Were you a blue, green, yellow or red hoody? Aston, Marvin, JB and Ortise are back, better than ever before with their hits tour ‘Everybody Say JLS: The Hits Tour’ and were smashing them out at Manchester’s AO Arena last night singing.
Not only did hearing all the classics live again make me extremely happy — being one of the girls who had all the posters on my wall and, of course, the blue Aston hoody — but I couldn’t think of a better way to describe this gig than pure nostalgia.
The runners-up of X-Factor 2008, JLS (Jack the Lad Swing, for any of you who always wondered) came back together once again to bring all the nostalgia of the noughties to a packed-out Manchester crowd.
With five number-one hits, six million records sold worldwide and four multi-platinum albums, it’s easy to forget just how big a thing these boys were in their heyday but there was never any doubt they were going to sell out the Arena — and that they did.
It isn’t the first time JLS have played Manchester’s AO Arena, but it somehow still felt like the old days (Credit: The Manc Audio)
Kicking off the night was the fabulous Persian-American pop star, Shab, who is supporting the band across all their UK dates. The passionate and outspoken singer is a rising star in the pop world and whether or not people were familiar with her beforehand, she certainly left an impression.
Playing through singles including ‘Indestructible’, ‘Sexual’, her latest hit ‘VooDoo’ with rap veteran Fat Joe and what had to be my favourite, ‘Ain’t Thinking Bout You’, she kicked off the night with plenty of vibey pop music to get everyone going.
Dipping back into those high-school memories even more, British rap and fellow pop icon Tinchy Stryder came out next, walking out to the tune of ‘Seven Nation Army’ as people chanted, ‘Ohhh, it’s Tinchy Stryder’.
Bringing back all of his classics like ‘Take Me Back’, ‘Never Leave You’ and, of course, finishing on ‘Number 1’ (still as much of a bop as you remember it), we knew from this point on how much of an enjoyable trip down memory lane this night was going to be.
Shab, Tinchy Stryder, JLS and a few Manc’s took centre stage at the AO Arena on Thursday night.
And then they arrived. There was A LOT of inaudible screaming, to say the least. Starting off with ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ — whipping out their original dance routines, no less — they made it clear this really was the ‘Greatest Hits Tour’ from the very off.
‘Hottest Girl in the World’, ‘One Shot’, ‘Do You Feel What I Feel’ and the first single from their last album in 2021, ‘Eternal Love’ (written by none other than Ed Sheeran); they even brought fans on stage for ‘I Know What She Like’.
Shout to Paige, wherever you are, as she was not letting that moment go for anyone, dancing all around the stage and hugging the lads so tightly that Ortise and Aston had a handful trying to get her sat down. Brilliant.
And then it happened… The moment we’d all be waiting for — the meme all JLS die-hards and the majority of Brits know regardless of whether they’re a fan or not: JB SAID MERRY CHRISTMAS! Met with cheers and laughter in equal measure, all I could think was, ‘How can it get better from here?’
Of course, there were some tear-jerking moments as well, such as Ortise telling the crowd how the moving story of a family illness motivated him and his brothers to chase their dreams, before going on to build an even bigger family with the JLS boys.
Whenever an act asks the crowd to hold up their lights you know it’s going to be an emotional one too. As they played ‘Close to You’ and ‘Make Me Proud’, you could see all the friends hugging in the crowd as a magical sea of lights sparkled across the AO.
With a quick costume change, they came back out to ‘The Club Is Alive’ and this is where I knew we were going to get our next big moment and they didn’t disappoint: a trademark backflip from Aston because why the hell not? After all, this was a celebration of all things JLS and more.
Speaking of which, the four-piece were intent on reliving the very best of their era, bringing out a set of DJ decks and facing off against each other with their favourite tracks from that beloved period of pop.
From Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Baby’ by Justin Beiber to ‘Super Bass’, ‘All I Do is Win’, ‘Bonkers’ and so many more, the crowd was absolutely bouncing. But the fun didn’t stop there either, as they also brought out special guests Fleur East for her hit ‘Sax’ and The Wanted’s Max George singing ‘Glad You Came’. Trust us, glad doesn’t even begin to cover it.
We knew they had to end on a high, playing ‘Love You More’ as the penultimate track before disappearing into the floor in a blast of fireworks second to last, with fireworks, and then they disappeared into the ground before reappearing for the encore.
The AO Arena lit up in blue, red, green and yellow as if to call upon a team of pop music Power Rangers, we all knew what was coming as they polished off the show with ‘Everybody in Love’ — and believe us, absolutely everyone’s hands were up as confetti scattered across the sky.
As a girl who grew up loving JLS, whether they were part of your adolescent music taste or not, I can honestly say that the celebration of all things Noughties made it one of the best shows I have been to in a long time. I’ll be keeping one eye on summer in the hopes of another tour and more massive Manc dates.
US rising star Reneé Rapp announces huge Manchester arena gig as part of European tour
Emily Sergeant
Reneé Rapp has just announced a European leg to her upcoming tour, and she’ll be stopping off in Manchester for a huge arena gig.
In just a few short years, Reneé Rapp has become a star… and her star is only rising higher.
At just 25-years-old, the critically-acclaimed musical theatre and TV actress has pivoted to become an undeniable pop sensation and film star – and an iconic figure in interviews too… which isn’t a job, but it should be – after landing her breakout role as Regina George in the Mean Girls musical on Broadway back in 2019.
