In a totally random but undeniably lovely bit of news, Liam Gallagher caught a dog rescuer by surprise when he turned up to adopt a stray pup in Thailand. As you were/do.
With the Manc music legend celebrating his 51st birthday this week, we’ve seen plenty of very ‘Liam-esque’ moments floating back onto our timelines but when we came across this recent and completely out-of-the-blue story, we were taken aback — though clearly not as much as this bloke was.
Dog sanctuary owner and social media content creator Niall Harbison has been cultivating a huge audience online for a while now, amassing nearly 650,000 followers on Instagram alone, and has been warming the hearts of people all around the world as he rehomes and nurses stray dogs back to health.
However, although he has a pretty big following of his own, you can imagine his shock when an adoption paper came through for one of his dogs with the name Liam Gallagher on it.
For those who didn’t follow at the time. This was Buttons when she first arrived and “checked herself in”. She was so brave 🥰🥰🥰 pic.twitter.com/KD4WPcGqc2
Liam Gallagher just gave this stray dog a whole new lease on life.
Trying to save and home as many as 10,000 dogs a month and feeding around 800 animals a day, the County Tyrone, Ireland-born activist has dedicated his life to rescuing as many of man’s best friends as possible and even wrote a book called Hope explaining his journey up to this point.
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Having previously struggled with addiction, Harbison ended up flying out to Thailand and setting up his dog sanctuary and earlier this week was paid a visit by none other than the former Oasis frontman and his partner, Debbie Gwyther.
According to Harbison, 43, Gallagher and his missus filled out their paperwork online through a simple Google form like everyone else does and despite hundreds of applications coming his way on a regular basis, he admits he did a bit of a double take when he read this one.
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Speaking to Sky News, the full-time dog rescuer said, “The name on the form was Liam Gallagher, but I thought that’s obviously not him. Then the next line was ‘occupation’, and it was ‘singer’. I thought my mates were taking the p***, but I checked it out a bit more and his details all stacked up.”
Sharing an Instagram story of the two going for what will now be the first of a lifetime of walks for five-month-old female pup, Buttons, Niall said, “[she] is doing so well it’s insane”.
He couldn’t resist the urge to set ‘Wonderwall’ as the soundtrack either. The new album isn’t out yet, in fairness, so he just had to go for a classic.
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Insisting that he “did interviews with him and his lovely [partner]”, who have cats and “just really wanted a dog”, it didn’t take long for Niall to give the couple the thumbs up.
Having now been flown nearly 6,000 miles back to her new home in the UK, Harbison summed it up by saying Buttons has “hit the jackpot”.
One of the best and most distinctive walks in the business.
Featured Image — Liam Gallagher/Niall Harbison (via Instagram)
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One giant house party – Ne-Yo and Akon at Co-op Live, Manchester
Hollie Wells
‘So Sick’ of seeing pilates and matcha; when all you need is a messy naughties night out? Iconic duo Ne-Yo and Akon can, apparently, take you there.
Imagine the best house party of the 2010s with 20,000 of your favourite guests on perfect form, and you know what Co-op Live has been like for the last two nights for R&B royalty Ne-Yo and Akon.
Hosting a collaborative catalogue of bangers from both the stars, the atmosphere was buzzing with nostalgia and a readiness to have the ‘Time of Our Lives.’
Not only were we treated to two icons, they shared the stage with amazingly talented dancers, performing on the ground and in the sky, and perfectly embodying the showmanship of Ne-Yo and AKON and amplifying the party atmosphere.
It feels like there are endless group numbers, and if that wasn’t enough, these dancers start hanging on aerial silks from the rafters of Co-op Live by one foot and dropping into the splits on Ne-Yo’s lap. Casual.
This is a night for screaming timeless heartbreak anthems like ‘Angel’ and ‘Lonely’, throwing some ‘Dangerous’ dance moves, and throwing your arms around your best pal while copious amounts of confetti fall over you.
Not only did we get the classics, the packed audience of party people were presented with a dance-battle style compilation of tunes that the singer-songwriters were involved with.
And of course, they had a plethora of perfect numbers, including Rhianna’s ‘Hate that I Love You’, Gwen Stefani’s ‘The Sweet Escape’ and Beyoncé’s ‘Irreplaceable.’ A triad of divas, and these songs never get old.
With a running time of two hours and forty minutes, it is clear that these two are not short on hits.
Needing an interval at a gig is a flex and I would confidently say this Manchester crowd would have parted all night long, particularly the three lucky ladies who were called on stage to two-step with Ne-Yo. The office wont believe that on Monday.
If you’re craving a time-hop to 2010 and a setlist with zero flops, you’re in safe hands with Ne-Yo and Akon.
Rare picture of David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport unearthed
Danny Jones
A rare picture taken from the night of the late, great David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport has been unearthed by a local whilst digging through his loft.
Imagine having that kind of history just squirrelled away in an attic…
As revealed by Stockport Music Story, after being supplied with the image by David Maynard, the snap was shared more than half a century on from the much-mythologised moment in Greater Manchester music history.
In fact, it was put on display and posted on social media quite literally 56 years to the day since Bowie played his only Stopfordian set on 27 April, 1970.
Maynard himself is featured in the newly discovered photograph (second from the left) and was one of the select and lucky few who were in the room for that very special show.
Organised by a group of teens on behalf of the Stockport Schools’ Students’ Union, the performance took place at the long-gone Poco a Poco music venue and club over in Heaton Chapel.
The storied space hosted many big names over the years – Gerry Marsden, Freddie Starr, Hank Marvin and more – but sadly closed in May of 1987 following a fire.
It went on to become the popular Hinds Head pub, which still serves punters to this day, but once had the honour of hosting a true artistic great and British icon.
For anyone wondering, this is indeed the same night on which David Robert Jones (yes, that’s Bowie‘s full birth name) missed his train home and had to sleep on the railway platform.
Here’s a BBC segment covering the tale back on its 55th anniversary in April 2025.
It may be a small and somewhat curious claim to fame, but native love the legend of it all nonetheless.
As for the other individuals pictured alongside him, Stockport Music Story (SMS) said: “The names of the people we know are David Maynard (2nd left), Roz Wood (3rd left), David Bowie, Bill Frost (2nd right), Stewart Rigby (right).”
They go on to add: “It would be amazing to find out who the other people in the photograph are and what they remember from that night.” We sincerely hope they do.
You can now see the plaque up close and personal at Stockport Station for yourselves and as for SMS’s growing archive of the region’s creative culture, you can find out tonnes more about other pieces of SK heritage right HERE.
Danny Jones -
21st September 2023 
