Ed Sheeran is about to embark on an enormous four-night stint at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium.
The hugely popular singer-songwriter will take to the stage for the first time on Thursday 9 June, and will perform every evening until Sunday night.
The four-night run is part of the Mathematics Tour, with Ed heading on to Glasgow and then to perform five shows at the Wembley Stadium in Glasgow.
It follows the release of his fourth studio album Equals, released last autumn.
This will be the first time Ed has performed in the city since May 2018 when he again completed four nights at the Etihad Stadium.
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With a capacity of a whopping 60,000 per night for music concerts, there’ll be a lot of people heading to see Ed Sheeran this weekend.
Here’s what you need to know.
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How to get to the Etihad Stadium
There’s a lot of travel advice out there this weekend, especially if you’re heading to Ed’s gig on Saturday night (when The Killer, Alicia Keys and Parklife are all taking place at once at other venues).
The roads are expected to be busy so gig-goers are urged to leave their cars at home and use public transport where possible.
Metrolink trams take less than 10 minutes to run between the city centre and the Etihad Campus stop.
Sunday 12 June – Level 1 unreserved seating and pitch standing, £82.50; limited single seats in reserved seating, £82.50.
You can also pick up tickets through resale sites, though you should only pay face value for these through official websites like Ticketmaster’s fan-to-fan resale service.
Who is supporting?
Maisie Peters
Credit: Facebook, Maisie Peters
Maisie Peters’ career launched on YouTube, before she signed with Atlantic Records and began her rise to stardom.
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Her debut album, You Signed Up For This, was released under Ed Sheeran’s label Gingerbread Man Records.
She’s racked up more than half a billion streams online for her singles, including Worst of You, Favourite Ex, and Place We Were Made.
Dylan
Credit: Facebook, DYLAN
Ed Sheeran has recruited a fellow Suffolk musician to join him on tour, in 22-year-old Dylan.
This up-and-coming indie-pop musician recently released her third EP, No Romeo.
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She’ll head out on her own tour this autumn, with gigs at Manchester’s Gorilla and similar venues right across the UK.
What are the stage times?
❤️🤍 SIXTY THOUSAND ❤️🤍
Tonight has set a record for the highest-ever attended concert in the North East 🤩🎶
Ed Sheeran will perform at the Etihad this week. Credit: Dan Martensen
This tour of Ed Sheeran’s has gone digital, which means your phone will act as your ticket.
Make sure to check your booking confirmation in plenty of time to see what you need to download and have ready.
Ed’s website states: “To gain access to the concert you are required to bring your fully charged mobile phone or smartphone. You will be required to produce a valid form of photo ID that matches the name on the tickets.
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“Accepted forms of Photo ID are – A current driver’s licence (including provisional licence), a current or recently expired passport (provided the picture is a good resemblance of the holder).”
Featured image: Publicity picture
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Watch Johnny Marr join Franz Ferdinand on stage in Manchester for a Smiths classic
Danny Jones
Franz Ferdinand are the latest act to play Aviva Studios as part of the ongoing Amazon series here in Manchester and were joined by a local music legend during the performance: none other than the mighty Johnny Marr.
Amazon Music UK’s ‘City Sessions’ has already seen the likes of Bastille and Ella Henderson kick off the programme of live performances at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, and this past weekend saw the alternative indie veterans become the third.
Better yet, the Manchester crowd got to see one of their hometown heroes as well, as the former Smiths guitarist turned lyricist and solo artist joined the Glaswegians on stage for a spell.
A ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ cover by Franz Ferdinand featuring Johnny Marr himself was on absolutely no one’s bingo card for 2025 but we’re very happy we’ve lived to see this cameo.
The 61-year-old musician still has all the effortless swagger he always did and although anyone would struggle to match the same distinct vocal style as Morrissey, lead singer Alex Kapranos did a great job.
Reacting to the clips shared online, the excitement in the room was clearly palpable, with one person writing, “I let out the biggest scream” and another adding, “The crossover I didn’t know I needed!”
A third wrote: “I’d like to see them do an album together like the magnificent FFS album” – referring to the standalone collaboration record created by the Franz Ferdinand and Sparks supergroup in 2015.
Local social media and marketing company, Altrincham HQ, also shared footage of the two artists colliding to perform the Franz fan favourite ‘Do You Want To’, with Marr playing lead throughout.
— Altrincham HQ – Social Media Marketing in Manc (@altrinchamhq) January 18, 2025
The entire performance was livestreamed on Amazon’s Twitch channel as part of the City Sessions series, so you can back and watch the full thing, but it’s fair to say this was the highlight.
It was only back in September that we saw the re-release of Johnny Marr’s only solo album with The Healers, Boomslang, but we’re glad to see the Manc icon is still finding plenty of opportunities to get on stage and do what he does best.
As for whether we’ll see more live performances of The Smiths tunes in the near future, Morrissey recently said that Marr now has full rights to all of their music and could feasibly tour with someone as lead should he wish.
However, the latter was quick to deny the controversial frontman’s claims and insisted that he had simply refused to sign an important document. His response also detailed previous talks about a potential reunion, though the chances of it ever happening now looked slimmer than ever.
An unmissable Whitney Houston tribute event is returning to Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
A much-adored and cherished Whitney Houston tribute show is returning to Greater Manchester later this year for not one but two different shows, each channelling the charisma and energy of the pop legend.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the phenomenal theatre production, ‘Queen of the Night’, the show is visiting a multitude of stages and venues all across the UK.
0161 had to receive at least one date on this tour, partly due to being the music capital of the North and also due to the fact that this is a city many fans of the 80s diva will forever hold close to their hearts.
Houston played her final ever concert performance of her career here in this very city back in 2010, taking up residence in AO Arena for two nights of world-renowned ballads and mesmerising live vocals.
This tribute show is set to include some of the diva’s biggest and much-loved hits like ‘I Will Always Love You’, ‘How Will I Know’ and ‘The Greatest Love of All’, the audience is sure to be singing along.
Adenike Adewale is taking on the role of the American R’n’B Pop singer and is no stranger to the stage or TV, featuring on The Voice in 2021 where she sang a Whitney classic, making it to the semi-finals.
Fast forward to 1 June and the tour returns to Greater Manchester and legendary city centre space, Bridgewater Hall: an incredible room more than fit for renditions of the powerhouse vocalist.
A pair of stunning venues, two stunning shows and one incomparable voice.
It’s not only our lovely region the Queen of the Night experience will be visiting; our friends over at The Hoot have plenty of nearby opportunities to sing along too, with Yorkshire dates in Hull, Halifax, Harrogate and Bradford to name a few.
I’m definitely saving all my love for when this show visits us later this year in March, and after I buy out the front row for all my friends I’ll certainly relate to the smash 1993 single ‘I Have Nothing’.
Tickets are on sale already now – you can grab yours HERE.
Daisy Jackson -
8th June 2022 
