Stockport five-piece Blossoms are set to perform at a festival set within a forest not too far from Manchester next year in line with the rollout of their latest album, Gary.
The newest announcement sees the cheeky chappies/stylish Stopfordians set to headline Forest Live 2025 set in Delamere, Northwich, which has been running since 2001.
Blossoms are the newest addition to the concert series as both The Script, music legend Sting and Manchester’s very own Elbow are headlining various dates in other green spaces. The local lads have also announced a number of other open-air gigs along with their Forest Live date.
This marks the second year that Live Nation has partnered with Cuffe and Taylor to deliver the forest-bound festival. Other Forestry England locations taking part include Cannock Chase, High Lodge, Thetford and Westonbirt Arboretum.
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Last year, Forestry England – who is hosting the event as the organisation that looks after Delamere Forest and the surrounding areas – planted 7.4 million trees and welcomed 285 million visits throughout the 2023/24 season, as every person in England lives within an hour of one of their forests.
As for the local band themselves, Blossoms have gained a huge cult following since releasing breakout hit ‘Charlemagne’ back in 2015, amassing hundreds of millions of streams following their debut.
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Lead vocalist Tom Ogden, drummer Joe Donovan, lead guitarist Josh Dewhurst, keyboardist Myles Kellock and bassist Charlie Salt have had an unreal year, with their biggest-ever gig at Wythenshawe Park and their brand new number-one album.
Inspired by an eight-foot gorilla of the same name that was stolen from a Lanarkshire garden centre in 2023, Gary has been an instant critical and commercial success.
Come on, how stunning a setting is that? (Credit: Supplied)
Support will be provided by up-and-coming Oldham act Seb Lowe and another North West breakthrough, The Guest List.
Blossoms are set to play Forest Live 2025 in Delamere Forest on Saturday, 21 June 2025 and tickets will be available from 9am on Friday, 25 October.
Prices for the festival pass start from £61.50 and you can get ready to grab yours HERE.
Blossoms playing Castlefield Bowl for Sounds of the City 2023.Tom and Gary at Wythy Park this past summer.We’ve had very good fun watching these lads over the past few years – don’t miss out on this one.
Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)
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New data estimates that 7.3m Oasis fans are set to miss out on 2027 tour tickets
Emily Sergeant
New data has revealed that as many as 7.3 million Oasis fans could be set to miss out on tickets to the band’s 2027 tour.
In case you need bringing up to speed a little, it was announced earlier this week that, following the unprecedented success of the reunion tour, Oasis Live ’25, last year, including five nostalgia-drenched gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park, Oasis would be hitting the road once again in 2027, and this time around, they’re going BIG.
We’re talking 11 nights at the Etihad Stadium and a return to the iconic grounds of Knebworth for four special shows there too, kind of ‘big’.
The iconic Manchester band will also be taking to a range of other world-famous stages across the globe, including five nights at Glasgow’s Celtic Park, and major cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Las Vegas.
But despite the elevated number of dates the Gallaghers and co will be performing, some new data has unfortunately revealed that millions of fans may still not be lucky enough to snag a ticket.
The ticketing system for Oasis Live ’27 is not what it was for the last tour, nor will it be similar to many other tours of a similar scale in the past either, as this time, the band and their promotors are taking necessary measures to ensure ‘genuine fans’ get their hands on the tickets and that dynamic pricing doesn’t creep in.
Instead of going into detail on that now though, you can read our full guide on how to get tickets for the Manchester and Knebworth shows here.
Experts at online ticketing platform TicketSource have analysed the scale of demand for Oasis tickets by comparing the 10 million fans worldwide who queued for the initial release of 1.4 million tickets for their 2025 tour, with the newly announced 2027 tour dates and stadium capacities.
With an estimated 2.67 million tickets available across 38 dates and 11 locations between 21 May and 19 September 2027, Oasis could still face huge demand from fans hoping to see them live.
But research reveals the band would need to play 112 Wembley-sized shows to accommodate everyone who tried to get a ticket in 2025.
The 2027 tour would accommodate just 26.7% of those who tried to get tickets last time, meaning almost three-quarters (73%) of them could miss out, leaving a shortfall of more than 7.3 million fans.
Fingers crossed you’re among the lucky lot that secure tickets, though.
Featured Image – Joshua Halling (Press Image – Supplied)
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Iconic Manc movie 24 Hour Party People is set to return to cinemas for its anniversary
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s most iconic movies is set to return to the big screen next month.
Remastered in 4K and returning to UK cinemas to mark 24 years since its original release, Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 biographical comedy drama film, 24 Hour Party People, tells the story of Manchester‘s popular music community from 1976 to 1992 – specifically about Factory Records‘ founder Tony Wilson.
The film begins with the punk rock era of the late 1970s, before moving through the 1980s into the rave and DJ culture, and of course, the ‘Madchester‘ scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The narrative largely follows the career of Tony Wilson, played by Middleton-born actor Steve Coogan, while also covering the careers of the major Factory Records artists – especially Joy Division and New Order, as well as A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, and Happy Mondays.
If you haven’t seen 24 Hour Party People before, it’s a dramatisation based on a combination of real events, rumours, and urban legends, as the film is sure to make clear.
Coogan is joined by a cast by a mixture of big names and, at the time, rising stars like Paddy Considine, Shirley Henderson, Lennie James, John Simm, Ralf Little, Andy Serkis, Sean Harris, John Thomson, and even Peter Kay, alongside cameos from other figures connected to the Manchester music scene.
Before it returns to cinemas, the film will first open music and media festival/conference, Beyond The Music, at MediaCity in Salford on 6 October.
The screening at the festival will also be followed by a Q&A with Coogan, Winterbottom, and producer Andrew Eaton.
24 Hour Party People will then be re-released in UK cinemas from 9 October, and you can check your local cinema for screening times and book tickets online now.
Thomas Melia -
22nd October 2024 