Even though she chose to reprise her role as Regina George in the 2024 movie adaptation of the Mean Girls musical, since 2022, Rapp has largely turned her attention to her solo music career.
Reneé Rapp will be performing at Manchester’s AO Arena next March / Credit: Supplied
2022 saw Rapp release her debut EP, Everything to Everyone, before she then went on the channel her raw talent and authentic voice even further, and release her first full-length studio album Snow Angel in 2023.
Both 2024 and 2025 have been big musical years for Rapp too – so much so that she has now amassed more than 1.4 billion streams and counting across her entire discography.
An already-successful 2025 is about to become even more successful, as Rapp’s second album, Bite Me, is expected to be released on 1 August, and she’s also heading out on a highly anticipated US tour from late September through to late October.
Following on from her US tour, Rapp has today announced that she’ll be heading across the pond to Europe in the new year, and will be making her way over to Manchester to take to the iconic AO Arena stage in March 2026.
Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris are just some of the other cities Rapp will be visiting before Manchester, ahead of closing out the tour at London’s Wembley Arena.
Reneé Rapp will be playing a huge gig at the AO Arena in Manchester on Wednesday 18 March 2026 as part of the ‘Bite Me Tour’, and tickets officially go on sale next week – with both pre-sales and general sale available.
The Three+ presale will begin on Wednesday 30 July at 10am, and the AO Arena presale will start on Thursday 31 July, again at 10am, before general sale launches on Friday 1 August at 10am.
Oasis are clearly doing something very deliberate for the as-yet-unconfirmed Live ’25 reunion album
Danny Jones
We’ve still not emotionally recovered from Oasis’ five homecoming nights in Manchester, and after seeing that the band just released a live recording of ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ from Heaton Park, it’s taken us right back to Friday, 11 July, and we can’t stop thinking about a Live ’25 album.
In fact, while the live record of the reunion world hasn’t been confirmed just yet, we’re becoming increasingly convinced that this is exactly what fans are going to get – and following the second Live ’25 concert capture dropping this week, we’re almost certain we know what they’re doing.
And if so, you can consider the vinyl of the ‘Oasis Live ’25‘ LP already in the basket.
Many of you might have already thought the same thing, but for anyone it hasn’t yet clicked for, let us explain; we got the live taping of ‘Slide Away’ from the Principality Stadium in Cardiff to start with, i.e. the first stop on the world tour. Here’s a snippet of how it sounds:
Have we listened to it pretty much non-stop ever since? Yes, but concentrate, that’s not the point we’re getting at; we think Oasis are doing something very specific for their almost inevitable Live ’25 album.
Up next was the aforementioned ‘Cigs and Alcohol’, performed and recorded on home turf right here in 0161, and released in honour of their magnificent Manc comeback.
More accurately, the live version of the song is plucked from their unforgettable opening evening at Heaton Park, as opposed to any of the other five dates.
Can you see where we’re going with this yet?…
With their place of birth having waited more than a decade and a half to hear the first few iconic chords that signal the start of the timeless Oasis classic and a pure rock and roll blowout, you can literally hear the energy from the crowd in your ears.
If you haven’t heard it dozens of times already, take a listen for yourselves and feel free to Poznań wherever you happen to be reading this:
That first Poznań for #OasisManchester hit like a chuffing freight train. 🔥
Upon checking the date of the Cardiff recording of ‘Slide Away’ was taken from, we noticed that they had also chosen the inaugural night of the entire Live ’25 tour, i.e. their very first live show in 16 years.
While we’re aware an official Oasis reunion tour album is technically still TBC, if you see a third live track released after the first of their SEVEN shows in the capital get underway this Friday (25 July), you can pretty much bank on the special live release being all but nailed on.
So, not only are we getting an Oasis Live ’25 reunion documentary from the man behind Peaky Blinders, but it looks like they’ll be providing fans with a virtual tour and a chance to experience/relive the gigs aurally, with each of the 23 tracks on the setlist being pulled from a different city on the world tour.
Now, while this isn’t an entirely unheard of idea in the world of live albums, that’s not all.
Better still, if our suspicions are correct and the next drop is taken from night one of Oasis Live ’25 in London (bonus points if you can guess which tune they go for), then the entire thing will capture the sonics and atmosphere at its best: propped up by the utter euphoria of a dream finally being realised.
We’re sure they could pull the audio at any part of the set, from any old date, and it would sound great, but nothing is like the palpable ecstasy you could quite literally hear on the opening nights in Cardiff, Manchester and, no doubt, Wembley. Having said that, the final farewell was pretty biblical too.
Put simply, isolate any night of the world tour and there’ll be something unique in the master.
Die-hards have been waiting what feels like a lifetime to finally see their favourite band in the flesh again; actually, like many of us here in Greater Manchester and indeed all over the world, some were simply too young to experience the Britpop craze and ‘Oasis Mania’ the first time around.
They obviously have a huge following not just in the UK and Ireland, but all over: the US, Japan, across South East Asia and throughout most of South America – you only have to watch clips or even hear Noel Gallagher talk about Buenos Aires to not how ‘mad fer it’ they are over there.
For a lot of fans, this IS their 1990s moment, and even those who sadly didn’t manage to get tickets have a chance to almost feel like they were there.
One thing’s for sure: if/when the Oasis Live ’25 album arrives, that Manchester buzz will take some beating in the unofficial contest to see who loves the legendary British rock band the most.
The Manc Audio -
3rd November 2023 
