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Bloc Party announce massive Manchester show for Sounds of the City 2025

Instantly queues up 'Helicopter'... (this article contains affiliate links)

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 25th October 2024

Bloc Party have just announced a trio of massive summer shows next year and one of them is right here in Manchester as part of the Sounds of the City lineup for 2025.

The seasoned indie rock icons have been around in some form or another for over two and a half decades now, if you can believe that, and they’re still one of the most influential contemporary bands to have come out of Britain in a very long time.

With that in mind, the news that they’re not only returning to Manchester but set to return for another Castlefield Bowl concert – a feat few artists are given the chance to do – has absolutely made our week.

Landing at the legendary outdoor gig venue on 10 July, the show will be in line with the 20th anniversary. of their much-loved debut album, Silent Alarm.

Also set to play Brighton On The Beach as well as headline next year’s Live At Leeds In The Park festival lineup as part of the wider celebrations, it’s going to be a big summer for the veteran of the UK alternative scene.

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Therefore, it’s only fitting that the London-formed quartet perform the seminal album in full along with a selection of the greatest hits. These are the tracks that helped influence the likes of Foals, Manchester’s very own Everything Everything; Paramore, The Maccabees and many more.

With our much-loved amphitheatre boasting a capacity of around 8,000, we can’t wait to see a sea of Mancs bouncing around to ‘Banquet’, ‘Helicopter’, ‘Flux’ and more.

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Given that the 2005 LP was their breakthrough record – and it still slaps just as hard to this day, by the way – it’s also a celebration of more than 20 years of Bloc Party as a whole, so you best put in some proper effort, Manchester.

Just picture these scenes only under the shadow of the Castlefield Bowl canopy. Sublime.

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It’s been two years since their last album Alpha Games but we have heard our first taster of their newest and as yet untitled project following the release of their summer 2024 single, ‘Flirting Again’. We don’t have a release date just yet but, believe us, it’s coming.

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If you haven’t heard it already, it won’t surprise you one bit to hear that they sound as good as ever.

Pre-sale access to their Castlefield Bowl starts from 9am on Wednesday, 30 October, and can be accessed by signing up for their mailing list.

As for general admission, tickets to see Bloc Party in Manchester go live at the same time on Friday morning, 1 November – 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 Image (supplied)/The Manc Group

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Pierce the Veil are bringing their massive world tour to Manchester’s Co-op Live

Danny Jones Danny Jones Pierce the Veil Manchester Co-op Live tickets

Contemporary rock heavyweights Pierce the Veil have just announced a massive world tour and they’re bringing it to Manchester for their Co-op Live debut.

The emo, prog rock, pop-punk, hardcore and all-round heavy hitters last played Manchester this past April, putting on a pretty huge gig at Victoria Warehouse, but now they’re set for their biggest show here to date.

Co-op recently welcomed Sleep Token for their first real metal show last month, one that proved the venue is more than up to the task of putting on a proper rock show, and now Pierce the Veil are the latest confirmed to be headlining the state-of-the-art arena.

Announcing the news on Tuesday, 3 December, the California-based band will be heading to the moody skies of Manchester next year.

First forming back in 2006 and now five studio albums deep, the new world tour which features nearly 50 dates around North and South America, the UK and Europe, the aim of this new show is to span their whole career thus far.

With a healthy selection of songs from each era, this one will not only as a walk down memory lane for die-hard fans but a pure celebration of Pierce the Veil throughout each evolution of their sound.

Speaking in an official statement after the tour was announced, the band said: “Nearly two decades in the making, this tour is a monument to everything we’ve built with our fans.

“These shows will honour our roots, spanning all five albums and the music that brought us here. We’re bringing to life the songs you’ve been waiting to hear in some of the most iconic venues in the world, including Madison Square Garden, The Forum, Red Rocks, and Wembley Arena.

“This will be our largest, loudest, and most unforgettable tour yet. PTV fans, it’s time to raise our voices like never before. Can you hear us now?”

We’re certainly about to…

Better yet, with a wide breadth of modern rock on show in the support acts too as the San Diego sons will be bringing along Cavetown, Hot Mulligan (a personal favourite of ours) and Crawlers as their UK warm-up acts, these shows are going to be plenty good value for money.

Pierce the Veil’s landmark Manchester gig takes place next autumn on Thursday, 25 September 2025 and, if Sleep Token’s attendance even just a year into their massive boom was anything to go by, this one will sell out pretty quickly.

General admission tickets go live at 10am on Friday, 6 December and official Co-op Members can access exclusive pre-sale from Wednesday (4 Dec).

You can get ready to grab your tickets HERE.

See you in the circle pit.

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Featured Images — Stefan Brending (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group

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Noel Gallagher says there ‘won’t be any fighting’ as he speaks on Oasis reunion for the first time

Danny Jones Danny Jones Noel Gallagher says there'll be no fallouts as he speaks on Oasis reunion for the first time

Noel Gallagher has spoken about the Oasis reunion for the first time and has promised there’ll be ‘no fighting’ when they set off on tour next summer.

In contrast to the younger Gallagher brother, who has been arguably more active and vocal about himself and Oasis since the reunion was confirmed, Noel has been pretty quiet on the comeback up until now.

However, speaking at the recent ‘Legends’ exhibition by Zoë Law held at the National Portrait Gallery, the guitarist and solo artist was quoted as saying that things won’t be anywhere near as rock and roll as it was back in Britpop’s heyday, as well as assuring he and Liam won’t be at each other’s throats.

The main reason being: age, in a word.

The Oasis songwriter said of the upcoming tour dates: “No, it won’t be as raucous as back in the day, because we’re on the wrong side of 50 now, so we’re too old.

“We’re too old to give a s**t now, so there won’t be any fallouts, there won’t be any fighting.” When asked if he’s glad to have buried the feud after a decade and a half of bad-mouthing and back and forth, the 57-year-old could only reply, ‘Of course.’

In Noel’s eyes at least, while many have been speculating that this reunion tour isn’t just a one-off (fingers crossed), he described wanting the now enormous world tour – with dates in the UK, Ireland, US, Australia, Japan, South America and more – to be a sort of “lap of honour” for the band.

Make of that what you will.

There have been reports that the duo have new music ‘ready to go’ or at least written, but let’s just say we got our Christmas wish with the reunion itself, so we’re not going to push our luck and risk jinxing anything by asking for too much. For now, we’ll settle for them remembering they love each other.

As for relations between him and Liam, we don’t know too much beyond the pictures we eventually saw of them smiling and joking together during that photo shoot for the official announcement in the summer.

That being said, iconic frontman and part-time troll has enjoyed playing a very comical version of kiss and make up on social media – as well as using the word ‘celestial’ a lot for some reason. He did, however, respond to what he called a “ridiculous question” rather recently.

Although he refused to name who it came from, he replied in truly irreverent LG fashion: “Oasis gonna be as good as you once were because when some bands get back together there not as good I said listen here you c*** even on our bad day we’ll still wipe the floor with [the] majority of bands out there.”

Meanwhile, it really does like the two have overcome their difference as Noel had the following to say in his interview for the Law’s photography series. We only hope this means there’s nothing holding them back from putting on the shows of a lifetime…

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Featured Images — National Portrait Gallery (screenshot via Facebook)/Press Image (supplied)

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