Charli XCX is touching down in Manchester this week for the first night of her long-awaited BRAT tour.
The massive tour follows a huge summer for the British artist, where tracks from her sixth studio album – including Apple, Guess, and 360 – dominated festival circuits and dancefloors across the globe.
The 32-year-old star then took things a step further with her remix album, Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat.
Her latest album was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize, and it’s up for seven Grammy Awards early next year.
Charli XCX has even performed a huge surprise free gig at Times Square in New York City, no less, just last week.
This massive new tour will bring her back to the UK for just a handful of arena shows, including a gig at the Co-op Live in Manchester.
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Here’s everything you need to know.
Charli XCX 2024 UK tour dates
Wed 27 November – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live Arena
Thu 28 November – London, UK – The O2
Fri 29 November – Birmingham, UK – Resorts World Arena
Mon 02 December – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro Arena
Charli XCX has announced details of a huge UK tour. Credit: Hayley Weir
Charli XCX tickets for Manchester Co-op Live gig
No, you’re too late.
After such a hugely popular summer, Charli XCX has driven HUGE demand and her massive arena shows are totally sold out.
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Your only chance of getting tickets now is to check fan-to-fan resale sites like Twickets.
Who’s supporting Charli XCX?
Charli XCX is being supported by singer and DJ Shygirl on all her UK dates.
The British singer, rapper, songwriter and DJ, who also founded record label Nuxxe, is famed for her blend of dance, hip-hop, experimental pop, grime and deconstructed club music.
Her big hits include Cleo, encore, Mr useless, Nasty and BB.
What are the stage times for Charli XCX in Manchester?
These haven’t been announced yet by Co-op Live but we do know that doors to the venue will open at 6.30pm.
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The venue has said that there’ll be an 8pm start, which will presumably be when Shygirl takes to the stage.
Then Charli XCX herself should be on somewhere between 9pm and 9.30pm before a gig curfew of 11pm.
Once the venue shares official stage times we’ll be sure to update this article.
Expected setlist
Well, this is an unusual one – as Manchester gets the BRAT tour before anyone else, we actually have no clue what the setlist will look like.
There are sure to be plenty of club bangers and dance floor fillers from Charli XCX’s latest album as well as her earlier work.
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She recently held a joint tour with Troye Sivan in the states, so we’ve picked out her parts of the setlist there below to give you a rough idea.
365 360 Von dutch Club classics Unlock It Sympathy is a knife Guess Spring breakers Girl, so confusing Everything is romantic Speed Drive Apple Vroom Vroom 1999 Track 10 I Love It Talk talk
Neil Young pulls out of ‘corporate controlled’ Glastonbury Festival
Danny Jones
Music icon Neil Young has pulled out of Glastonbury Festival 2025 after claiming it has lost its identity and is now under “corporate” control.
The 79-year-old singer-songwriter, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential to have ever lived, was due to play the festival as one of the legends named on this year’s lineup.
However, despite lots of excitement around the veteran being given the nod over others from what has largely been seen as a pop-leaning pool (at least according to the detractors) in recent years, Young has now decided to drop out of the festival.
Neil Young’s latest ‘NYA Times Contrarian’ post explains the decision to drop out of Glastonbury.Neil Young in 2023 Credit: Screenshot (via Neil Young website)/Per Ole Hagen (via Flickr)
“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs”, it reads. “We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in.”
For context, the BBC has been partnered with Glasto since way back in 1997 and Neil Young has already headlined the festival back in 2009, so this shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise.
“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being. Thanks for coming to us the last time!”, he continues. “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be.”
The message concludes with him hoping to catch fans at other venues and a simple “LOVE Neil – Be well”, but the tenor of the somewhat abrupt update is that the ever-opinionated and long-celebrated protest song-writer clearly believes the BBC‘s influence over the festival has now grown too strong.
Known not only as ‘Shakey’ and the ‘Godfather of Grunge’ but as one of the pioneering anti-establishment figures of a generation, the Canadian was previously in the headlines for demanding Spotify remove his music after taking issue with Joe Rogan’s anti-vax messaging on his show.
All that to say, the solo artist co-founding member of supergroup, Buffalo Springfield, is no stranger to taking on big business and companies if he feels he has good reason. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart will be performing in the coveted ‘Legends’ headliner slot at teatime on Sunday, 29 June.
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts are looking set for a European tour this summer but if he’s taking on corporations and concerts under umbrella control, it seems unlikely we’ll see him at too many festivals or the likes of Co-op Live.
The better question is: do you agree – has Glastonbury Festival become too corporate and sanitised, or do you think it still upholds the same core values it had when it first popped up on Worthy Farm in 1970?
Featured Images — Ross Belot (via Flickr)/The Manc Group
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Popular Manchester city centre club forced to close on New Year’s Eve due to flooding
Daisy Jackson
The heavy rain that hit Manchester on New Year’s Eve has caused flooding across the region, including the city centre.
One city centre venue had to close early on one of the biggest nights out of the year as water rushed into its basement.
In a statement shared today, Joshua Brooks shared that it had to close its New Year’s Eve party prematurely ‘to ensure everyone’s wellbeing’.
The popular city centre club had moved revellers upstairs to its clubhouse, rather than its basement, but ultimately feared the ‘unknowns regarding electrical safety’ and shut down early.
Luckily, party-goers were able to ring in the new year before the venue shut at around 2am.
Joshua Brooks shared: “Unfortunately, in the early hours of New Year’s Eve, we had to make the difficult decision to close the club prematurely due to unexpected flooding in our basement. The heavy rainfall in the Pennine mountains caused the River Medlock and several tributaries to overflow, impacting multiple venues along the riverbank, including ours.
“Our top priorities are always the safety of our ravers and the preservation of our equipment. As water levels continued to rise, we considered moving the party to the clubhouse upstairs. However, there were too many unknowns regarding electrical safety, so we ultimately decided to shut down the event around 2 AM, just under two hours before the end of the night, to ensure everyone’s well-being.
“We understand the inconvenience and disappointment this has caused you and sincerely apologise for disrupting your New Year’s Eve celebrations.
“Our warm-up DJs were absolutely smashing it, and Alan Fitzpatrick was playing great until the moment we had to close.
“While this type of incident is rare and hasn’t happened in years, there is always a risk due to our location. We want to assure you that we are taking this matter seriously and exploring all options to minimise the chances of this happening again.
“Thank you for your understanding and continued support.”
Luckily, Joshua Brooks hasn’t been left with any lasting damage to its main bar area, and is set to go ahead with its New Year’s Day party this evening.
Daisy Jackson -
26th November 2024 
