2024 is already off to a flyer at Manchester’s AO Arena, with the likes of Arenacross delighting thousands in the opening week of the year, tens of thousands of metalcore fans set to descend on Victoria for the Bring Me The Horizon gig weekend, but we’re only just getting started.
There is some seriously massive stuff happening at the AO Arena in the first half of the year alone and having had the pleasure of going to plenty of amazing shows in 2023, we’re already dying to be back inside the legendary Manc venue.
And when we say there’s some massive stuff, we mean it; some of the biggest names on the planet across all forms of live entertainment are set to fill the 20,000-capacity venue over the next six months.
Best gigs and events happening at the AO Arena (January-June)
1. Peter Kay
Bolton‘s beloved comedian is taking to the stage for the first time in 13 whole years and what better way to make a return than by performing for almost the entire year in 2024?
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The doors open for the first show on Friday, 26 January and run right up until Saturday, 21 December but, as you might expect, the demand is extremely high and you’ll probably be relying on resale for this one.
Having pushed his tour back from 2022, tickets have been highly anticipated and most shows are currently at limited availability. He also has a monthly residency at the O2 in London, but we all know seeing him on home soil would make it that little bit sweeter.
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The star of stage and screen is a British icon and he’s finally back doing what he does best. So, if you do get the chance to see Kay in action we can almost guarantee an evening of side-splitting stand-up. You can try your luck HERE.
2. The 1975
The Wilmslow group have arguably established themselves as one of the biggest and most generation-defining bands of the decade so far, and now they’re back for their biggest tour to date yet.
Simply entitled the ‘Still… At Their Very Best’ tour, they certainly are. Due to insane demand, they quickly realised that one show in Manchester was never going to be enough, so now we’ve got two, coming to the AO Arena on 17 and 18 February, having also added additional shows in Glasgow and London.
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Supporting acts are still yet to be confirmed but watch this space. We all know if there’s one place to see Matty Healy and the boys it’s under the lights at the AO Arena. You can scout for tickets HERE.
Let’s just say we enjoyed ourselves a little too much last time around…
As big a name as ever, Rick Astley will be closing out his ‘Are We There Yet?’ tour right here in Manchester. The 57-year-old rose to prominence in the late 80s with era-defining classics like ‘Together Forever’ and a little-known tune called ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, but remains a cultural icon to this day.
Astley is continuing his 21st-century renaissance, having shone at Glastonbury, R&L 2023, Kendal Calling (we can vouch for two out of three of those) in the summer, not mention becoming best mates with Blossoms over the past couple of years.
His almost sold-out show will be coming to the AO Arena on Saturday, 2 March, supported by the legendary Belinda Carlisle and Leigh-based indie-pop group, The Lottery Winners.
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Why not grab some tickets below? At the end of the day. he’s never gonna let you down, famously.
Irish sensation Niall Horan is back on tour, a world tour! Before moving on to Europe, Asia and the US, he’s closing out the UK leg with a big performance at the AO on Tuesday, 5 March, but be quick because only the last few tickets are available.
The former 1D superstar has continued where he left off with his solo career, giving us ‘Slow Hands’ and ‘This Town’ and building on his already global fanbase. He’s also going to be one of the first acts to play at the new Co-op Live later in the year.
This time out he’s giving us The Show, his third studio album released in the summer and with it the first chance to hear it live. He will be back in Manchester in August, but if you can’t wait until then you know what to do.
We can’t lie, we love a bit of this Irish lad’s stuff and even if you don’t grab tickets to see him, we will be.
Certified chart-topper Ne-Yo is back in the UK in 2024 with setlists guaranteed to be packed out with iconic hits.
The three-time Grammy award winner will be opening and closing his ‘Champagne and Roses Tour’ in Manchester with the first show on Thursday, 7 March. After bouncing around the country for ten dates he’ll be wrapping things up at the AO Arena again on Tuesday, 19 March.
