger and better than ever before.

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The legendary La Discothèque 22-piece orchestra will perform at the AO Arena live for the first time, featuring Barbara Tucker and Anita Ward, alongside other major acts such as the former ladies of The Supremes and Norman Jay’s Good Times Band.

La Discotheque is heading to the AO Arena in Manchester. Credit: Laura Christou
La Discotheque is heading to the AO Arena in Manchester. Credit: Laura Christou
Manchester’s epic club night La Discothèque is taking over AO Arena this summer / Credit: Laura Christou

You can also expect to catch the House Gospel Choir, and Disco Voix featuring Jenna G, as well as a tribute to legend Donna Summer by The Feel Good Choir.

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A very special guest is also soon to be announced, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled.

La Discothèque is taking to the AO Arena stage on Friday 6 June 2025, and tickets are ready to go on sale from this week.

The mega lineup includes some huge names / Credit: Supplied

There’ll first be two separate pre-sales, a Three pre-sale on Thursday 20 March from 10am, followed by the AO Arena’s own venue pre-sale this Friday (21 March) also from 10am, before general sale tickets go live next Monday 24 March, again from 10am.

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You can grab your tickets when they go live here.

Featured Image – La Discotheque

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Music TV show Spill The Sound has announced a brand new series

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia New Spill the Sounds series 2025

Manchester-based music TV show, Spill The Sound, is back with its latest series filmed at The Yard, featuring plenty of exciting indie and alternative music faces.

Hosted by Louise Schofield, Spill The Sound evokes the good old days of music TV shows incorporating styles from Popworld, Snub TV and Granada TV’s ‘So It Goes’.

The series itself is broadcast via the Greater Manchester streaming service, StreamGM, who are heavily involved in music and media production.

This company which aims to spotlight creative voices across Greater Manchester teamed up with our music counterpart Audio North to launch an industry careers podcast just last month.

Throughout March, the latest season of Spill The Sound will be bringing three episodes centred around some independent artists with very unique styles.

Listeners will be able to hear the likes of Andrew Cushin, The Guest List, Dirty Blonde and Megan Wyn, all of which have achieved incredible things while on the rise.

One of these names should be very familiar as indie rockers The Guest List have seen themselves featuring in our ‘Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month’ series back in October.

Another big get for the show is Andrew Cushin, who’s been mentored by none other than Noel Gallagher and already appeared on the bill as a supporting act for the likes of Paul Weller, Louis Tomlinson and many more.

Alt-rock duo Dirty Blonde are also featuring in this latest series and it’s no surprise either as they’ve already seen a buzz in the UK airwaves with praise from BBC Radio 1 and Radio X.

The latter of the newest lineup isn’t one to ignore either as Megan Wyn has been hailed as the ‘woman to watch’ by Clash Magazine and is set to support Alanis Morissette.

The Guest List playing hook-a-duck throughout their Spill The Sound interview.
The Guest List playing hook-a-duck throughout their interview.
Credit: Spill The Sound (supplied)

Every episode has been filmed at local music venue, The Yard Manchester, which provides the perfect space for these lighthearted interviews and spectacular pared-down performances.

This music platform has hosted and promoted lots of local talent including Antony Szmierek, Red Rum Club, The K’s, Hi Sienna and Seb Lowe, just to name a few.

The latest series of ‘Spill The Sound’ kicks off with Andrew Cushin on Wednesday, 19 March with the remaining two episodes released in three-day instalments.

You can give it a watch when each episode goes live exclusively on StreamGM HERE.

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Featured Image – Publicity Picture (via Supplied)

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Manchester misses out on top spot and ranks as second best city in Europe for live music

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Live music crowd

Manchester has missed out on the top spot and has been ranked the second best city in Europe for live music lovers.

If there’s one thing Manchester is known and loved for over anything else, it’s music.

From Oasis and Joy Division, to Happy Mondays, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The 1975, and even more modern-day acts, there’s no end to the amount of talented artists this city has produced or been home to over the years, all contributing to Manchester being one of the most prestigious music cities there is.

The city’s live music scene has always been thriving, and that continues right through to this very day, as you’ll see big-name musicians including Manchester as a destination in their UK tour schedules more often than not.

Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams were some of the most-recent global popstars to take to the Manchester stage, and in the last few days, music icons like Stevie Wonder and John Legend have announced they’re stopping off in our city this year.

Drum kit
Manchester has been ranked the second best live music city in Europe / Credit: Josh Sorenson | Eldhose Kuryian (via Unsplash)

We have a wealth of live music venues in and around the city centre, ranging from massive arenas like the AO Arena and the newest addition of Co-op Live, and stadiums such as the Etihad and Emirates Old Trafford, right through to other middle-sized indoor and outdoor venues like the Apollo, O2 Victoria Warehouse and The Ritz, Castlefield Bowl, and Aviva Studios, and of course the smaller stops like Manchester Academy, New Century Hall, Albert Hall, and the Bridgewater Hall.

And that’s without even getting into the countless other grass-roots and independent small venues like Band On The Wall, Night & Day Cafe, The Deaf Institute, Gorilla, and loads more.

So, you’d think with an illustrious reputation like that, we’d be the best musical city in Europe… sadly though, we’ve missed out on the top spot to the German capital of Berlin, and have had to settle for second place.

We missed out on the top spot to the German capital of Berlin / Credit: Bruno Cervera (via Unsplash)

After all, the famous saying does go ‘first the worst, second the best’.

It’s all according to a new study by hospitality group Accor, which analysed the top European cities for live music by collecting data, such as the total number of available gig listings in 2025, global monthly search trends, and venue ratings, from popular event and ticketing websites.

Manchester came runner up with an overall gig city score of 87.2 out of 100, thanks to having a total of 966 gigs planned this year already and a venue rating of 4.57 stars out of five.

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The only other two UK cities on the top 15 list is London following behind us in third place, and Birmingham in seventh place.

Featured Image – Alex Bracken (via Unsplash)

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