Indie rockers Catfish and The Bottlemen are playing a headline show at Heaton Park in Manchester, but plenty of gig-goers have a genuine fear of a potential cancellation.
The Welsh band known for their stacked roster of hits, including ‘Cocoon’, ‘Kathleen’, ‘7’, ‘Pacifier’ and many more, are set to play Heaton Park on 13 June, but there has already been a fair amount of scepticism among fans online.
Just last year, Catfish and The Bottlemen cancelled an array of international shows, including one rather long-awaited gig in Ireland.
This Irish date would’ve marked the band’s first show in the country in five years; however, 15 minutes before doors were due to open, the Dublin date got cancelled.
Catfish and The Bottlemen are expected to play at Heaton Park on 13 June/ Credit: Supplied
No comments were made by the band as to why this decision happened, instead, all updates and communication came from the ticket company directly.
MCD Productions, who were in charge of hosting the would-be gig at Fairview Park, revealed that the reason for the abrupt cancellation of Catfish’s Ireland gig was due to ‘artist illness’, stating that all attendees would be issued and are entitled to a full refund.
The following week, Catfish also cancelled all of their US and Australia tour with no official statement from the rock group, and fans were frustrated to say the least.
Two weeks after these stark cancellations, the indie rockers announced two stadium shows: Cardiff and London, with the Manchester date in Heaton Park revealed a month later – all scheduled for this summer.
The issues don’t just lie with gig cancellations either; the band’s lineup has been in turmoil over recent years, with musicians joining and leaving this Welsh rock act.
Catfish and The Bottlemen back in 2016 ahead of Sound City in Liverpool / Credit: Supplied
Only two original members remain: Van McCann, lead singer and now the main guitarist since Billy Bibby left in 2021, and Benji Blakeway, the band’s bassist and backing vocalist.
Many have speculated on some of that behaviour, and the source behind at least some of the band’s problems is the extremely talented, charismatic, but often frenetic frontman himself; you only need to search his name on the likes of TikTok to fall down the rabbit hole.
While there are lots dismissing some of his behaviour on stage as nothing more than loose, in-the-moment ‘rockstar energy’, others have expressed concern for his well-being at times.
Catfish’s latest Instagram post reporting the fact that the Heaton Park date is now sold out has been met with hundreds of comments from fans worrying that it won’t go ahead.
One user wrote, “Are u gonna cancel this one 7 mins before doors open too?”, while another took to the comment section to say, “I’ll be there. Don’t know about van tho”.
Replies to their tweets on X (formerly Twitter) have been similar too, as one fan writes: “Don’t worry guys, it’ll be cancelled soon!”.
These are, of course, just a taste of a much larger sample size, as their ‘comeback’ in February 2024 with ‘Showtime’ – their first new song in five years – looked like it could be the start of a new album cycle, but there hasn’t been anything else since then.
Barring the 10th anniversary version of their debut LP, The Balcony, and the re-release of old single and cult favourite ‘ASA’, there’s very little to suggest that there is even a latest project that currently exists to make any progress on.
Catfish and The Bottlemen are scheduled to play Heaton Park in Manchester on 13 June – let’s hope it’s not a ‘Longshot’. For those of you going, do you have any actual doubts whether or not it will go ahead?
Featured Images – Publicity Pictures (via Supplied)/Kaleb Nimz (via Unsplash)
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My Chemical Romance fans are losing it as emo favourites appear to tease UK tour
Danny Jones
American alt-rock and emo favourites My Chemical Romance aren’t just back for one last Black Parade; it looks like they might be heading to the UK for more tour dates.
Not just a phase, never was.
My Chemical Romance (an entirely different kind of MCR) made yet another mighty return to the fore earlier this year, nearly two whole decades on from the release of the seminal album, which dropped in 2006 and has now been toured live again by the New Jersey band.
Playing the album IN FULL for the first time in years, they’ve been busy in North America delighting die-hard crowds, but now a recent teaser has got My Chem fans gearing up for UK and Ireland shows.
As you can see, MCR released the somewhat cryptic comedy sketch above, in which they seem to spoof a gameshow centred around a robot named ‘Quizzo’.
The host of this fictional programme goes on to explain that the result will determine “who will be the next lucky country to win the grand prize of one nuclear winter.”
It might only last for a few seconds, but the main takeaway is that the ‘who’ selected as the recipient of this upcoming prize is none other than the United Kingdom.
Combine that with a simple caption that reads, “Let’s show them what they’ve won”, it’d be hard not to jump to the conclusion that we Brits are about to pretend we’re ‘Teenagers’ again and chant ‘Na Na Na’ until our lungs give out.
In the time since the post went live, fans on this side of the pond have understandably started getting very excited…
My Chemical Romance are coming back to the UK… For the 1st time since 2022 when we all thought it would be the last hurrah…#MCRpic.twitter.com/vHWO5mK89j
At first, some were wondering whether this year’s revival might have also seen the resurrection of their much-mythologised but ultimately scrapped 2019 record, The Paper Kingdom, but it seems pretty much nailed on that their transatlantic followers are about to get some gigs.
It remains unclear whether these still TBC dates will be an extension of the current ‘Long Live The Black Parade‘ tour, which began on 11 July, or something new entirely.
Either way, with this current run of shows due to end in September and hints at a ‘nuclear winter’, it’s a fair assumption to guess that My Chemical Romance will be coming to the UK either later this year or early 2026 – and you bank on a big Manchester booking to be thrown in there too.
Featured Images — NBSTwo (via Flickr)/Reprise Records
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Adidas drop Liam and Noel Gallagher SPZL trainers
Daisy Jackson
Liam and Noel Gallagher have teamed up with adidas once again to create their very own SPZL trainers.
The sportswear giant has today dropped the designs for the adidas LG Achille SPZL and the adidas NG Marathon SPZL.
The sure-to-sell-out trainers will officially hit shelves in the new Manchester adidas store, and other stockists, next weekend.
The footwear drop coincides with the ongoing Oasis reunion tour, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people to the city when they played five nights in Heaton Park.
Liam and Noel themselves have maintained a close relationship with Gary Aspden, curator of the adidas SPZL range, for more than two decades.
They’re often seen sporting the iconic trainers and creating product collaborations, and now they’re back with a new Three Stripes partnership and their very own new adidas SPZL trainers.
Up first is Liam Gallaghers’s adidas SPZL, with the Oasis frontman asking to bring back a revised version of an archival runner, the adidas Achille.
The LG Achille SPZL features a khaki mesh base, chocolate brown stripes, a beige suede T-toe overlay, and a sand outside, with a motif of Liam on the tongue of the shoe.
Noel Gallagher’s NG Marathon SPZLs are his first collaborations with the brand since his immediate sell-out shoes back in 2017.
His are a new hybrid inspired by the adidas Marathon 85 silhouette, keeping the suede upper and rubber outsole of the Marathon 85 but with a deep navy/sky blue palette with a reworked toe box and midsole, as well as details like the Eco-Tex tongue and tonal eyelets.
Both shoes feature a portrait of their namesakes on the tongue, as well as spare laces, co-branded sock liners, and commemorative packaging.
The adidas LG Achille SPZL and the adidas NG Marathon SPZL are set to launch via adidas SPZL stockists and the adidas Carnaby and MCR retail stores on 16 August.
Thomas Melia -
10th June 2025 
