If there’s one artist we believe has never quite got the credit he deserves, it’s Francis Edward f***ing Turner – Frank to his loyal legions of followers around the world and the roughly 2,600 gig-goers inside Manchester Academy on Saturday, 5 April 2025.
Don’t get us wrong, Frank Turner and his long-standing touring band The Sleeping Souls are no minnow in the music industry: the 43-year-old is now two decades into his solo career and even during his time as the frontman of Million Dead, he had plenty of die hards right out of the gate.
What we mean is that for someone with the longevity, stamina, charisma, commitment to grassroots and such a rich back catalogue, he doesn’t get anywhere near enough the level of recognition he should.
It doesn’t matter which of the 10 albums he pulls from; the connection with those in the crowd is as strong as it’s ever been, if not even more powerful than the last time they saw him and the Souls, mainly because those lot up on the stage put in the same amount of energy as they always have.
Even the most avid fan would admit the Hampshire-born bard of the modern age has such an extensive back catalogue that you can be forgiven for not knowing every B-side and deep cut from back to front.
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The man himself joked, “You’ve had a whole year to learn these f***ing songs”, but in all seriousness, that’s not what a Frank Turner gig is about. As he has the audience repeat back to without any need for a prompt at this point, the rules are simple: “Don’t be a d***” and don’t be ashamed to dance around.
Just like he told his Manc congregation this past weekend, “If you’re at this show, you probably were never that cool to begin with”, so if he and his truly brilliant live band can put their “aging knees” through the ringer hundreds of times a year, those watching him best reciprocate in kind.
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And they did, from start to finish, as a Manchester Academy crowd or any venue in the city will always guarantee for that matter.
But more importantly, we suddenly realised something as he introduced the cult favourite track ‘Jinny Bingham’s Ghost’ from his eighth studio LP, Tales From No Man’s Land (2019), which was released with an accompanying podcast about historical female figures whose stories he wanted to shed light on.
It only took us seeing him for the fourth time to fully understand it, but we got there in the end…
We used that word ‘bard’ before – i.e. the old storytellers, musicians and orators, performers, comedians, historians, genealogists and so on that used to chronicle people’s lives, events taking place and the wider world around for centuries – but it felt like this most recent gig spoke to that oral tradition.
There have always been moments like this in his albums, in truth, and we only now realise that we had the same feeling the first time we heard ‘Balthazar, Impresario’ but Turner, we feel, is one of the few current artists truly keeping that almost time-travelling bard culture alive.
Be it conducting an orchestra of tipsy Northerners as they sing back in perfect harmony (just about), organising a crowd-surfing race between two mates who chose the concert as the stag do, teaching them literal historic tales of a young woman who drowned in the River Seine back in the 1800’s, he’s a rare breed of performer.
There’s plenty of call and response in Frank Turner’s music, but there’s also a real sense of history, politics and culture, not to mention a sense of proud Englishness that contemporary society can find difficult or at least a somewhat cumbersome topic these days.
Undefeated, underrated, criminally underappreciated and absolutely unbelievable live.
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Folk and old-school punk rock at its finest. Frank Turner can come back to Manchester Academy any time he likes. (Credit: Audio North)
Role Model at O2 Apollo, Manchester – a night where everyone wanted to be Sally | Review
Clementine Hall
The O2 Apollo was a sea of cowboy hats and gingham for Role Model’s return to Manchesteron his No Place Like Tour.
If you don’t know who Role Model is, then you’re probably not a 20-something year old girl addicted to TikTok and strawberry matcha like me – and that’s absolutely fine, but Role Model, aka Tucker Pillsbury, is more than just a social star with a couple of viral hits.
His steep incline to stardom, especially through his latest album Kansas Anymore released last summer, and the follow-up deluxe Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye), earlier this year, has recently seen him perform on SNL with Charli XCX, as well as this week featuring in People’s Magazine Sexiest Man Alive 2025 edition in the centrefold spot, no less.
So it’s safe to say, he really is the man of the moment.
Role Model on stage at O2 Apollo Manchester in November 2025 / Image: The Manc Group
The all-American heartthrob wasted no time getting into his catalogue of hits, kicking things off with ‘Writing’s On The Wall’, before transitioning smoothly into ‘Look At That Woman’ and ‘Scumbag’, all taken from his 2024 album.
Guitar firmly in hand, Role Model shimmied across the stage effortlessly as a sea of adoring fans sang every single word back without fail.
The highlights from the show are never-ending, like taking a seat and singing the beautiful ‘Something, Somehow, Someday’ from a leather notebook – which he tells us is “my favourite song I’ve ever written, and I’m going to read it to you like a story”.
His vocals are identical to the studio recordings, and the energy in the room was just how you wanted it to be, especially during the iconic bridge in ‘Some Protector’.
Presuming you’re not familiar with the Role Model lore? Well, allow me to fill you in.
Each night during the undeniable smash-hit, ‘Sally, When the Wine Runs Out’, Tucker brings out a special guest to be that night’s so-called ‘Sally’ and dance on stage with him.
On the European tour so far, London were treated to Lewis Capaldi and Niall Horan back to back, so it’s safe to say we were waiting with baited breath to be introduced to our very-own Sally.
Although we didn’t get anyone famous (we were hoping he’d go super meta and get Sally from Corrie, but alas), what did get was arguably better. A lovely, smiling fan who held Tucker’s hand and had the absolute time of her life for that one-minute where all eyes were on her – this is what it’s truly all about, at the end of the day.
If anyone in that crowd went home without feeling a bit in love with Role Model, then I’d be very surprised.
His effortless charisma oozed throughout the performance, and we can’t wait to welcome him back in Manchester again.
Maybe next time, I’ll be Sally.
Featured Image – The Manc Group
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Clubland Live is returning to Manchester with an arena show that will be ‘the biggest night of your life’
Daisy Jackson
Clubland will be back with a live arena show in Manchester next year, following massive success and feel-good parties for the last few years.
There’ll be five cities on the newly announced tour, which will fill arenas with classic dance tunes and the full Clubland experience.
As well as Manchester, the tour will visit Leeds, Glasgow, Newcastle and Aberdeen in May next year.
The three-hour action-packed show will bring together some big names from as far back as the 90s in the dance music world, along with some of the biggest new names on the scene.
Each city will have a slightly different line-up, but for Manchester it includes Cascada, Ultrabeat, and Ben Nicky.
The new Clubland show at the AO Arena will be reliving the times where dance music produced the best tunes, energy and feel-good factor from throughout the generations.
Clubland started life as a series of compilation albums in 2002, and become the umbrella brand for an entire movement of commercial dance music, spawning countless classic hits over the years.
That’s included artists like Cascada, Scooter, BassHunter and Ultrabeat amongst many, many more – selling 30 million albums.
And Clubland TV remains one of the most popular music channels on UK music TV, bringing a mix of the both the classics and new tunes to thousands of people every day.
Clubland Live launched in 2008 and played to tens of thousands of people across the UK, in a landmark moment for the dance music industry.
And now it’s back again for a live show at the AO Arena.
Clubland Live will be at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday 2 May 2026, with tickets on sale from 10am on Friday 7 November HERE.
Danny Jones -
6th April 2025 
