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Catfish and the Bottlemen stun fans with surprise Heaton Park gig

Another massive outdoor Manc date - assuming it goes ahead...

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 27th September 2024

Whilst most of their followers have been fretting that they were getting ready to break up again, Catfish and the Bottlemen have just stunned everyone by announcing a surprise gig at Heaton Park in Manchester.

Out of nowhere.

The Welsh rockers have been back touring together this year after a three-year hiatus, playing multiple festival sets and headline dates at the likes of Cardiff Castle and released their first new music back in February – much to the delight of fans all over the country – and now they’re coming back to 0161.

Set to play the biggest stage in Manchester next summer, just less than a month before Heaton Park erupts into bedlam for the Oasis 2025 shows, Catfish and the Bottlemen will make their Manc return on Friday 15 June.

Now, don’t get us wrong, this is wonderful news if it all goes ahead as planned, but it has to be said that there is some hesitation coming from interested gig-goers – ourselves included.

Catfish have caught a lot of flack recently for cancelling their Australian tour on the day it was meant to start along with the entire run of US shows “due to artist illness”, with little detail given to fans other than how to sort their refunds. But it gets worse…

They also cancelled their Dublin gig at the RDS Simmonscourt just 15 minutes before doors were set to open and with fans already waiting outside the venue. Again, not the best look.

Perhaps more concerningly, even at some of the shows that have gone ahead this year, there have been concerns raised around the nature and quality of their performances, as well as the wellbeing of charismatic if albeit a bit chaotic frontman Van McCann.

The Oasis reunion shows have also put a bit of a spanner in the works when it comes to their upcoming London shows next year too, as both bands are set to play the capital on the same day. It remains to be seen how many of those tickets will now be put up for resale.

We’re reserving judgment for now but you can understand some of the reticence.

@reloadedmusic_ What’s going on with this band? Honestly the lack of communication is just annoying now. #catfishandthebottlemen #vanmccann #reloadedmusic ♬ original sound – Reloaded Music

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Nevertheless, we’re not going to pretend that we’re not absolutely buzzing to hear this news and we’re hoping that this massive Manchester show goes ahead and off without a hitch.

They last came to town in 2019 when they played the AO Arena and played one of their final shows before the split just down the road at Neighbourhood Weekender back in 2021, so it’s fair to say it’s been a while. Keep everything crossed, Catfish fans.

General admission goes live next Friday, 4 October at 10am but you can access pre-sale, which starts at the same time on Wednesday, 2 October, by signing up via the mailing list.

You can grab tickets for Catfish and the Bottlemen at Heaton Park, Manchester HERE and good luck to us all.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)/Silly Little Man (via Flickr)

Audio

Major Co-op Live concert cancelled with fans already inside venue

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Co-op Live is running a limited two-for-one offer on gig tickets

Major Co-op Live gig Jeff Lynne’s ELO has been cancelled this evening – after fans had already entered the venue.

Jeff Lynne’s ELO were set to perform the second of two nights at the huge Manchester venue tonight, as part of their final UK tour.

The Over and Out Tour should have been taking place on both the 9 and 10 July before heading to London’s BST Hyde Park Festival on Sunday.

But the show has been cancelled minutes before the legendary band were due to take to the stage.

Fans had already taken their seats inside the massive Co-op Live Arena when the news broke that the gig would not be able to take place ‘due to illness’.

77-year-old Jeff Lynne himself, who recently broke his hand in an accident, is said to be ‘devastated’ that he is unable to perform.

Jeff Lynne's ELO has been cancelled at Co-op Live
Jeff Lynne’s ELO has been cancelled at Co-op Live

A statement from the band said: “Unfortunately due to illness tonight’s (Thursday 10th July 2025) scheduled performance of Jeff Lynne’s ELO at the Co-Op Live will not be going ahead.

“Jeff is devastated he cannot perform this evening.

“More information will become available as soon as possible. For refunds please go to your point of purchase.”

According to fans, audiences inside Co-op Live were told the show was cancelled with just 45 minutes to go.

