Arctic Monkeys are set to play two massive shows at Emirates Old Trafford as part of their sold-out 2023 UK tour this week.
After having the crowd in the palm of their hands as they took to the stage in two other major UK cities this week, the Sheffield indie rock icons are finally making their way to visit us here in Manchester and will be be playing to around 50,000 adoring fans over two nights at Emirates Old Trafford.
The beloved four-piece, fronted by Alex Turner, with Matt Helders on drums, guitarist Jamie Cook, and bass player Nick O’Malley, are undoubtedly one of the most successful British bands of the 21st century after bursting onto the scene with their debut album back in 2006 – which became the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history.
That’s just one of a handful of records the indie rockers have to their name throughout their celebrated careers, as well as claiming six UK number one albums, selling over 12 millions records, and taking home countless awards – including BRITs, GRAMMYs, and the coveted Mercury Prize .
They’ve also had headlining slots at some of the world’s most famous music festivals, including Glastonbury twice.
The band are playing in Manchester this week as part of their 2023 UK tour following the release of their critically-acclaimed seventh studio album, The Car, back in October 2022.
And they look set to put on a seriously memorable show.
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So if you’re heading to see Arctic Monkeys at Emirates Old Trafford Manchester this weekend, then here’s everything you need to know.
Arctic Monkeys are playing in Manchester as part of their 2023 UK tour / Credit: Arctic Monkeys (via Instagram)
When are Arctic Monkeys playing in Manchester?
Arctic Monkeys were originally only booked to play one night at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday 2 June, but after tickets sold-out in absolutely no time at all, the Sheffield band were quick to add a second Manchester date into the mix.
The band will now take to the stage on both Friday 2 and Saturday 3 June.
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With Emirates Old Trafford having a maximum gig capacity of 50,000 people, this means that up to 100,000 fans could see the indie rockers live over the two nights.
Are there any tickets still available?
Given the sold-out first night, and the decision to add a second night due to the absolutely overwhelming demand by fans, as you might expect, tickets to both Arctic Monkeys dates in Manchester are extremely hard to come by at this point.
At the time of writing, popular ticketing website Ticketmaster showed their were no tickets available to purchase, although this could change at any moment, so it’s worth continuing to check.
Also make sure to keep your eye on SeeTickets here for any last-minute releases.
And if you try to buy tickets second-hand, please make sure you’re using a reputable resale site so you don’t get caught out by scammers.
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Who is supporting Arctic Monkeys in Manchester?
Arctic Monkeys have two support acts lined up for both of the Manchester gigs.
The HivesThe Mysterines
The Hives
The Hives are the first of two acts supporting Arctic Monkeys on both Friday 2 and Saturday 3 June.
With six studio albums to their name, the Swedish five-piece rock band rose to prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival, and their mainstream success followed with the release of their second album, Veni Vidi Vicious, which featured the hit single ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’.
The band has been acclaimed by music critics as one of the best live rock bands of the 21st century, so concertgoers are in for a real treat.
The Mysterines
The Mysterines are the second act supporting Arctic Monkeys, with the British alternative rock band hailing from Liverpool and the Wirral, and fronted by Lia Metcalfe, having enjoyed recent success following the release of their debut album, Reeling, back in March 2022 – which reached number nine on the UK Albums Chart.
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Stage times
These are expected stage times, although everything is subject to change on the night.
Gates Open – 5pm (Friday) and 4:30pm (Saturday)
Support Acts – The first support act is expected on stage around 6:40pm.
Arctic Monkeys – Expected on stage anywhere from 8:45pm – 9pm.
Emirates Old Trafford says the gig will finish “no later than 10:30pm”, and you can find more FAQs on the venue’s website here.
The Sheffield quartet will play Emirates Old Trafford on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 June / Credit: Arctic Monkeys (via Instagram)
What is the potential setlist?
Although nothing is confirmed, with artists and bands known to switch setlists up from gig to gig and throw in a few surprises here and there, depending on the energy of the crowd and what they’re feeling that night, Arctic Monkeys have been roughly following a particular order of songs since their 2023 UK tour began.
Here’s the setlist from their gig in Bristol earlier this week.
Arctic Monkeys is fronted by Alex Turner on vocals and guitar / Credit: Arctic Monkeys (via Instagram)
How to get to Emirates Old Trafford
There are, of course, a number of ways to get to Emirates Old Trafford, but as more 300,000 people are expecting to be descending on Manchester’s major venues for musical events this week, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has been advising that the Metrolink will be the “quickest and most-reliable way” of travelling in and around the city centre.
