Blossoms will be performing their biggest-ever gig at Wythenshawe Park this weekend, with massive support acts lined up.
Stockport’s finest will be back on home turf over the August bank holiday weekend, ahead of the release of their upcoming album Gary.
The group have become one of the biggest groups to come out of Manchester over the last few decades, rocketing to fame with their self-titled debut album back in 2016.
Blossoms earned BRIT Award and Mercury Prize nominations following their chartbuster debut album.
They’ve gone on to score two more UK number-one albums with 2020’s Foolish Loving Spaces and 2022’s Ribbon Around The Bomb.
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Blossoms frontman Tom Ogden said: “Headlining our biggest show yet at Wythenshawe Park is going to be THE moment of our career so far for us.
“It makes me think of me and Joe [the band’s drummer] going to watch Oasis and The Stone Roses at Heaton Park back when we were teenagers and how important these big summer Manchester shows are to people.
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“It made us want to be in a band, affected what we wore and changed our lives forever. To misquote Dorothy, ‘Lads, I’ve a feeling we’re not on Oldham Street anymore!”
Seb Lowe is supporting BlossomsThe K’s. Credit: Publicity picture
Blossoms have lined up some massive support acts to help them warm up the crowds at Wythenshawe Park this weekend.
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Dublin’s Inhaler, whose debut album It Won’t Always Be Like This topped the charts on its release in 2021, are the main support act, performing hits like Cheer Up Baby, Ice Cream Sundae, My Honest Face and many more.
Legendary rockers Shed Seven are also on the line-up, as they head up to their third decade in the industry. The group recently recorded their first-ever no.1 album, A Matter of Time.
Further support includes indie rockers The K’s, Oldham’s Seb Lowe and Ttrruuces, who’ll get things rocking and rolling.
Are there any tickets left for Blossoms’ gig at Wythenshawe Park…
You’re in luck! There are still some tickets available for the gig on Sunday.
Ticket options available are:
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Sunday ticket: £50.40
Weekend ticket: £89.60
Sunday VIP ticket: £126.50
Or you can purchase a full weekend ticket and you’ll be able to catch the New Order gig on Saturday on top of Blossoms on Sunday.
You can see the latest availability and buy your tickets with See Tickets HERE.
Stress-free travel and how to get to Wythenshawe Park
For travel to Wythenshawe Park, there are three tram stops close by – Wythenshawe Park, Moor Road and Baguely station.
Only Moor Road will be available to use when the gig has finished. Wythenshawe Park and Baguely station will be closed to help with crowd management.
But if you’re worried about such a big journey, Blossoms have saved the day, helping fellow Mancunians natives by launching their very own shuttle bus service.
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Buses are running via Stockport Interchange to the venue between 4pm and 8pm, every six minutes. The six-minute wait applies for the way back, taking giggoers from Moor Road back to Stockport town centre, between 10pm and 1am.
You can find out more about the shuttle bus service HERE.
Stage times for Blossoms
The set times are subject to change. Make PLENTY of time to get there!
The Guest List — 14:55 – 15:15
TTRRUUCES — 15:40 – 16:10
Seb Lowe — 16:35 – 17:05
The K’s — 17:30 – 18:05
Shed Seven — 18:35 – 19:15
Inhaler — 19:45 – 20:30
Blossoms — 21:00-22:30
Expected setlist for Blossoms’ Manchester gig
Blossoms will play at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester over the August bank holiday. Credit: Publicity picture
We don’t actually know what Blossoms will play, as this is the first show they’ve done on their current and upcoming tour.
Instead, they’ve been busy on the festival circuit, so the below setlist is the bunch of classics they played at Hardwick Festival.
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Your Girlfriend
I can’t stand it
Getaway
Oh No ( I think I’m in Love)
What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?
Honey Sweet
Perfect Me
If You Think This Is Real Life
At Most a Kiss
Gary
My Favorite Room
There’s a Reason Why ( I Never Returned Your Calls)
Charlemagne
You never know, with Blossoms returning to their native land, they might mix things up…
Government to introduce price cap on ticket touts and launch consultation on dynamic pricing
Danny Jones
The UK government are finally set to install a price cap on re-sale tickets for touts and open an official consultation on the growing trend of dynamic pricing.
