American rock and pop-punk icons Fall Out Boy have not only confirmed a new album is on the way, they have also announced two intimate shows out of nowhere — one being right here in Manchester.
Behind some of the biggest emo and pop-punk tracks of the 2000s such as ‘Thnks fr th Mmrs’, ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ and ‘This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race’, the band reunited in 2013 after a long hiatus and despite making plenty of music since then, it’s been five years since we’ve heard new stuff.
Announcing their new project back on 18 January, the long-standing Illinois outfit have since released the tracklist for their eighth studio album, So Much (For) Stardust — including a surprise feature from actor Ethan Hawke — and the reveal came with another added surprise.
Despite regularly filling arenas, headlining numerous festivals down the years and packing out every show they put on, Fall Out Boy have decided to announce two seriously intimate shows in London and Manchester. We’re talking 500-cap rooms here, people.
Playing our beloved Band on the Wall on 15 March and London’s Heaven the following night, the two smaller-venue shows will act as a kind of album launch party before the album actually releases on 24 March.
They will serve as somewhat of a warm-up for the massive arena shows they will be playing on the UK leg of their tour later this year, with the band due to play the AO Arena on 29 October.
These two Manchester dates will be very different vibes but both are sure to sell out within the blink of an eye. We fancy your chances of grabbing an arena spot but you’ll nearly all the luck you can get to grab a ticket for Fall Out Boy at Band on the Wall.
If The 1975‘s intimate Gorilla gig is anything to go by, it’s going to be quite the mad scramble.
While general sale tickets don’t go live until 8 March at 10am, fans who pre-order the new album from the band’s UK site before 2pm GMT on Tuesday 7 March will get exclusive access to the two dates.
Once again, So Much (For) Stardust drops on March 24 and the European leg of their full tour kicks off on 27 October in Warsaw, Poland, before arriving in Britain for a run of shows in Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London and finally Cardiff on 4 November.
Get your jet-black fringes and fedoras at the ready, we’re gonna dance, dance like Uma Thurman (sorry)…
A huge record fair is coming to Manchester city centre this bank holiday
Thomas Melia
There’s a record fair making its way to Manchester next weekend, and it’s taking over one of Manchester’s iconic live music venues.
Record lovers and music fanatics this one’s for you.
Whether you’re after growing your own record collection back home, or showing off your DJ skills, this event has everything you could ever ask for.
The Very Good Plus record fair is arriving in Manchester city centre, and it’s coming to none other than independent live music venue, New Century.
You’ll be able to browse through some of the best vinyl in the region and hopefully spot some releases by some of your musical icons.
There’s even family-friendly stations which give little ones and grown-ups alike the chance to try their hand at making and designing their own record sleeve, as well as getting stuck in with a screen-printing workshop.
A record fair event is taking place at Manchester music venue New Century and NOMA this bank holiday / Credit: The Manc Group
If you cant find any LPs you’re after, you’ll definitely find a caffeinated drink or two at Sadler’s Yard and even have a go at creating your own track on the open decks.
There will be a variety of food and drink options, as well as some food for the soul too, thanks to an array of DJ sets running until the evening courtesy of Ded Luvly on a Pulp Coffee sound system.
Live music lovers can rejoice as just for this record fair event, they’ll be able to roam around this huge gig space and if you head downstairs there’ll be a DJ workshop and sound system experience taking place.
This music-oriented event is a collaboration between iconic music venue New Century, city centre neighbourhood NOMA, and DJ and music aficionado, Living Room Dance Club.
So get ready to dig through the crates, create a few demos of your own, design an album cover or two and enrich yourself in all things music because this event has it all.
The Very Good Plus record fair is coming to NOMA and New Century in Manchester on Saturday 23 August from 11am until 6pm, and it’s completely free – apart from all the money you spend on some good quality vinyl, of course.
Featured Images – Jamakassi via Unsplash/ Phillip Blocker via Unsplash
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My Chemical Romance fans are losing it as emo favourites appear to tease UK tour
Danny Jones
American alt-rock and emo favourites My Chemical Romance aren’t just back for one last Black Parade; it looks like they might be heading to the UK for more tour dates.
Not just a phase, never was.
My Chemical Romance (an entirely different kind of MCR) made yet another mighty return to the fore earlier this year, nearly two whole decades on from the release of the seminal album, which dropped in 2006 and has now been toured live again by the New Jersey band.
Playing the album IN FULL for the first time in years, they’ve been busy in North America delighting die-hard crowds, but now a recent teaser has got My Chem fans gearing up for UK and Ireland shows.
As you can see, MCR released the somewhat cryptic comedy sketch above, in which they seem to spoof a gameshow centred around a robot named ‘Quizzo’.
The host of this fictional programme goes on to explain that the result will determine “who will be the next lucky country to win the grand prize of one nuclear winter.”
It might only last for a few seconds, but the main takeaway is that the ‘who’ selected as the recipient of this upcoming prize is none other than the United Kingdom.
Combine that with a simple caption that reads, “Let’s show them what they’ve won”, it’d be hard not to jump to the conclusion that we Brits are about to pretend we’re ‘Teenagers’ again and chant ‘Na Na Na’ until our lungs give out.
In the time since the post went live, fans on this side of the pond have understandably started getting very excited…
My Chemical Romance are coming back to the UK… For the 1st time since 2022 when we all thought it would be the last hurrah…#MCRpic.twitter.com/vHWO5mK89j
At first, some were wondering whether this year’s revival might have also seen the resurrection of their much-mythologised but ultimately scrapped 2019 record, The Paper Kingdom, but it seems pretty much nailed on that their transatlantic followers are about to get some gigs.
It remains unclear whether these still TBC dates will be an extension of the current ‘Long Live The Black Parade‘ tour, which began on 11 July, or something new entirely.
Either way, with this current run of shows due to end in September and hints at a ‘nuclear winter’, it’s a fair assumption to guess that My Chemical Romance will be coming to the UK either later this year or early 2026 – and you bank on a big Manchester booking to be thrown in there too.
Danny Jones -
6th March 2023 
