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Rising stars FLO announce intimate gig at iconic Manchester music venue
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London trio FLO are visiting some of the UK’s most intimate live music spots on their next tour – including a night here in Manchester.
The Brit Award winners have announced their record store tour, which coincides with their debut album release.
Jorja, Stella and Renée, better known as Brit girl group FLO, are checking out what Manchester has to offer as they visit our lovely city for the third time in their musical career.
The girls’ music typically sits in the R&B genre and they’re known for their insane runs and intricate harmonies. This more private tour offers fans a chance to appreciate this, up close and personal.
The band are heading out on their ‘AAA: Intimate Acoustic Shows’ ahead of their debut studio album ‘Access All Areas’ out on 15 November.
The girls are visiting Gorilla Manchester on 21 November to perform singles and tracks from their debut album and if they’re lucky enough, crowds might even hear some older songs intertwined throughout the gig.
FLO have seen much appraisal over the years with two MTV VMA nominations and even managed to scoop a BRIT award for ‘Rising Star’ in 2023.
Fans have already had a taste of the upcoming album with four songs steadily releasing since March this year starting with, ‘Walk Like This’, ‘Caught Up’, ‘Check’ and the soulful ‘Bending My Rules’ being the most recent release in August.
Gorilla is the ideal setting for this series of gigs with a small but mighty capacity of around 600, the Manchester crowd will still be louder than ever.
Tickets to the gig also include a Q&A with all three vocalists where you can ‘Access All Areas’ of FLO, like their album title states.
Their first single ‘Cardboard Box’ started their musical journey in 2022 and in July of this year, the track is now BRIT-certified silver for amassing over 200,000 units.
The UK trio are currently touring North America with fellow R&B artist Kehlani on her ‘CRASH Tour’ which kicked off at the start of September and finishes at the top of November, two weeks before their album drops.
Kehlani has collaborated with the superstar trio on her latest mixtape ‘While We Wait 2’, where the girls feature on a remix of the track ‘8’ which dropped not too long ago in late August.
Girl Group FLO are no stranger to the Manchester music scene, performing at Parklife and New Century Hall in 2023, they really do spoil us!
Tickets for the series of intimate shows across the UK go live on 18 September at 11am here.
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Featured Image: Publicity picture
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Lola Young shares first public statement since cancellations and stepping away from the spotlight
Danny Jones
UK pop star Lola Young has shared her first public statement since cancelling the remainder of her tour and stepping away from the spotlight.
Lola Young, 24, took a break from her still-burgeoning career after numerous concerning incidents on stage, including throwing up and even passing out in the middle of a performance.
The BRIT School graduate announced the unfortunate cancellation of her upcoming shows “for the foreseeable future”, including a gig here in Manchester, at the end of September.
Breaking her silence after the best part of three months, the London-born singer-songwriter took to social media in a fairly brief but heartwarming statement.
As you can see, the time away from the public eye certainly seems to have been beneficial, telling her followers that “it has helped more than you will ever know”.
In addition to embracing ADHD – even labelling her hit song ‘Messy’ as an “ADHD anthem” in multiple anthems – she was also diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at just 17.
The latter can include symptoms such as psychosis, hallucinations, intense mood swings, bipolar mania, depression and more.
Prior to calling off the rest of her headline shows, Young also had to pull out of her then-biggest festival slot to date, Parklife, though this was reportedly due to a scheduling conflict.
All that being said, we’re glad to hear that she’s on the mend; we saw her back in March, and you could tell from the crowd that she’s already got a very passionate cult following.
Both conditions and their associated obstacles have obviously affected her, but have equally helped influence her music and lyrical material, certainly, too.
Responding in the comments, fellow artist SZA wrote: “Love you, starfire angel. Your music is FULL of longevity and substance! We’re so grateful for you”.
Joining in support, ‘dark pop’ musician Carter James added, “Your wellbeing comes before anything. So excited for your next chapter whenever it arrives!”
We hope she’ll be doing better enough soon to get back on stage when she’s ready.
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Featured Images — Audio North/Jamsterdodger (via Wikimedia Commons)
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Fans are preparing to pay tribute to Mani from The Stone Roses ahead of his funeral service
Danny Jones
Stone Roses fans and Greater Manchester locals alike are getting ready to pay their respects to the late, great, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, following his tragic passing last month.
As well as details surrounding his funeral being announced earlier this week, the iconic Manc musician’s cause of death has also finally been revealed.
Mani was sadly confirmed dead on 20 November, aged just 63, just over a month on from attending fellow local legend and friend Ricky Hatton’s memorial and public procession.
While Hatton’s service featured a high-profile cortège which started all the way from his hometown of Hyde, past multiple landmarks and ending at the Etihad Stadium, those local to Mani’s family home on the edge of Stockport are also being welcomed to help send him off.
It has now been confirmed that Mani – born in Crumpsall but raised in Moston and Failsworth – unfortunately passed away from long-term respiratory issues.
He had been struggling with emphysema for some time; he was declared dead at his home in the suburb of Heaton Moor, and is said to have died peacefully in his sleep.
As you can see from the posters put in various places around the area, residents wishing to pay their own tributes to Mani before his private funeral service at Manchester Cathedral are encouraged to line the long street leading down from St Paul’s and Heaton Moor United Church as he heads towards the city.
Departing Parsonage Road from 10am on Monday, 22 December, before turning right onto Heaton Moor Rd, then Wellington and eventually on to the Cathedral, you can expect plenty of people to show up.
One of those people will be his former bandmate and another influential guitarist, John Squire, who is one of many famous musical names to have honoured him in their own way over the last few weeks.
Other members of The Stone Roses, as well as Primal Scream (who he joined in 1996), are expected to join the close family and friends at the service itself.
Nevertheless, we have no doubt that plenty will be observing the funeral in their own way.
So, for those of you also looking to honour him, you know what to do; and to quote the poster itself, “together we can show this local legend and his family that he was truly adored.”
Rest in peace.
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Featured Images — @gachayatta (via X)/@aktivioslo (via Flickr)
Thomas Melia -
18th September 2024 