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TfGM has also strongly encouraged that people making their way to either of the two Arctic Monkeys “plan ahead” due to coordinated rail strikes by Aslef and RMT unions on both Friday 2 and Saturday 3 June.
📣 It's a busy time for Manchester over the coming week! Here is a brief overview of what's to come:
– Rail strikes – Coldplay at the Etihad – Arctic Monkeys at Emirates Old Trafford – Elton John at AO Arena
— Transport for Greater Manchester 🚲🚶🏾♀️ (@OfficialTfGM) May 28, 2023
The closest Metrolink stop is Old Trafford, which is located next to Emirates Old Trafford, but it will be busy both before and after the concerts, so you could also use Trafford Bar for both southbound journeys on the East Didsbury or Airport lines, and for journeys back to the city centre.
The last tram from Old Trafford to the city centre will depart at 1:08am and towards Altrincham at 12:29am, while the last tram from Trafford Bar to East Didsbury will depart at 11:46pm and to the Airport at 11:31pm.
Drivers are being asked to add “a significant amount of additional time” to their journeys”, with congestion expected in the city centre and on the Inner Ring Road across the weekend.
You can read more about TfGM’s travel advice for this weekend here.
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Featured Image – Zackery Michael (via SJM)
Feature
Manchester’s Pixel Bar has received a seriously next-gen upgrade
Danny Jones
In case you somehow missed it, even in all of its beaming neon and futuristic glory, Pixel Bar Manchester has recently undergone some serious renovations and we’re not just talking a lick of paint – this is a proper next-gen upgrade if we’ve ever seen one.
One of the city centre’s best activity spots and go-to hubs for gamers, specifically, Pixel Bar has been impressing Manc players since 2021, when it took over the old Bar 21 site – one we were sad to say goodbye to at first.
But in the few short years that we’ve had the pleasure of picking up pads at this place, we’ve slowly managed to get over it and now we’re just as madly in love with the gaming gaff as we were its predecessor.
The bar itself was already pretty engaging to begin with but after more than a few tweaks to the overall hardware and a major refitting downstairs, its videogame offerings are bigger and better than ever.
Let’s start with the first thing that hits you as you come in: those brilliant booths, complete with large LED screens, access to various different kinds of consoles and all manner of titles, all from the comfort of the plush padded seating.
Not only are these ideal for group bookings and parties, as they’re roomy enough to seat plenty of you, but you can also order a wide array of gaming-themed food and drink – still displayed within a cute little disc (cute) directly to your table.
You essentially never need to get up and take a break from playing beyond nipping to the loo.
There are, of course, your classic arcade machines dotted around the main floor as well as downstairs if you prefer old-school.
Credit: The Manc Group
Speaking of downstairs…
Now, this is where the levelling up gets seriously silly as not only have they transformed Bar 21’s old basement room into a shiny new large seating area, perfect for private hires, large groups or just a quieter room out back away from the bustle upstairs.
However, wander even further into the belly of this brilliant gaming venue’s lair and you’ll find there more than a few beasts waiting for you – in a good way.
Part of the former club room has now been turned into a hardcore gamer’s arena with a fully decked-out PC den and some extremely impressive rigs lining the walls.
Credit: The Manc
Boasting Razer keyboards, headsets and mice to boot, this has everything you need to host a proper old-school LAN party or for the esports hopefuls amongst you (and Manchester’s scene is growing fast, believe us), host competitive online tournaments.
Honestly, these guys are taking this stuff as seriously as you’d like them to; pull back a curtain plastered with UltaGear and Riot Games Play Club branding and you’ll even find a dedicated casting booth should you want some to commentate a live event or run a properly presented livestream.
We don’t need to go into the exact specs of what you’ll find down here as we could be here forever but let’s just say you won’t go wanting for much.
God knows how much Pixel Bar pumped into this major refurb of their Manchester site, all we know is we’re impressed and we’ll be coming back here very soon.
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | January 2025
Danny Jones
Happy New Year! Can you really get away with that at the end of January?… Who knows?
Either way, 2025 is underway and we just know it’s going be another fantastic 365 days for music.
If you’re new here then first off, hello – we appreciate you clicking and hope you’ll be back here on a regular basis; secondly, for those of you who joined us in 2024, you know the drill: every month we put together a list of Greater Manchester music we’ve been listening to over the past few weeks.
