A huge 24-hour Hacienda House Party is being streamed live on New Year’s Eve
The blockbuster lineup is set to feature two dozen live performances from 10am on December 31 - including Moby, Graeme Park, Hacienda Classical, Carl Craig, Peter Hook, Todd terry and Soul Central.
The world’s greatest nightclub will rise again this week – as a 24-hour Hacienda House Party is streamed live around the world on New Year’s Eve.
The blockbuster lineup is set to feature two dozen live performances from 10am on December 31 – including sets from Moby, Graeme Park, Hacienda Classical, Carl Craig, Peter Hook, Todd Terry and Soul Central.
There will also be a special tribute to the legendary “Godfather Of House” Frankie Knuckles in collaboration with The Frankie Knuckles Foundation – which will see Frankie play a set (originally recorded at Albert Hall on his last appearance in Manchester) from within a newly recreated ‘Virtual Hacienda’.
The Virtual Hacienda project has been put together by the club’s original architect Ben Kelly to create a digital replica of the nightclub and will premiere in all its glory on NYE.
Kelly commented: “When the club was open, years later, one of the greatest compliments I had from that group of clients, Factory and New Order, was that they regarded the design as timeless.
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“I think that was Tony’s [Wilson] thing, it didn’t pander to fashion or whatever trend was current. I saw it almost like a sculptural installation. Like a big art piece which I was painting. It democratised what those environments were about. It was flexible and all embracing.
“There was nothing prescribed about it. It stood the test of time as well because there was never any need to change it. The changes were all about improving the sound and lighting which came with the development of+ technology. The club was open for fifteen years, from 1982 to 1997 and they never had to change the design of the place.”
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United We Stream GM
The entire event will be hosted live on the Greater Manchester music platform United We Stream – which beamed live gigs to more than 14 million viewers during the lockdown over spring and summer.
During its initial run, United We Stream gave a stage to 338 artists and raised over £477,000 for local charities and the events scene.
The Hacienda House Party NYE is free to watch but viewers can donate via the official website, with 50% of funds raised donated to oneGM (which supports local people hardest hit by the economic impact of COVID-19) and 50% to charities Save The Children, The Frankie Knuckles Foundation and Peacemeal Manchester.
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You can watch the Hacienda House Party NYE exclusively via the website’s event page.
The stream will also be beamed live on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and YouTube.
The full lineup is as follows:
Live: Haçienda Classical W/ Manchester Camerata, Inner City / Phuture
DJs: Carl Craig, Danny Tenaglia, David Morales, DJ Paulette, DJ Woody, Graeme Park, Greg Wilson, Hewan Clarke, Jon Dasilva, Justin Robertson, K-Klass, Moby, Norman Jay MBE, Peter Hook, Soul Central, Sub Sub, Todd Terry, Tom Wainwright & Tony Humphries
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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?…
Consumer group urges Oasis and Ticketmaster to refund fans hit by ‘in demand’ ticket pricing
Emily Sergeant
Ticketmaster is being warned that its ‘in demand’ pricing system for Oasis tickets could be in breach of consumer law.
Which? is now calling on the Manchester band and the ticket website to refund fans.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Oasis are reforming for a run of shows in the UK and Ireland next year, but the massively long-awaited reunion tour has faced controversy following Ticketmaster’s use of ‘in demand’ pricing – which came into effect when tickets to the gigs went on sale on Saturday 31 August.
Ticketmaster’s ‘in demand’ pricing is where prices surge if demand for tickets is high.
After waiting in a lengthy virtual queue, many Oasis fans had a nasty shock at the checkout when they found tickets were significantly more expensive than they’d expected them to be.
Now, consumer group Which? says it believes Ticketmaster’s lack of transparency around its ‘in demand’ pricing could have breached consumer law, and is calling on the company to “do the right thing” and refund the difference to fans who paid more than the expected face value for tickets.
Which? says it saw evidence that fans were shown one ticket price when they were queuing for tickets, only to have has that price taken away at the last second and replaced with a far higher – and unexpected – ticket price when the page reloaded.
In one example, the cost of standing tickets – which was originally advertised for £151.25 – had surged to £337.50 each, due to this ‘in demand’ pricing.
This meant that four standing tickets, which is the maximum amount of tickets one person could secure in one order, would have cost an eye-watering £1,400 once the service and order processing fees were included.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) protect consumers from unfair or misleading trading practices, and it’s this that Which? believes Ticketmaster’s lack of transparency around its ‘in demand’ pricing for the Oasis concerts could have breached, as many fans were not informed about the price increase until after they had tried to add cheaper tickets to their baskets.
“Under the CPRs, when advertising a product, traders must not mislead consumers with how prices are presented or leave out key pricing information that might be needed to make an informed decision about a purchase,” Which? said in a statement.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)is also investigating whether Ticketmaster’s sale of Oasis tickets may have breached consumer law, and if this is found to be the case, this when would enable fans to seek refunds and compensation from both Ticketmaster, and Oasis themselves.
When Which? contacted Ticketmaster, the company said: “We are committed to cooperating with the CMA and look forward to sharing more facts about the ticket sale with them.”
The Manc -
28th December 2020 