One person wrote: “The concert that never was. Cancelled with 45mins to go. Get well soon Jeff Lynne.”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Audio

Explaining the ‘Poznań’ and why Oasis fans are doing it at their Live ’25 reunion tour gigs

Danny Jones Danny Jones

The sun is shining, Britpop is back on top and, more importantly, Oasis are BACK – plus, they’ve got thousands of people that aren’t even Manchester City fans doing the Poznań. Here’s why.

Before you jump down our throats, yes, we’re fully aware of what the popular Man City supporter celebration is (including the fact that it’s nicked); however, we have seen plenty of people confused over what it’s all about.

Including a few in our office who couldn’t give a monkey’s about football, which is fair enough.

So, if like lots of other non-footy-obsessed Oasis fans, you’ve also been wondering A) what the Poznań is and B) why people on the Live ’25 reunion tour have been doing it, here’s a brief explanation.

What is the Poznań celebration?

For starters, if you’ve been keeping off social media completely to avoid any spoilers whatsoever, first of all, well done, your willpower is much stronger than ours.

Secondly, if you’ve never seen it before at all, here’s what it looks like:

It came out of Poland, hailing from the place of the same name and popularised by Ekstraklasa (a.k.a. the Polish first division) football team, Lech Poznań, who have been doing it since the 1960s.

As you can see, the group – and in this case, stadium-wide celebration – sees supporters turning their backs on the pitch/the centre of the arena and linking by wrapping arms around each other’s shoulders and jumping up and down in one, massive, continuous wave.

It is quite a striking visual, no question about that.

Why are Oasis fans doing it?

Come on, you must have put two and two together by now.

Manchester City fans adopted this now iconic celebration more than a decade and a half ago, and have been doing it regularly during big games, big scorelines, and big trophy wins, of which there have been a lot since then.

In fact, aside from the Burnage boys being massive Blues, Liam Gallagher himself actually instructed the Cardiff crowds on nights one and two.

It’s actually said to originate from Turkey or Greece, where it is also fairly commonplace, being simply referred to as ‘la Grecque’.

They’ve even used some pretty biblical official photography from the opening weekend of the reunion tour as the cover art for a live recording re-released of ‘Slide Away’.

It might be the coolest album artwork we’ve seen in a while, to be honest.

The history of the Poznań and its connection to Man City

Be it at Wembley for a cup final or at the Etihad Stadium, where the majority of fans saw the supporter stunt for the first time, it’s become arguably even more synonymous with City than its creators.

It was 2010, and the blue half of Manchester was hosting Lech Poznań in the group stage of the Europa League, but despite a 3-1 victory on the grass itself, more eyes were fixed on the stands themselves.

An army of 6,000 loyal Lech Poznań fans travelled for the game and had the ground quite physically bouncing with a shade of slightly darker blue, so when Emmanuel Adebayor wrapped up a hat-trick, the home support decided to turn the jubilation on their opponents and do it themselves.

It was all in good spirit, of course, but it went down a pretty instant hit with City fans and has only grown more prevalent and regular ever since.

Perhaps one of the funniest sights in recent years is Noel Gallagher being too hungover to join in, which also led to one of the coldest-looking images of the songwriter ever, and one that was quickly dubbed a perfect album cover for the next High Flying Birds album or, who knows, maybe another Oasis record?…

Ok, this is still up there in the cover art competition too.

So, yeah: that’s pretty much the long and short of it, we just thought it would help if we quickly explained the Poznań to anyone wondering why Oasis fans have been doing it.

Basically, if it was that big over in Wales, don’t be surprised if you see a literal sea of people flood Heaton Park before turning their backs to the stage, which seems to be triggered once Liam introduces ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol.’ It’ll be interesting to see if Man United fans get involved.

And finally, just imagine how much more epic this is going to be back home in Manchester as we brace for quite possibly the biggest headline gig the region has ever seen…

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Featured Images — TNT Sports (screenshot)/Oasis (via X)

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