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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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JLS announce huge UK tour including Manchester gig
Daisy Jackson
Boy band JLS have just announced a huge Manchester gig as part of a new UK tour.
The Everybody in Love singers will be heading out on a new tour, The Club Is Alive Tour, this autumn.
Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill shared the exiting news of the new tour dates this afternoon.
JLS will be performing at cities including Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield, as they head to arenas right across the UK.
And support will come from fellow noughties legend Example, who’s behind massive songs like Last Ones Standing, Kickstarts, and Changed The Way You Kiss Me.
JLS formed on the X Factor back in 2008, when they placed as runners-up to Alexandra Burke.
Then they went on to release five chart-topping angles and hit singles like Everybody in Love, She Makes Me Wanna, and One Shot.
The group parted ways in 2013 but reunited for a huge Beat Again tour in 2021.
And now they’re back again, heading to the Co-op Live this November.
Announcing the news this afternoon, they said: “It’s official! We’re hitting the road this year for “The Club Is Alive Tour” with our very special guests Example.
“Get all the info on JLSofficial.com and make sure to click the link and sign up for presale access to tickets. If you miss that, tickets will go on sale to the public on March 28th at 10 AM.”
Bastille announce blockbuster Manchester arena date for special anniversary show
Danny Jones
Alt and indie-pop band Bastille are coming back to Manchester for another big gig, only this one is set to be bigger than ever as they celebrate a huge music milestone.
Having played Castlefield Bowl back in 2023 and recently returned to the city for a pair of more intimate shows at Manchester Cathedral and as part of Amazon’s ‘City Sessions’ at Aviva Studios, the Bastille boys have frequented 0161 pretty often of late.
With their latest LP Ampersand (or simply “&“) having dropped back in 2024, the London-formed outfit are now five studio albums and dozens of songs into their career. That being said, they’re set to look back on the journey up till now with some huge UK arena dates.
Announcing the ‘From All Sides’ tour this week, Bastille will be coming to Manchester and several other major cities to play their biggest, best and most beloved songs from the first 15 years.
Effectively being marketed as a greatest hits so far gig, these will be the band’s first UK arena tour in over three years.
With each show featuring songs from across Bastille’s entire discography – everything from fan favourites to deep cuts and rarities from the Other Peoples’ Heartache mixtapes, as well as seminal moments from Bad Blood, Doom Days and more – it’ll be a long journey down memory lane.
Bastille will be returning to the AO Arena for their Manchester date, a venue they’re more than familiar with, but with a decade and a half of music to get through, it’ll be one of their biggest Northern gigs to date.
Speaking on the tour, the band said: “We’re really excited to announce that we’re going on tour for the first time in a while to play the songs we all love from our first 15 years and beyond. Hope to see a load of you in November.”
You’ll definitely be seeing a fair few of us there, lads.
JUST ANNOUNCED🎸 @bastille 'Songs From The First 15 Years'
Bastille arrives in Manchester for one momentous anniversary night on Friday, 14 November and you can bet the arena will sell out quickly.
They are also showing their support for grassroots youth music spaces by giving a tour donation to Youth Music’s ‘Rescue the Roots’ campaign, which helps raise money for the next generation of young creatives.
As mentioned above, there will be two opportunities at pre-sale: first for Three+ mobile members from 10 am on Wednesday, 26 March, and then again via the venue at the same time the following day; as for general admission tickets, they will go live next Friday (28 Mar), also at 10am.
Emily Sergeant -
19th March 2025 
