A final batch of Parklife tickets will go on sale this morning as part of the festival’s anti-tout policy.
The Manchester music event is going to great lengths to protect its customers from the over-inflated prices adopted by greedy ticket touts.
The hugely popular festival has worked with Greater Manchester Police to crack down on fake and stolen tickets being sold to music fans.
A number of weekend and Sunday tickets have been reclaimed, and will go on sale today, Thursday 12 May.
Parklife festival. Credit: Parklife
Headliners on the Sunday of the two-day Heaton Park festival include Tyler the Creator, Megan Thee Stallion, Lewis Capaldi, Bicep, Annie Mac, and Eric Prydz.
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On Saturday, Parklife will be headlined by 50 Cent in a UK festival exclusive, as well as Chase and Status, Jamie XX, and Four Tet.
Parklife is set to take place back in its normal June weekend this year, on 11 and 12 June, and tickets had already sold out.
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Parklife festival. Credit: Parklife
Parklife said: “As a result of our anti-tout campaign & the final failed payment plans, a limited number of tickets become available from Thurs 10AM. Set your alarms as these are the last PL22 tix & won’t be about for long.”
Graeme Openshaw, GMP Chief Superintendent said: “We recognise that for an event such as Parklife that there many people who will be unable to get tickets.
“Unfortunately every year we deal with unsuspecting victims who buy tickets from touts and get ripped off because the ticket turns out to be a fake or stolen.
“Our advice would always be that if you don’t know where the ticket has come from and don’t know the person who is selling it to you don’t be tempted to buy it.”
Final reclaimed tickets for Parklife 2022 will go on sale at 10am today. You can book tickets here.
Featured image: Parklife
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Blossoms’ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ residency – everything you need to know
Danny Jones
The Blossoms boys are ramping up for their ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ residency to round off their UK tour of Gary, the fantastic fifth studio album which released earlier this year to critical acclaim.
Set to play not just one or two but five certifiably fantastic-looking gigs at five different Manc music institutions, each with a special place in our hearts and theirs, the incredible run of nights kicks off this Tuesday, 18 November and will see them play tracks from the album along with their biggest hits.
If you managed to grab yourself a ticket to at least one of these sell-out shows, you’re likely already trying to get things organised in your head to stop yourself from simply tail-spinning into an excited frenzy, so we thought we’d help you out where we can.
From the support acts to stage times, setlists and more, here’s everything you need to know ahead of Blossoms‘ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’.
Blossoms Manchester residency – all the important info
First up on the list is Manchester Academy on Oxford Road, where Blossoms will be starting their Manchester marathon of shows on Tuesday, 19 November – it will be the first time they’ve played the 2,600-capacity room since 2016.
Next up is the O2 Ritz on Wednesday (20 Nov), which many of the band members have said is their favourite venue of the lot given the number of acts they themselves have seen there and arguably their breakthrough hometown gig back in 2015, returning multiple times since then.
In at number three is the historic Albert Hall, where they’ve also taken the stage on a number of occasions, but this time their gig on Thursday, 21 November will see them perform their most polished and sprawling set yet.
The penultimate place hosting Blossoms’ Man residency is the O2 Victoria Warehouse over in Stretford, which will see them start the weekend in style this Friday (22 Nov). A big gig space made for big bands, so they’re a perfect fit.
And lastly, the Stockport boys round out the ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ mini-tour at one of the city’s very best venues full stop: the O2 Apollo. That sloping sprung floor, the stocks and the angle from the top tier – if you don’t know why this place is so special, we just can’t help you…
Perhaps the best part about this entire section of the tour, in our opinion, is that you’re getting a TONNE of different support acts across the five nights.
Not only are you getting different names every night but each Manchester gig will have not one but two warm-up acts, meaning you’ll fans will be treated to a total of 10 up-and-coming artists – and most of them are local too.
From Oldham’s very own Seb Lowe and Earlestown’s The K’s, who both supported them at Wythenshawe Park, to Scots Neon Waltz, local lads Delights; Manc rockers The Guest List; the ‘female Sam Fender’, a.k.a. Siobhan Winifred, London indie pop group Soft Launch, Brummy boys overpass, Leigh’s very-own Lottery Winners AND Liam Gallagher’s son’s exciting new band, Villanelle.
Phew. Let us catch our breath for a second. Sounds like an unreal few nights of nothing but non-stop indie and good times, right?
With doors opening from 7pm on all five nights in Manchester, you can expect a good half-hour or so for each support act, as well as two intervals to grab yourself a drink, nip to the loo or take a breather from your ape suit (trust us, we’ve seen plenty of people doing it) before the main event.
