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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The Strokes at Co-op Live, Manchester – actually very hard to explain
Daisy Jackson
Manchester has waited a long, long time for this – The Strokes back on stage in our city.
I’ve been a fan of the band for as long as I can remember, but have never managed to catch them live, partly because they’ve left it TWENTY YEARS between shows here.
But back they are, with an enormous gig at the Co-op Live on their Reality Awaits tour.
The Strokes are known as one of the most solid indie bands of the 2000s, going triple platinum with their debut album Is This It and releasing massive anthems like Last Nite, Reptilia, and Someday.
They’re also known as a bit of an unpredictable live act – some will say they’re one of the best on the circuit, others will say they’re disappointing, and it really can depend on the night.
What they’re not known for is their audience interaction, so when frontman Julian Casablancas tries to have a bit of a chat with the audience, we all sort of stare blankly back at him. He’s speaking to us? What do we do?
“Wow, tough crowd,” he says, which is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone describe a Manchester audience as tough.
Then he turns back to drummer Fabrizio Moretti and says: “This is f*cking hideous, let’s play some songs.”
The setlist seems to get a shake-up every couple of shows, which is a nice surprise for us – and apparently also Julian, who regularly pops over to ask his bandmates what’s up next.
It doesn’t really matter that he’s not done his homework, because the second that drum kicks in, along with the impeccable guitar work of Schiltz, Fraiture and Hammond Jr., he snaps into action.
It’s impressive that their songs still have such singalong quality when Casablancas enunciates like a man with a dislocated jaw. For certain songs he’s so incoherent that if you weren’t a fan you’d walk in this room and wonder what the f*ck was going on.
But then, that’s sort of why us The Strokes fans love them so much. There’s a calamitous beauty to the work they put out and it’s so fun to belt out some words, even if they’re not the right ones.
I was hoping that seeing it live would sell that divisive new album, Reality Awaits, to me, but it didn’t. It’s too autotuney, too languid, and too often the victim of everyone’s toilet breaks.
Their earlier tracks still land best in a live setting, especially Reptilia, an absolute juggernaut in their back catalogue.
Rollercoaster set and tricky crowd interactions aside, we all had a great time – I’m just not sure I could say the same about Julian Casablancas.
Sam Fender describes his own ticket prices as ‘b*llocks’ and demands change for fans
Daisy Jackson
Sam Fender has kicked off about ticket prices for his own tour, ahead of his huge stadium summer next year.
The Geordie star announced his Proper Massive stadium tour last week, which will visit some of the UK’s biggest venues including The O2 in London, Etihad Stadium in Manchester, and St James’ Park in his home city of Newcastle.
But after ticket prices for the tour were announced, Sam Fender surprised us all by joining in with a moan about how expensive they were.
He described the ticketing strategy for his tour as ‘b*llocks’ and said he was ‘not happy’ with ticket prices.
And proving just how much sway an artist can have on ticket prices, Sam Fender then demanded that things be redone.
Sam first appeared in the comments on Gavin Davis’ Instagram account, which frequently shares tour leaks and ticket prices.
There, he wrote: “I’m not happy with these prices, they’re getting changed. It got inflated well more than I’d had in mind, it should only be inflated in relation to the cost of putting the show on.
“The standing will not be split as well, I had no idea about it. I have no idea how this was normalised in gigs.
“It’s bollocks and it won’t be happening on this tour.”
Then later, on his own Instagram stories, Sam Fender posted: “I’ve managed to get Front Standing tickets removed from the UK stadium tour. Whoever buys a standing ticket gets as much chance as anyone to be at the front.
“No more £120 standing tickets either.
“Costs are astronomical compared to two years ago, I can’t control the venue and ticketing fees, that’s a sad reality of today’s industry.
“This is gonna be the biggest and best show we’ve ever put on. Can’t wait to see everyone on the road next summer!”
The ticket prices for the Proper Massive tour are now confirmed by Sam Fender himself as being £85 for GA standing, and £55/£75/£95 for seats.
Daisy Jackson -
18th October 2022 
