UK girl group FLO visited Manchester Academy yesterday and let the crowd ‘Access All Areas’ of their discography on their tour of the same name.
Jorja, Stella and Renée, more widely recognised as R&B girl group FLO, had Manchester in awe, treating the crowd to a night of silky vocals, stylish choreography and expert harmonising.
After visiting New Century Hall in 2023, Gorilla in 2024 and Parklife twice, the latest being earlier this summer – this time they’re setting ‘The Mood’ in Manchester Academy.
As the show begins, the trio pop out one by one and poses in a way that harks back to cult classic action film Charlie’s Angels, with the girls only visible by their silhouettes.
FLO played to a very lively Manchester Academy crowd last night (Credit: Audio North)
The song soundtracking this initial greeting is none other than the Cynthia Erivo-narrated ‘AAA’, which gives each member their own individual time to shine.
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This girl group are ready to show off their musical skills in full force.
Next is the sassy and playful ‘Walk Like This’ which has the Manchester Academy crowd strutting their stuff while chanting “There’s a reason I walk like this / Side to side with a sway in my hip.”
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‘Check’, which clocks in at just under three minutes, sees the girls ticking off some important relationship traits: “Is he loyal? Check / He spoil you? Check”; “Is he faithful? Check / Gentleman? Check.”
Jorja, Stella and Renée wowing the Manchester crowd with their stacked musical roster (Credit: The Manc Group)
This fun-filled single keeps the vibes at a high with the girls finishing each chorus admitting, “The way I trust him, I ain’t gotta check”, while giving each other a smile or two.
The gospel influenced ‘Bending My Rules’ was nothing short of religious. FLO made sure to take us to church for four minutes with their vocal runs, belts and stellar harmonies.
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Following this is a number of much-loved album tracks like ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’, ‘Get It Till I’m Gone’ and the confident ‘How Does It Feel?’ which all go down a treat and show the girls in their elements or as they’d phrase it… in their bags.
As soon as the trumpet-heavy instrumental for ‘In My Bag’ plays out, the audience self-appoints themselves the role of US rapper GloRilla, making sure to recite her flow bar for bar – “On gang, gang”.
UK girl group FLO performing as part of their long-awaited ‘Access All Areas’ tour in Manchester (Credit: The Manc)
During this track, the girl group brought their A-game, recreating the choreography from this song’s music video with the audience acting as their hype men – it’s safe to say, it wasn’t just the girl group lapping up this moment; everyone was in their bag.
As Stella blurts “I got a confession”, the opening line to the band’s debut single ‘Cardboard Box’, there’s a flurry of screams from the crowd for this fan favourite.
Performing this penultimately really gave fans, such as myself, the time to process the journey these three have been on in the past five years and also to come to terms with the fact that the show was almost over.
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The introduction to ‘I’m Just a Girl’ plays out, and in that moment, it’s safe to say no one could name a better closing song, as this encapsulates the band’s feelings towards the industry they’re working in.
This R&B trio put on quite the performance at Manchester Academy last night (Credit: The Manc)
Lyrics like “What’s a girl got to do to be seen?” and “How many black girls do you see on centre stage now?” reinforce the harsh realities this girl group have had to face and how they’re slowly inserting themselves in mainstream conversations.
Although this rock-twanged R&B hit might not be the perfect fairytale ending, the fact that over 2,000 fans have shown up and shown out for FLO’s Manchester gig is.
Their fanbase isn’t leaving anytime soon, and last night was a prime example.
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.
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.
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.
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's the funeral of Mani of the Stone Roses on the 22nd. He lived locally. This poster is asking people to line the route of his funeral cortege to "show that he truly was adored". pic.twitter.com/X0DYHl10Hp
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.”
Thomas Melia -
2nd October 2025 
