Lewis Capaldi will be hitting the stage in Manchester next year as part of a huge new UK and European tour.
The Scottish singer has confirmed details of a new album, Broken By Desire to be Heavenly Sent, with a 31-date tour to go with it.
He’s set to take on a full arena tour, including a date at the AO Arena in Manchester in January.
The Someone You Loved songwriter recently made his long-awaited return to music with the release of single Forget Me, which marked his third UK number one.
Now approaching 100 million streams, the song also came with a music video that exactly re-enacts Wham’s 1983 hit Club Tropicana, shot-for-shot.
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Album artwork for Lewis Capaldi’s new album, Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent. Credit: Publicity picture
His debut album was the biggest-selling album of both 2019 and 2020 – seriously, this man knows how to make a hit.
His mission with his second album is, apparently, to do the same thing again.
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He said: “I don’t want to create a new sound for myself, or reinvent myself.
“The songs I want to write are emotional songs, about love or loss.”
Lewis recorded the new album with a small set-up of a small interface, laptop, speakers, and a Shure SM7B vocal mic.
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He said: “I felt like I was sounding better because I was just chilled out in my own gaff. Also, a lot of this record was made with most of the same people who I worked with on the first one: TMS, Phil Plested, Nick Atkinson and Edd Holloway. At least one of them’s on almost every song.”
Broken By Desire to be Heavenly Sent is due for release on 19 May 2023.
Tickets for Lewis Capaldi’s tour will go on pre-sale on 26 October, and general sale on 28 October.
Full Lewis Capaldi 2023 tour dates
JANUARY Sat 14th Leeds, First Direct Arena Mon 16th Sheffield, Utilita Arena Wed 18th Manchester, AO Arena Thu 19th Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena Sat 21st Newcastle, Utilita Arena Mon 23 Aberdeen, P&J Live Tue 24th Glasgow, OVO Hydro Thu 26th Birmingham, Utilita Arena Fri 27th Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena Sun 29th Belfast, SSE Arena Mon 30th Dublin, 3Arena
FEBRUARY Wed 1st Cardiff, International Arena Thur 2nd Exeter, Westpoint Arena Mon 13th Warsaw, Torwar – Poland Tue 14th Vienna, Stadthalle – Austria Thu 16th Berlin, Mercedes-Benz Arena – Germany Fri 17th Prague, O2 Arena – Czech Republic Sun 19th Hamburg, Barclays Arena – Germany Tue 21st Frankfurt, Festhalle – Germany Thu 23rd Antwerp, Sportpaleis – Belgium Sat 25th Amsterdam, Ziggo Dome – Netherlands Sun 26th Paris, Accor Arena – France Tue 28th Cologne, Lanxess Arena – Germany
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MARCH Thu 2nd Copenhagen, Royal Arena – Denmark Fri 3rd Oslo, Spektrum – Norway Sun 5th Stockholm, Avicii Arena – Sweden Tue 7th Zurich, Hallenstadion – Switzerland Wed 8th Milan, Mediolanum Forum – Italy Fri 10th Barcelona, Palau Sant Jordi – Spain Sat 11th Madrid, WiZink Center – Spain Tue 14th Stuttgart, Schleyerhalle – Germany Wed 15th Munich, Olympiahalle – Germany
Featured image: Alexandra Gavillet
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Government to introduce price cap on ticket touts and launch consultation on dynamic pricing
Danny Jones
The UK government are finally set to install a price cap on re-sale tickets for touts and open an official consultation on the growing trend of dynamic pricing.
If you’ve bought a ticket to a live music show over the past year or so, you’ll have noticed that ticket prices in general are on the up – particularly if purchased from a reseller, in which case you might have paid through the nose for the privilege.
Not only does ticket touting remain a prevailing problem in the industry, with tonnes of tickets for big shows, especially, being snapped up in bulk or by bots and listed for re-sale before you’ve even added them to your basket, but the advent of this new dynamic pricing lark has made things even harder.
You only have to look at the controversy and chaos surrounding Oasis’ reunion tour, which ultimately saw some fans paying significant amounts more for practically the same ticket just a few days later in what many dubbed as ‘fraud’ and even ’emotional blackmail’.
Justin Timberlake at Co-op Live Manchester was one of countless gigs where ticket prices fluctuated. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Tackling resellers head-on
Knowing full well that people will go to extreme lengths to try and see the musicians and artists they love so dearly – in some cases being backed into a corner as the final figure displayed on the screen when they checkout suddenly jumps up – the modern ticketing industry is severely broken.
With all that in mind, the government are now looking to enact more stringent measures on resellers, by announcing a new price cap on tickets put back up for sale which is set to be introduced (hopefully) in the very near future.
Targeting sites infamous for inflating re-sale costs such as Viagogo, StubHub and others, the bill published on Friday, 10 January proposes a price cap of face value plus 10-30% but no more, with an obvious aim to keep that number as low as possible.
According to the current figures, touts reportedly cost music fans alone more than £145 million in extra re-sale fees when purchasing tickets every year – a frankly ridiculous sum. There will always be tickets ending up on re-sale sites, that’s unavoidable, but a price cap could seriously improve the situation.
The Manc music legends themselves claim they had little control over the situation.
Down with dynamic pricing
Labour, who were voted into power back in July, are also set to try and combat dynamic prices, which essentially sees gigs and events set people back more or less depending on how the popular ticket sales have been up to that point, market trends and general demand. An initial review was called for last year.
Put simply, the more people want to attend a gig, platforms like Ticketmaster feel they are able to jack up their margins even after the initial price point has been established. The European Commission has been investigating these methods since September 2024.
Although it is still unclear as to the exact time scale of when these changes will come in, Labour MP Chris Bryant told NME that although they are still in the early stages, it is “now just a matter of how the government takes action.” And that’s where you come in.
The consultation is also crucially public, with the calling for people to submit their evidence on current pricing practices and continue engaging in the discussion throughout the progress. New Year’s Resolution: let’s curb ticket touts as much as we possibly can.
The AO Arena is giving away FREE tickets for a year to celebrate 30 years in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
The AO Arena has announced it’s giving away free tickets for a year to celebrate its 30th anniversary in Manchester.
The iconic music venue has welcomed the biggest names in the world in its three decades, with millions of us making memories for life inside its huge space.
And now you could win VIP tickets for an entire year, simply for sharing those memories with the AO Arena.
Fans who submit their old photos, videos and tickets will be in with a chance to win tickets to all the shows coming up in 2025 – which already includes massive gigs like Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry and Busted vs McFly.
AO Arena wants to dig deep into ‘first gig’ nostalgia territory, using fan-submitted snaps to build a collection of Manchester memories.
Were you in the same room as Taylor Swift, did you party like it was 1999 (because it was) with Spice Girls, did you cry over the sight of Gary Barlow or cry laughing with Peter Kay?
Britney Spears and Beyonce are among the names who have performed at AO Arena in its 30 year history. Credit: Supplied
Whatever your AO Arena memories are, you can share them before the end of the month to be entered into the competition to win VIP tickets for the year.
One overall winner picked at random will get the ultimate VIP experience, including access to a premium suite and The Beautiful North, as well as access to The Mezz with panoramic views of the main stage.
The 30th birthday campaign has been inspired by Adele’s monumental When We Were Young performance at Glastonbury, and all these memories will be projected around the arena before every performance.
You can submit your footage and enter the competition via the AO Arena website HERE.
Daisy Jackson -
18th October 2022 