Blossoms are scheduled to take the stage for their highly-anticipated headline performances at 9pm throughout the residency, so you can plan accordingly depending on how far long it takes you to get to each venue from your location.
Luckily, they’re all in the city centre, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to get to any of them; maybe just give yourself an extra bit of leeway to head to the likes of a busy Oxford Rd and to queue of course.
The concerts so far on this tour have lasted around two hours, meaning you’ll be heading home by 11pm, which should be just enough time to get the earworm that is ‘Gary’ out of your head.
Setlist for Blossoms’ Gary tour
Now, it won’t surprise anyone to learn that most of their current setlist is made up of tunes from the new album, but we’ll warn you now that they won’t be playing Gary in full.
They’ve sprinkled hits from previous albums into the running order and, according to the Leeds show recorded on the ever trusty Setlist.fm, they have the split down as five songs from their debut, four from Foolish Loving Spaces, two tracks from Cool Like You and just one from Ribbon Around the Bomb.
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Meanwhile, there’ll be seven songs off Gary. You can see the most recent show from start to finish down below, but you can always expect some surprises from these guys:
Your Girlfriend
Perfect Me
Oh No (I Think I’m in Love)
What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?
I Can’t Stand It
Getaway
If You Think This Is Real Life
Big Star
Slow Down
The Keeper
Care For
Honey Sweet
Gary
I Like Your Look
At Most a Kiss
My Favourite Room
Encore:
Nightclub
There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)
Charlemagne – obviously…
A glimpse at what the Blossoms stage will look like for the ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ shows.
And that should be just about everything you need to know ahead of Blossoms’ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’: a once-in-a-lifetime event that’s going to go down in history and Manc music heritage.
They’ve described this as a “lover letter” to the places that helped put them on the map, not to mention a trip down memory lane now more than a decade into their career.
If you were looking for a secret ticket link from us, we hate to break it to you but this thing sold out in a flash. You can of course keep your eye out on resellers like Twickets and SeeTickets but, as always with these things, be careful and due your due diligence.
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Get ready to say hello to an eight-foot-tall gorilla and have what we already know is going to be an amazing week.
Featured Images — Ewan Ogden (supplied)/The Manc Group
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Jamiroquai announce huge gig at impressive venue next year in Manchester
Danny Jones
Jamiroquai has announced a massive Manchester gig as part of their huge UK and European tour – and yes, for the last time, it’s a band not just one bloke.
Yes, big hat man and his troupe are returning to Manchester for one night only and no we’re not talking about Santa: it’s big JQ – or Jay Kay to his friends – the 90s and noughties hit-maker with the best moves this side of the Mersey and irresistible funk that never fails to make you dance around the kitchen.
After six whole years away from full headline touring, the London-formed band with very Manc ties are set to play 14 dates across here at home and on the continent, with the music veterans landing none other than a Co-op Live debut for their Manchester date.
32 years on from playing pubs and clubs around the country and after being away for more than half a decade you might say that still having this kind of pulling power is ‘Virtual Insanity’. Had to be done…
Known for other much-loved hits like ‘Space Cowboy’, ‘Cosmic Girl’, ‘You Give Me Something’ and many more, Jamiroquai was formed by the Stretford-born frontman (real name Jason Luís Cheetham) back in 1992, with their breakout album Emergency on Planet Earth releasing a year later to great success.
The acid jazz and funk experts need no introduction really but we’ll give them one anyway. 15 Brit Award nominations, two Guinness World Records, a Grammy, more than 1.7 billion Spotify streams and counting, not to mention the single greatest collection of headwear known to man.
Sending a message to their fans on social media, the band wrote: “One Man’s mission, for 30 years and counting, to put groove music into YOUR LIFE.
“Will you join us in the fight to Let The Disco Stay The Same – to conquer all your inner fears and boogie like NEVER before? DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES to heal the world through MUSIC?
“DO YOU HAVE…. THE HEELS OF STEEL!” Ever a flare for the theatrical, eh?
‘The Heels of Steel’ tour kicks off this time next year, with a first night in Barcelona on 6 November kicking a two-month-long party into gear.
Jamiroquai doesn’t make it to Manchester and the Co-op Live arena until 6 December 2025, but we’re already getting our dancing shoes at the ready.
Pre-sale can be accessed from 9am on Wednesday byregistering on the band’s website and general admission tickets go on sale this Friday, 22 November at the same time.
You can grab yours HERE and we’ll see you out on the dancefloor.
Daisy Jackson -
12th May 2022 
