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Simple Minds announce massive Manchester gig on 2024 global arena tour

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Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 4th September 2023

Simple Minds have announced they’re heading out on a huge global arena tour next year, with tickets set to go on sale very soon.

And they’ll be making a special visit to see us here in Manchester.

Following what was the huge success their 40 Years Of Hits Tour last year, and fresh off-the-back of the recent announcement of their Australian and New Zealand tour dates for early next year, Simple Minds have now made fans’ days on this side of the pond by announcing both a UK and Ireland leg of their upcoming Global Tour 2024.

The Scottish rock legends will be taking to the stage at some of the country’s biggest arenas next March, and Manchester is one of the cities they’ll be stopping off at.

Kicking things off in Leeds at the First Direct Arena on 15 March, the beloved band will then play eight more UK shows, and a huge gig at Dublin’s 3Arena, all before the tour draws to a close and culminates with a huge hometown concert at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro arena.

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The band will headline the AO Arena on 16 March 2024 as the second date on the tour.

Simple Minds announce massive Manchester gig on 2024 global arena tour / Credit: Supplied

Consistently considered to be one of the best live bands of their generation, within just the past decade alone, Simple Minds have played to hundreds of thousands of people all around the world, with the demand to see them perform smash-hits such as ‘Promised You a Miracle’, ‘Glittering Prize’, and of course, ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’, growing year on year.

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And with even more shows throughout the rest of the world rumoured to be announced very soon, the Global Tour 2024 will eventually see them play to over one million fans worldwide before it’s done.

It’s the biggest tour they’ve done since 1985.

Frontman Jim Kerr has called live shows “the life blood of Simple Minds”.

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“It’s where we and our audience come alive and energised through music,” he added as the UK and Ireland tour was announced, “four decades on from when we first set out, this global tour will demonstrate that Simple Minds are still alive and kicking.”

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Simple Minds are playing the AO Arena in Manchester on 16 March 2024, with support from fellow Scottish rockers Del Amitri, and tickets to the Global Tour 2024 will go on general sale from 9am this Friday 8 September.

Grab yours here.

Featured Image – Chris James (Simple Minds via Facebook)

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World premiere of A Knight’s Tale The Musical to open in Manchester next year

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant A Knight's Tale

A brand-new stage adaptation of a beloved early 00s film is set to have its world premiere right here in Manchester.

That’s right – A Knight’s Tale has been turned into a comedy musical.

A Knight’s Tale may be one of Chaucer’s most well-known Canterbury Tales, but for most of us, we tend to be more familiar with Brian Helgeland’s iconic 2001 medieval action comedy film of the same name instead, which of course starred the late great Heath Ledger, alongside Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Mark Addy, and more.

And its the latter that has now been reimagined for modern day and turned into a brand-new comedy stage musical that will charge into Manchester early next year.

From the production team behind recent stage smash-hits including Disney’s Newsies, and 2:22 A Ghost Story, the brand-new A Knight’s Tale The Musical has been adapted for the stage by Irish comedy writer and actor Brona C Titley, directed by the award-winning Rachel Kavanaugh, and choreographed by Olivier Award-winning Matt Cole.

It’s gearing up to be a “rip-roaring tale of chivalry, jousting, heroes, and villains”.

Not only that, but just like the popular film, audiences in Manchester are being told to expect a “truly rockin’ soundtrack” that’s packed with chart-topping hits.

Unfamiliar with the premise of the cult-classic film? Ledger plays William Thatcher – a 14th century peasant squire who breaks all the rules when he passes himself off as a nobleman and takes the jousting world by storm. The only thing that stands between Will and his dream of becoming the World Champion of the most extreme of sports, however, is the bad boy of the sport Count Adhemar.

The two rivals then go lance to lance at the world finals, and it’s a pretty epic finale to say the least.

A Knight's Tale
The world premiere of A Knight’s Tale The Musical is to open in Manchester next year / Credit: Columbia Pictures | Wikimedia Commons

Just like the film, A Knight’s Tale The Musical apparently “has it all”, so you’re invited to join Will Thatcher and his band of merry misfits for “a Knight like no other” when the show takes to the legendary Manchester Opera House stage next April.

“Over 20 years ago, I had the time of my life surrounded by a supreme cast and crew making a film we all fell in love with while we were joyfully making it,” commented Brian Helgeland ahead of the musical’s Manchester debut.

“Sitting at a recent read through of the stage version, I could feel that same joy and love emerging, and I am grateful for the new life they are creating and very eager to see it in all its fully staged glory.”

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A Knight’s Tale The Musical will take to the Manchester Opera House stage on 11 April 2025, and run right through until 10 May 2025, and tickets go on general sale next Thursday 1 August at 10am – with members’ pre-sales running prior.

Grab your tickets when they go live here.

Featured Image – Supplied

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Stanleys announce landmark hometown gig at an iconic Wigan venue

Danny Jones Danny Jones The Stanleys Wigan gig tickets

Wigan band Stanleys have just announced a landmark headline show back in their hometown at the legendary Monaco later this year.

One of the borough’s most iconic and longest-standing venues located over in the town of Hindley, The Monaco has hosted many a noteworthy name down the years, from Dusty Springfield and Lonnie Donegan back in the day, to The Lancashire Hotpots and local lads The Lathums more recently.

With live comedy, theatre, music and lots of other live entertainment (not least their regular Bongo’s Bingo events these days) contributing to the venue’s rich heritage, it’s arguably one of the most unsung venues in Greater Manchester.

Having been returned back to its original moniker in 2019 after being known as The Rose Club for a time, the rising indie stars are the latest act trying to put it back on the back by confirming one of their most momentous gigs to date.

Fresh off opening up for fellow Wigan native and Britpop veteran Richard Ashcroft during his highly-anticipated double bill of shows at Robin Park Arena this month, the fast-growing four-piece are now set to have their own homecoming moment at the much-loved art deco building.

Having already been on the road with the likes of The Libertines, Inspiral Carpets, The Lathums; Jamie Webster, The View and more, they’re coming back home a much bigger name than they left it.

From George Formby Senior and Junior to The Verve, Starsailor and The Lathums before them, they’re hoping to be the next gem to come out of Wigan, which Ashcroft himself recently said has long been overlooked.

With tunes like this coming out of the nearby town, we’d wager that’s finally starting to change:

Wigan outfit Stanleys released their latest EP, The Gallery, back in June.

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The lads rock up to The Monaco on Friday, 29 November, with support acts still yet to be revealed.

We’ll make no secret of being big fans of the Stanleys and the material they’ve put out so far, having recently named them on our list of new Manchester bands we’ve been listening to just last month, so we’ll be first in line for this special hometown gig.

Tickets for the Stanleys’ headline show at The Monaco go on sale at 9am on Wednesday, 24 July – you can grab yours HERE.

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

Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)

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