Audio

Manchester misses out on top spot and ranks as second best city in Europe for live music

Who do you reckon took first place?

Emily Sergeant - 19th March 2025

Manchester has missed out on the top spot and has been ranked the second best city in Europe for live music lovers.

If there’s one thing Manchester is known and loved for over anything else, it’s music.

From Oasis and Joy Division, to Happy Mondays, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The 1975, and even more modern-day acts, there’s no end to the amount of talented artists this city has produced or been home to over the years, all contributing to Manchester being one of the most prestigious music cities there is.

The city’s live music scene has always been thriving, and that continues right through to this very day, as you’ll see big-name musicians including Manchester as a destination in their UK tour schedules more often than not.

Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams were some of the most-recent global popstars to take to the Manchester stage, and in the last few days, music icons like Stevie Wonder and John Legend have announced they’re stopping off in our city this year.

We have a wealth of live music venues in and around the city centre, ranging from massive arenas like the AO Arena and the newest addition of Co-op Live, and stadiums such as the Etihad and Emirates Old Trafford, right through to other middle-sized indoor and outdoor venues like the Apollo, O2 Victoria Warehouse and The Ritz, Castlefield Bowl, and Aviva Studios, and of course the smaller stops like Manchester Academy, New Century Hall, Albert Hall, and the Bridgewater Hall.

And that’s without even getting into the countless other grass-roots and independent small venues like Band On The Wall, Night & Day Cafe, The Deaf Institute, Gorilla, and loads more.

So, you’d think with an illustrious reputation like that, we’d be the best musical city in Europe… sadly though, we’ve missed out on the top spot to the German capital of Berlin, and have had to settle for second place.

After all, the famous saying does go ‘first the worst, second the best’.

It’s all according to a new study by hospitality group Accor, which analysed the top European cities for live music by collecting data, such as the total number of available gig listings in 2025, global monthly search trends, and venue ratings, from popular event and ticketing websites.

Manchester came runner up with an overall gig city score of 87.2 out of 100, thanks to having a total of 966 gigs planned this year already and a venue rating of 4.57 stars out of five.

Read more:

• BBC looking for Mancs to test their music knowledge and win £10,000
• A new art trail celebrating the city’s music scene will take over Manchester this summer
• Manchester city centre to be filled with fresh blooms as the annual Flower Festival returns

The only other two UK cities on the top 15 list is London following behind us in third place, and Birmingham in seventh place.

Featured Image – Alex Bracken (via Unsplash)