Peter Kay has added even more dates to his already-massive UK after teasing a “big announcement” was on its way.
In case you somehow missed it, Greater Manchester – and much of the UK, to be honest – went into a bit of a meltdown last month when the legendary Bolton-born comedian and actor announced that he is to play a whole slew of huge Manchester shows from this month as he makes a return to live comedy on his first stand-up tour in 12 years.
Rumours began circulating that the 49-year-old was preparing for a 2023 comeback tour earlier this year, but it was first confirmed that Kay was to first kick things off by doing two massive shows at the AO Arena on Friday 2 & Saturday 3 December 2022.
After that, the comic announced he would head on over to Birmingham to close out 2022, before making his way across the rest of the UK and Ireland in 2023.
Due to the absolutely overwhelming demand to see the comedy legend take to the stage for the first time in over a decade, with hundreds of thousands of people in online queues and tickets being snapped-up almost instantly when they went on sale, Kay decided to keep adding extra dates to the tour schedule to give all fans the chance to catch his comeback moment.
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It may have just started out as two humble shows, but now, Kay is set to play a total of 42 gigs just at the AO Arena alone – running from December 2022 until May 2025.
Sales for this tour have also significantly surpassed the record Kay back in 2010 too, where he played to more than 1.2 million in a single tour.
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The comedian said he was “absolutely blown away” by ticket sales.
His return to the stage after 12 years last weekend not only visibly moved Kay to tears, with heartwarming footage of the moment going viral on social media, but it also proved to be such a success with audiences that he took to Twitter on Wednesday to tease that more could be on its way – but didn’t reveal what exactly.
In a heartfelt message to fans, Kay said: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to the first shows in Manchester. It was incredible to be part of such a happy experience. Everybody deserves a bit of joy.
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“Here’s to a lot more in the shows to come.”
He then added that a “big announcement” was coming on the Sara Cox Drivetime Show on BBC Radio 2, and urged fans to tune in after 6pm.
While many were speculating, given the fact he had chosen to reveal the news on a Drivetime radio show, that Kay would be announcing more episodes of his beloved smash-hit TV series Peter Kay’s Careshare, but while that was a pretty educated guess, it wasn’t the announcement lined up.
Instead, Kay confirmed that, yet again, he would be adding more dates to his tour schedule.
Telling the also Bolton-born radio DJ, Kay said: “First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone who’s bought tickets to my tour, and I really do appreciate it.
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“We’ve finally managed to book some more extra dates.”
Promising to keep prices as low as they were for his last tour, tickets for Peter Kay shows this time round start from £35 and go all the way up to £50, £65 and £135.
Tickets will go on sale this Sunday from 10am for shows in cities including Manchester at the AO Arena, as well as in Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, and a whopping record-breaking 28th night at London’s O2 Arena as part of his residency.
Find out more and grab yours from See Tickets here when they go on sale.
Featured Image – BBC
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Old-school American rock legends Toto return to Manchester for the first time in over half a decade
Danny Jones
Yes, whether you only know ‘Africa’ or not, we refuse to let the news that American rock legends Toto are coming back to Manchester for the first time in half a decade pass you by.
The 1970s and 80s pop-rock icons are still one of the most commercially successful and beloved band groups to ever come out of the US, and that’s saying something, so it’s safe to say their return is a pretty big deal in our opinion.
Known for hits like ‘Hold The Line’, ‘Rosanna’, ‘I’ll Be Over You’, oh, and of course ‘Africa’, they’ve always firmly been in that category of bands that you know way more of their songs than you think.
Set to land at the equally legendary AO Arena early next year, the venue is kicking off its 2025 calendar of shows in style.
🎉 TOTO announce their upcoming 2025 tour, which see's the group head to Manchester's AO Arena on Tuesday 4th February 2025. 🎸 The tour also features a Special Guest performance from Christopher Cross! ✨
Now active for nearly half a century (albeit across a total of three spells and numerous different lineups when it comes to live performances) their longevity is up there with some of the very biggest and best names in music.
With a whopping total of 14 studio albums to their name, well over 40 million albums sold worldwide since 1977 and an estimated 1,253,376 daily streams of ‘Africa’ on Spotify alone, they’ve done it all.
Beyond that, they’re littered all over movie soundtracks, influenced countless acts across the globe that came after them and were probably at least one of your relatives’ favourite bands at one point or another.
Polishing off their ‘Dogs of Oz’ tour for the remainder of 2024, the LA-formed outfit will be taking a short break before gearing up for a world tour consisting of 20 tour dates and just four here in the UK.
Fortunately, one of them just so happens to be in Manchester on Tuesday, 4 February. Phew.
It may only be guitarist and singer Steve Lukather left when it comes to original members, but it’s still great to see them going strong.
It’s also been five whole since they last played Manchester at Bridgewater Hall, so to experience the veterans back on an arena stage will be special, to say the least.
Better yet, with fellow contemporary Christopher Cross – best known for ‘Sailing’, ‘Ride Like The Wind’ and ‘Never Be the Same’ – joining them as a special guest, this is set to be a real throwback show that fans are sure to lap right up.
Tickets for Toto at the AO Arena go on sale this Friday, 13 September at 10am. Be ready to ‘Hold The Line’ and grab yours HERE. See what we did there?…
Loyle Carner announces special headline show at The Warehouse Project 2024
Danny Jones
The Warehouse Project lineup just keeps getting better as Loyle Carner has just been announced as the latest addition to the 2024 calendar.
One of the biggest hip-hop artists in Britain, Loyle Carner is heading back to Manchester just a few months on from smashing his outdoor gig at Castlefield Bowl to play an even more iconic local venue.
Set to land at Depot Mayfield this autumn, the show has been specially curated by the London-born rapper himself, featuring some of his favourite up-and-coming artists and putting on a much later performance than you’d be treated to at one of his usual tour shows.
Loyle until late followed by more music, DJ sets and partying until the early hours. Need we say more?
The 29-year-old won’t be taking to the stage until around 11pm and, in many ways, most of the fun is still yet to come longer after he exits the stage.
As you can see, the poetic musician is set to be joined by Brighton-based and thisisnq-managed duo, Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Concourse stage will also hosted by Deviation with Benji B & Judah, Children of Zeus, and a number of other special guests – you’ll just have to wait and find out who they are like the rest of us.
But perhaps the biggest artist crashing the lineup is the legendary Yasiin Bey: real name Dante Terrell Smith, a.k.a. the iconic Brooklyn rapper, actor and hip-hop icon formerly known as Mos Def.
Yes, this night will see the old school collide with the genre’s next generation for an unforgettable night over in Mayfield and you do not want to miss it.
We also just can’t wait to see the Manc crowds giving off this energy again:
Pre-sale for Loyle Carner at WHP goes live on Thursday, 5 September from 10am, with general admission available from the same time on the following Friday, 6 September.
Sign up for early access online and you can be ready to grab your tickets for what we’re sure will be another magical night of live music Manchester show HERE.
And if you want to know what we made of his last visit to 0161, you can read all about it below.