If you’ve bought a ticket to a live music show over the past year or so, you’ll have noticed that ticket prices in general are on the up – particularly if purchased from a reseller, in which case you might have paid through the nose for the privilege.
Not only does ticket touting remain a prevailing problem in the industry, with tonnes of tickets for big shows, especially, being snapped up in bulk or by bots and listed for re-sale before you’ve even added them to your basket, but the advent of this new dynamic pricing lark has made things even harder.
You only have to look at the controversy and chaos surrounding Oasis’ reunion tour, which ultimately saw some fans paying significant amounts more for practically the same ticket just a few days later in what many dubbed as ‘fraud’ and even ’emotional blackmail’.
Justin Timberlake at Co-op Live Manchester was one of countless gigs where ticket prices fluctuated. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Tackling resellers head-on
Knowing full well that people will go to extreme lengths to try and see the musicians and artists they love so dearly – in some cases being backed into a corner as the final figure displayed on the screen when they checkout suddenly jumps up – the modern ticketing industry is severely broken.
With all that in mind, the government are now looking to enact more stringent measures on resellers, by announcing a new price cap on tickets put back up for sale which is set to be introduced (hopefully) in the very near future.
Targeting sites infamous for inflating re-sale costs such as Viagogo, StubHub and others, the bill published on Friday, 10 January proposes a price cap of face value plus 10-30% but no more, with an obvious aim to keep that number as low as possible.
According to the current figures, touts reportedly cost music fans alone more than £145 million in extra re-sale fees when purchasing tickets every year – a frankly ridiculous sum. There will always be tickets ending up on re-sale sites, that’s unavoidable, but a price cap could seriously improve the situation.
The Manc music legends themselves claim they had little control over the situation.
Down with dynamic pricing
Labour, who were voted into power back in July, are also set to try and combat dynamic prices, which essentially sees gigs and events set people back more or less depending on how the popular ticket sales have been up to that point, market trends and general demand. An initial review was called for last year.
Put simply, the more people want to attend a gig, platforms like Ticketmaster feel they are able to jack up their margins even after the initial price point has been established. The European Commission has been investigating these methods since September 2024.
Although it is still unclear as to the exact time scale of when these changes will come in, Labour MP Chris Bryant told NME that although they are still in the early stages, it is “now just a matter of how the government takes action.” And that’s where you come in.
The consultation is also crucially public, with the calling for people to submit their evidence on current pricing practices and continue engaging in the discussion throughout the progress. New Year’s Resolution: let’s curb ticket touts as much as we possibly can.
The AO Arena is giving away FREE tickets for a year to celebrate 30 years in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
The AO Arena has announced it’s giving away free tickets for a year to celebrate its 30th anniversary in Manchester.
The iconic music venue has welcomed the biggest names in the world in its three decades, with millions of us making memories for life inside its huge space.
And now you could win VIP tickets for an entire year, simply for sharing those memories with the AO Arena.
Fans who submit their old photos, videos and tickets will be in with a chance to win tickets to all the shows coming up in 2025 – which already includes massive gigs like Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry and Busted vs McFly.
AO Arena wants to dig deep into ‘first gig’ nostalgia territory, using fan-submitted snaps to build a collection of Manchester memories.
Were you in the same room as Taylor Swift, did you party like it was 1999 (because it was) with Spice Girls, did you cry over the sight of Gary Barlow or cry laughing with Peter Kay?
Britney Spears and Beyonce are among the names who have performed at AO Arena in its 30 year history. Credit: Supplied
Whatever your AO Arena memories are, you can share them before the end of the month to be entered into the competition to win VIP tickets for the year.
One overall winner picked at random will get the ultimate VIP experience, including access to a premium suite and The Beautiful North, as well as access to The Mezz with panoramic views of the main stage.
The 30th birthday campaign has been inspired by Adele’s monumental When We Were Young performance at Glastonbury, and all these memories will be projected around the arena before every performance.
You can submit your footage and enter the competition via the AO Arena website HERE.
Blake Keeble -
20th August 2024 