His melodic debut single, 2005’s So Sick’ hit No.1 on the Billboard Top 100 and went on to become a quadruple platinum record. Since then, Ne-Yo’s been dishing out bangers like a busy butcher, ‘Miss Independent’, ‘She Knows’ and ‘Time of Our Lives’ just to name a few.
If one American superstar wasn’t enough, have another. Alongside Ne-Yo, R&B heavyweight Mario will be joining the tour whose track ‘Let Me Love You’ will have a millennial meltdown in the crowd covered… if Ne-Yo hadn’t sorted that already.
Anyone else becomes slightly obsessed with the World Darts Championships over the New Year, and by slightly we mean massively!
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Well, the Premier League is coming to town on Thursday, 4 April. The world’s top four, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith and Stockport’s very own Nathan Aspinall will be joined by four wildcards, including a debut season from the teenage phenomenon, Luke Littler.
Disclaimer: Luke ‘The Nuke’ will no longer be 16 years old at this point.
Over 17 weeks in 17 cities, Dart’s biggest names will be battling it out for the coveted title so make sure you take the chance to see it live in our own backyard. Dig out your daft fancy dress and get your ‘180!’s at the ready! You can book your seat on the boring, boring tables (or elsewhere) HERE.
7. The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals
The biggest musicals, all in one night, all in one place? Yep! Hosted by comedian and musical theatre star Jason Manford, the show serves as a special thank you to National Lottery players who have in the past year helped support over 750 theatre-related projects across the UK.
The lineup includes performances from the cast of Hamilton, Disney’s Aladdin, Les Misérables and Grease. The highly coveted event sold out in a matter of hours on first release and the additional few hundred that were released last week were snapped up in the same style.
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Coming to the AO Arena on Monday, 22 January, it’s only around the corner, so if you we’re fortunate enough to get your hands on some tickets start looking forward to some of the UK’s best stage talent.
It goes without saying that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the gigs, live entertainment and all the other events happening at the AO Arena in 2024.
It’s going to be a great year, we can just feel it.
Keep an eye on our Instagram and dedicated The Manc Audio page to make sure you don’t miss one bit of it — and see you out there!
Featured Images — Supplied/The Manc Group/Marc Benner
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Influential indie veterans The Wedding Present to embark on 40th anniversary tour
Danny Jones
Influential indie band The Wedding Present are about to begin a big live tour across the UK for their 40th anniversary, and one stop is right here in Manchester.
As boundary-pushing veterans of the genre for the best part of four decades, The Wedding Present have always been one of the most pioneering auteurs of the Northern music scene, and nothing has changed even after all this time.
The Leeds-formed icons are a favourite not only of ours but even more so among our friends over at The Hoot, and with an artistic legacy as strong as Yorkshire’s, that’s saying something.
David Lewis Gedge’s long-standing project rather quietly announced its major retrospective series of live shows back in June – so quiet, in fact, that we missed it until now – but as they gear up for a handful of very special dates, we’d urge Manc gig-goers to give themselves a Wedding Present.
Gedge and co. will be coming to the O2 Ritz in Manchester for just the second show of merely half a dozen confirmed for The Wedding Present 40th Anniversary Tour, having played the venue many times.
In fact, even after visits featuring live configurations over the years, the current lineup played the Ritz as recently as May 2023; the show was met with strong reviews pretty much across the board, and it seemed to signal somewhat of a falling back in love with the crowds of the North.
For anyone unaware of the self-styled ‘semi-legendary band’ (their PR’s words, not ours), The Wedding Present are probably in similar territory to fellow underdogs and Manc natives, James, when it comes to the amount of music they’ve put out over the years, inspiring generations of those who came after.
You might assume we’d name one of their most famous tracks, ‘George Best’, as our favourite, for rather obvious reasons – but you’d be wrong: it doesn’t get much better than ‘Dreamworld’, if you ask us.
