Manchester Pride Festival 2024 has announced its final headliner, with girlband icons Sugababes added to the huge line-up.
Rita Ora has also been announced as a special guest, joining Jessie J and Loreen on the massive billing.
The huge LGBTQ+ celebration will return to Manchester over the August bank holiday weekend, centred around the four-day Gay Village Party and the parade through the city.
Also added to the Manchester Pride 2024 line-up is The Greatest Showman actress and singer Keala Settle.
This year’s Manchester Pride Festival will kick off on Friday 23 August with Brit-award-winning popstar Jessie J – her first performance in Manchester in six years.
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Keala Settle will also perform on Friday, belting out classic Pride anthems with a live band on the Alan Turing Stage.
Also on the Friday you’ll see drag artist BIMINI, Trans Filth & Joy and Runway by Banksie, Manchester’s very own 7-foot drag supermodel.
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Moving onto Saturday 24 August, and The Village Stage will be headlined by two-time Eurovision winner Loreen.
Rita Ora has just been added as a special guest to the Saturday line-up – the global star delivered an unforgettable performance at Manchester Pride back in 2018 and will be back for an exclusive pride performance in 2024.
Also on Saturday, the Indoor Arena will pay homage to Manchester’s warehouse clubbing legacy and will host the Gaydio Dance Arena. Headlined by DJ Paulette, there’ll be a line-up of Gaydio DJs including Dave Cooper and Forbid.
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There’ll be disco, house and funk galore at The Village Stage when Black Pride MCR takes over, while the Queer Asian Takeover returns to the Alan Turing stage.
Sugababes. Credit: Publicity picture
Then on Sunday, Sugababes will deliver a nostalgic performance with a headline appearance on The Village Stage.
They’ll be joined on Sunday 25 August by Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton with Danny Beard & Friends; and Steps’ Claire Richards over on the Alan Turing Stage, alongside Pride Divas with Misty Chance.
As Sunday draws to a close, audiences can expect to be dazzled by, Queenz: The Show with Balls, reigning Drag Race UK champion Ginger Johnson, and so much more at Danny Beard & Friends on The Village Stage.
The festival will conclude on Monday 26 August with, as always, the Candlelit Vigil in the sacred setting of Sackville Gardens.
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In collaboration with George House Trust, this special moment will honour those we have lost and stand in solidarity with those living with HIV. This heartfelt experience will be a powerful reminder to combat stigma and come together as a community in unity and support.
Second Release Weekend and VIP tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster now from £27.50 for a day ticket and £42.50 for a weekend ticket.
A fixed donation of £2.50 from every ticket sold goes directly to the Manchester Pride Community Fund, ensuring that LGBTQ+ causes and projects in Greater Manchester receive vital support with grants that are distributed throughout the year. Pledge Band tickets must be purchased to facilitate the event.
More information about Manchester Pride Festival 2024 and ticket purchasing can be found on the Manchester Pride website.
Placebo are returning to Manchester with a special re-worked album tour for their 30th anniversary
Danny Jones
Placebo are coming back to Manchester city centre for a very special anniversary show celebrating their seminal debut album, which will be re-worked 30 years on from its release.
The beloved British alt-rock band, which first broke onto the indie, post-glam and pseudo-goth scene back in the mid-1990s, haven’t played here since November 2022, so it’s fair to say fans have been waiting for a return.
Last time out, they played the AO Arena, but this year they’ll be making a maiden visit to one of Europe’s biggest indoor entertainment venues.
Announcing the ‘RE:CREATED‘ re-release of their debut album and the accompanying anniversary tour this week, tickets are set to go on sale very soon.
Confirming just a handful of UK shows this December following a more extensive European run in autumn and winter 2026, they are the latest big rock name to book Co-op Live.
Placebo’s self-titled debut album, RE:CREATED
As mentioned, Placebo RE:CREATED features “powerful reworked and embellished versions of all ten tracks from the original album”, as well as two new bonus tracks.
The group say that these new songs are sort of like an ‘amplification’ of what made their inaugural studio outing such a success in the first place.
Speaking in an official statement, they said: “We think of this record as a director’s cut. We haven’t recreated it from scratch. We went back to the original master tapes and brought 30 years of playing these songs live back into the record.
“This project was about finally finishing the record, dragging it into the 21st century sonically, while preserving the integrity and the spirit of the original. It’s not about improving it; there’s nothing wrong with it – it’s about completing it.”
