BRIT Award-winner Jorja Smith has announced she will play an intimate Manchester gig as part of a short run of shows.
In honor of releasing her highly anticipated second album ‘Falling or flying’ later this monththe BRIT award-winner has announced a series of intimate headline shows.
Beginning in her home city of Birmingham on 7 November, she’ll stop in Manchester on 9 November before concluding the short run of gigs in London on 10 November.
For her Manchester show, she’ll take over the stage at The Albert Hall – a 5,000-capacity venue in the heart of the city set within a former chapel.
Further to climbing the charts with her huge summer single Little Things, Jorja returned last month with Falling or flying; a sleek and soulful offering taken from her highly anticipated second album of the same name.
ADVERTISEMENT
In addition to releasing the new single, Jorja also unveiled the tracklist for the record which will include features from British rapper J Hus and Jamaican singer Lila Iké, alongside 12 brand-new, unreleased tracks.
The singer last played The Albert Hall in 2018 for a run of two back-to-back sold out shows, and it’s expected that this short run will sell out fast.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2019, she was named Best British Female Artist at the Brit Awards and she was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Image: Jorja Smith
Image: Jorja Smith
Of the many British voices in music today, Jorja is among the most commanding, writing at a pitch of intensity and urgency that few can match.
Over the past five and half years, since the release of her critically acclaimed debut album Lost & Found, she has been celebrated unanimously across the world for her evocative songwriting and powerful delivery.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2021 Jorja finally broke her hiatus from music – releasing Be Right Back, the holding space between the sensation that was Lost & Found and her next project.
Be Right Back was born from playing, jamming, freestyling, and sounding out what Jorja had been on the edge of expressing all her life.
It was a project entirely for her fans, with Jorja saying at the time: “Be Right Back did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.”
Read more:Olivia Rodrigo announces massive Manchester gig at brand new Co-op Live arena
Come back she did – entering a chapter of her return to music that’s certain to draw in and intoxicate Jorja’s fans and new listeners alike.
Speaking on what has changed for her, in the five years since ‘Lost & Found’ dominated the charts and the soundscape, Jorja said: “I like this world that I’ve just come into. And I’m still figuring things out. Always figuring things out.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“This is the first time I’m putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.”
Tickets are on pre-sale from 10am BST Wednesday 20 September and on sale from Friday 22 September. They can be purchased from Jorja Smith’s website here.
Featured image – Jorja Smith
Audio
Blossoms at O2 Ritz Manchester – five-night hometown residency is already a triumph
Daisy Jackson
Blossoms are a band who were born and forged here in Greater Manchester, and now they’re back retracing their steps with a five-night residency across the venues that launched them into the big leagues.
Their star has risen all the way to arena level and headline shows at Wythenshawe Park at this point, especially here in their hometown, so the chance to see them back in these cosy-ish little venues is special, and a little bizarre.
For night two of their landmark sold-out gig series, it was the turn of the O2 Ritz, that sweaty spot off Oxford Road where the floor bounces downstairs and you stick to the carpets upstairs.
Poetically, the first time I ever saw Blossoms was in this very room in 2016, when they had the mid-afternoon slot at Neighbourhood festival and the queue to get in went all the way back to St Peter’s Square.
Since those days, Blossoms have come a long, long way, and their live show has evolved and matured from five lads thrashing on their instruments to this well-oiled, hip-swaying, flares-wearing, chart-topping machine.
There’s even choreography now – how fancy!
A stand-out moment from the show is actually a song from their new, fifth studio album Gary, which is still barely eight weeks old.
A spoof recording of legendary Manchester indie club 42s rings out, then all five band members abandon their stations, slinging keytars and marching drums around their necks so that they can dance together in front of neon signs.
Blossoms have just done their second of five shows in Manchester, this time at the O2 Ritz. Credit: The Manc GroupBlossoms on stage at the O2 Ritz in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Blossoms promised more disco with this album and they bloody meant it. It’s not just the flares and the blow-dries and the moustaches (though those do help) – it’s in the funk and groove that’s gradually crept into their music exponentially with each album release.
This is still indie rock but it’s the most danceable of its genre. Good luck keeping your shoulders from wiggling and jiggling in here. Good luck keeping that grin off your face.
And Gary is one of the most unexpectedly fun albums to be released in the last year – the fact they called it Gary, named after a giant fibreglass garden centre Gorilla, should’ve been our clue. It could border on silly were it not such a masterpiece.
It seems like the only thing Blossoms are trying to prove is that you can be wildly successful without taking yourself too seriously. They just seem like a group who want to have a good time and it’s totally infectious.
Case in point – when each band member is introduced, keyboardist Myles Kellock plays the riff of Satisfaction by Benny Benassi and The Biz. Unexpected.
Blossoms also clearly give a sh*t about their live shows and graft at it – I’ve seen these guys an awful lot and it’s because their tour dates are plentiful and consistently worth the ticket price.
This is definitely the biggest era of their career so far, but have they peaked? Not even close.
The Warehouse Project reveals return to Rotterdam for second-ever overseas event
Danny Jones
The Warehouse Project has confirmed it will be returning to Rotterdam in 2025 for just its second-ever overseas event.
After debuting abroad in 2023 with an action-packed few days in the city of Rotterdam – whose art scene, music culture and even canal network bears lots of similarities to Manchester – Warehouse Project is coming back for more.
There’s just over a month left of the 2024 WHP calendar; you’d think they’d be getting ready to wind down and enjoy the Christmas breather, but not so: the organisers are already planning what is set to be one of their biggest and best long weekends to date.
Set to take place over the early May bank holiday, the Dutch port city will once again play host to one of Manchester’s legendary club nights.
The second biggest city in the Netherlands behind Amsterdam, the next edition of Warehouse’s international series is set to return to Rotterdam RDM – a warehouse space very reminiscent of both Depot Mayfield and their original home at Victoria Warehouse.
WHP x RDM II is already being billed as an “unforgettable weekend” and if any of this year’s mainline events here in Manchester are anything to go by, they’re bound to live up to that promise.
There’s also a full FAQ page for anyone looking to find out more information regarding Rotterdam, the venue itself, travel and more.
As well as revealing the dates (2-4 May 2025), the organisers have already teased a good chunk of the lineup, with the likes of Chris Stussy, Peach, Four Tet b2b with Sammy Virji, salute and many more already confirmed.
With a slew of incredible acts, multiple afterparties on boats and other local venues, as well as plenty of opportunity to see the rest of Holland’s ‘Manhattan on the Maas’, this is going to be SO good.
We were lucky enough to have been sent to sample their inaugural Rotterdam date back in April of 2023 and, we have to say, it was an absolute blast.
Take it from us, if you’re considering being a part of this next event you won’t regret and we’ll be putting together an extensive guide to help you feel prepared for raving overseas. Registration for early access is already live, so sign up fast if you want to give yourself the best chance of being there.
Limited presale and accommodation packages will be available to those who have applied at 9am on Monday, 2 December (UK customers only). General admission tickets will go live from 9am n Tuesday, 3 December sale for UK and Dutch customers starts Tuesday 3rd December at 9am GMT/10am CET.
Rotterdam 2025 will be here before you know it, so take a boots-on-the-ground at what an international Warehouse Project date looks like down below:
Georgina Pellant -
13th September 2023 