Their rich back catalogue encompasses not only so many different eras but also sounds, styles and various other eccentricities; so much so that their multi-genre-spanning music has even produced its own musical.
But before we dive any deeper down into the rabbit hole, let’s get back on track.
Set to play Manchester on Friday, 10 October, The Wedding Present will be kicking off the tour in Bristol at the start of next month.
There are other dates in the likes of Sheffield, Liverpool, Chester, Holmfirth, Buxton, Newcastle and more, but only a few are officially part of the anniversary tour.
Tickets are live as we speak, so if you fancy going along to see them, you can grab yours HERE.
Lewis Capaldi at Co-op Live Manchester – tickets, setlist, support and more
Daisy Jackson
Lewis Capaldi will be hitting the stage in Manchester this week for two huge sold-out gigs at the Co-op Live arena.
The Scottish singer-songwriter is currently on a sold-out 17-date UK arena tour after a two-year hiatus for his physical and mental health.
The much-loved performer took the decision to step out the limelight after his Glastonbury 2023 performance, where he struggled with his vocals, anxiety, and Tourette’s syndrome as the set went on – with the huge crowd stepping in to sing for him.
Lewis then made a triumphant return earlier this year with a surprise set at Glastonbury, proving he is once again back on top form.
He then released a new single, Survive, which stormed to the top of the UK singles chart, and an arena tour to go with it, adding a second Manchester date due to phenomenal demand.
His single Someone You Loved remains the most-streamed song in the UK, even seven years after its release. Us Brits love him.
Lewis Capaldi will be performing at Co-op Live on both Saturday and Sunday night this week, and we’ve rounded up all your essential info below.
And if you miss him this time, he’s just announced an outdoor summer show at Wythenshawe Park next year, tickets for which go on sale HERE on Friday 19 September.
Tickets for Lewis Capaldi at Co-op Live
Lewis Capaldi. Credit: Alexandra Gavillet
Did we mention that people really love Lewis Capaldi? So yeah, the show is fully sold out on both Ticketmaster and See Tickets.
However, you can still get through the doors by booking a VIP or hospitality package with Seat Unique, which are on sale HERE.
Your best bet at getting your hands on a pair of general admission tickets now will be to keep an eye out for resale tickets, but make sure you’re using a reputable resale site.
Face value ticket prices ranged from £32.10 up to £113.25 for seats, with standing tickets also coming in at £113.25 with fees.
Support acts
Lewis Capaldi has lined up a pair of excellent supports for his tour, including his Co-op Live shows in Manchester.
His main support act will be Skye Newman, a rising star singer-songwriter from South East London, who you probably know from her hit debut single Hairdresser and its top-five follow-up single, Family Matters.
Also warming up the crowds will be Aaron Rowe, an Irish musician with a hell of a voice who’s inspired by American soul legends as well as British bands like The Stone Roses and Oasis.
What are the stage times for Lewis Capaldi at Co-op Live?
Exact stage times haven’t been announced yet but we do know that general admission doors open at 6.30pm, and the show is set to start at 7.30pm.
That should mean Aaron Rowe will be on first, followed by Skye Newman around 8.15pm, and Lewis likely to start his show around 9pm.
If any official stage times get announced, we’ll update this article.
Lewis Capaldi setlist
The below is the setlist Lewis has been using for most of his shows so far.
Survive
Grace
Heavenly Kind of State of Mind
Forever
Wish You the Best
Love the Hell Out of You
Almost
Bruises
Pointless
Something in the Heavens
Leave Me Slowly
Forget Me
The Pretender
The Day That I Die
Before You Go
Encore
How I’m Feeling Now
Hold Me While You Wait
Someone You Loved
How to get to Co-op Live
Tram
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live. You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.
Getting there by car and parking
If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue,e but this must be pre-booked ahead of time and there are designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU, and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide come event day – though estimates will vary, obviously:
Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes via the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Harry Quick -
10th January 2024 