Signing off and getting tails up ahead of the tour, they added: “It’s a celebration of where we began, and a meeting point between who we were then and who we are now; a way of honouring that innocence, while letting the songs exist with the scale, confidence, and energy of the band we’ve become”.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Placebo: 30th Anniversary Tour Playing songs from ‘Placebo’ & ‘Without You I’m Nothing' Friday 4 December https://t.co/qwOm3NNGQH @coopuk members get first in line for tickets. Co-op Member Presale: 09:00 Wednesday 25 March General Sale: 09:00 Friday 27 March pic.twitter.com/MO72ui1ntW
It remains to be seen who, if anyone, will be supporting them for the limited run of domestic shows, but it has been revealed that they will also be playing some fan favourite songs from their sophomore LP, Without You I’m Nothing. You can see the rest of the gigs here in Britain and Ireland down below:
Placebo UK tour dates 2026
2 – Dublin, Ireland – 3 Arena 4th – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live Arena 5th – London, UK – OVO Arena Wembley 7th – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
For those looking to secure early access, you can do so by pre-ordering the album (which drops on 19 June), with the pre-sale window opening at 9am on 24 March.
As for general admission, they will be available from the same time the following Friday, 27 March.
You can get ready to grab your tickets to see Placebo at Co-op Live in Manchester for their 30th anniversary gig right HERE.
They’re not the only big rock name that first back in the 90s set for a big Manc arena show this year.
Featured Images — Press shots (supplied via SJM Concerts)
Audio
Review | What we made of Country 2 Country 2026, and why Manchester should be very excited
Danny Jones
Excuse me, but it looks like we might have a new favourite festival on the cards: Country 2 Country – and it’s very rare we gig in London and enjoy ourselves anyway near as much as we do up North, but now we’re already dreaming of just how good C2C Manchester could be.
In fact, scratch that, we know it is.
Billed as Europe’s biggest country music festival, there really isn’t anything quite like it here. Yes, there’s Buckle & Boots Festival closer to home, but there’s nothing in the folk and country world on this kind of massive scale, unless you go all the way to see the actual CMA Fest over in the US.
London’s also been lucky enough to host some very big names at BST Hyde Park too, but this fully-fledged arena weekender, complete with an outdoor festival hub, town square, trading post, a barn full of line-dancers, and SO much more, celebrates every single part of that culture.
By day, the aim is to make a little country town, complete with shops, food, drink and music aplenty. (Credit: Audio North)
But… We think the North can do it better.
So too did some of the acts and punters as well, by the way; we spoke to several people on-site who’d made the trip from all over because it was closer than Glasgow, Belfast or Berlin.
Up-and-coming British country rock artist, Bronnie – who was literally hours away from a move across the pond to pursue her dreams of living the cowgirl turned music artist experience down in the Southern states – said simply: “There’s always this feeling like there’s more fun to be had up North”
Moreover, the friends she’s already made over in America’s ‘Music City’, she says, have claimed that “the vibes are just better”, apparently. Not to sound too biased, but we obviously couldn’t agree more.
However, with the news that C2C is coming to Manchester city centre and Northern England for the very first time, people are already hopping mad at the idea of a Manc debut.
That’s to say that what The O2 in London isn’t special and will always be to most punters, we just know full well that our particular region is going to take to this new annual event like a duck to water.
A lot of the people we spoke to kept repeating the same: that working class connection, simple but relatable imagery, the pure poetry you’ll find not only in Nashville but creative cousins like Manchester.
The Broadway strip in Austin may be the spiritual home of this kind of music, but we Greater Mancunians lay claim to plenty of genres and some of the biggest artistic traditions ourselves.
With that in mind, we are convinced we’re going to leave a lasting impression when our inaugural Country 2 Country Festival comes to the AO Arena next year.
Our line dancing might leave a little to be desired, but we’ve got a whole year to work on it, not to mention plenty of time to dive even further into the UK’s growing country music obsession.
You can see more pictures from our 2026 C2C gallery down below.
Country fashion was everywhereThe official CMA Spotlight Stage was one of the bestNo one shyed away from a partyKruse Brothers were one of our favourite from the weekendAlana Springsteen was incredibleAnd by the evening, it’s a proper hedonist hoedown… (Credit: The Manc)
Daisy Jackson -
14th June 2024 