It is to our perennial sadness that we’ll never be able to ‘complete’ all of the music that will ever be released in the world, but we can certainly give keeping up with everything 0161 is doing and has done a good old go or so help us, almighty tunage gods! Enough pratting about, let’s get stuck in:
Five Manchester bands and artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. Casino Club
Ok, landing our inaugural artist nod of 2025 is a group we truly believe is going to go very far this year and part of what is a promising new creative boom down the road in the WN postcode area.
That’s right, we’re heading to Wigan first and foremost and giving a very big shout-out to local band, Casino Club, who are helping spearhead the next generation of music coming out of the Greater Manchester borough. This isn’t just indie rock, it’s indie rock and roll that we’re very excited about.
With rip-roaring guitar riffs that hint at everything from Green Day to Sterephonics and Catfish, as well as frontman Marcus Grimshaw’s fantastic vocals, they’ve struck an infectious and extremely listenable balance already. As for songs, there are plenty, but we’d say start with ‘The Fear’, ‘Kick a Hole Into the Sun’ and ‘Runaway’.
Buzzing to announce our new single ‘Begging You’ will release on 14•02•25
Oh yeah, we do old bands too; this series is just as much about spotlighting perhaps forgotten or underrated Manc music as it is about the new blood and The Chameleons are a great example of that.
The Middleton-formed band came to the fore at the start of the 80s when so many other massive names were coming through the Greater Manchester scene, so it was hard to carve out even a slither of the spotlight let alone one rivalling the likes of The Smiths, New Order, Inspiral Carpets and so on.
But make no mistake, this lot are still going strong, with a die-hard following eagerly awaiting their new album. It might sound like a sweeping generalisation but their sound does typify that era. Most will start with ‘The Swamp Thing’ but their 1993 debut album Script From The Bridge is still their best.
Now up next is a singer-songwriter and chief Manc music queen in charge of ‘devastating alt-pop’: her words, not ours – though we do to tend agree and heartily recommend you give her a listen. She’s actually been going since 2016, unbelievably, but she’s gaining more and more traction year after year.
The BIMM graduate was actually born over in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, but she’s been studying, living and making a new for herself here in Manchester for a good long while now, so yes, we’re absolutely claiming her as one of our own – especially after becoming a Neighbourhood Festival fave.
Her style has definitely evolved but, more importantly, there’s no genre she won’t put a distorted electronic twist on. At present, you’ll get notes of St Vincent, 070 Shake, MARINA and more; ‘Break My Heart’ and ‘Lucky Me’ make for the perfect starting point and ‘IDK’ was on Killing Eve. ‘Nuff said.
Our penultimate pick for January is the iconic electronic and techno outfit 808 State, who made new waves with their sound in the late 1980s, well into the 90s and are partly still going to this day.
If you’ve never come across them before, their influence on modern electronica and the wider dance music is massive, not only being labelled among the pioneers of acid house but former member Gerald Simpson (A Guy Called Gerald) went on to lay the foundations for what would go on to become jungle.
That’s right: we have them to thank for not just drum and bass but many sub-genres of electronic music as a whole. With such and varied long career (even if it’s only co-founder Graham Massey now) there’s plenty to enjoy: ‘Cübik’, ‘Spanish Heart’, and the Bicep remix of ‘In Yer Face’, just to name a few.
They took their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which also played a big role in revolutionising modern music production.
5. The Falls
Last but not least, we’re giving an early seal of approval to a young bunch of lads going by ‘The Falls’ and while they might not sound anything like the predecessors from Prestwich – with which their name differs only because it’s a plural – we’re hoping they’re bound for similar success.
Hailing from Salford, this fledgling four-piece has barely even got going yet but they’ve definitely got a good feel for the indie warehouse from the off and
They’ve only released four songs thus far too, so you can get on board with these boys early doors. ‘The Millionth Time’ and ‘Waiting For Yesterday’ promise lots of solo showing off in the future, and the loose-wristed main riff on ‘My mind’ almost reminds us of the fast-paced part of ‘Shiver’ by Coldplay before turning into something very different. We look forward to seeing where they go.
And just like that, the first Manc artists of the round-up of the year is all said and done – we hope enjoyed it and at least we’re introduced to a couple of names you haven’t come across before.
That’s basically how it works: we’ll be back here, ‘same bat-time, same bat-place’ every month with another batch of Manchester bands, solo artists and more for you to feast your ears on.
Until next time, you can get stuck into our final round-up from 2024 down below, not to mention all the others from last year and, as always, keep your eyes peeled on Audio North for all the big and interesting music news.
Oh, and of course, if there are any Manchester artists that you think we should check out then let us know in the comments.
Emily Sergeant -
31st May 2023 
