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Manchester’s huge £365m Co-op Live arena reveals new opening date

The countdown is on.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 5th June 2023

The Co-op Live arena has confirmed its new opening date, with the doors to the enormous £365m music venue opening next year.

The huge new venue for Manchester is backed by Harry Styles, and will have the world’s largest floor space of any indoor arena when it opens.

Its total capacity will be 23,500 gig-goers, with an innovative music-first design as well as 32 bars, restaurants, and lounges around the site.

The Co-op Live arena is now to set to open in April 2024, a slightly later date than its previously planned opening at the end of this year.

The shape of the enormous structure has taken shape in the north of the city, close to Manchester City‘s home ground at the Etihad Stadium.

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Co-op Live is the first of its kind to be built with concert acoustics as a priority.

The smart bowl at Co-op Live arena. Credit: Supplied
The Co-op Live’s atrium. Credit: Supplied

Not only will gig-goers experience state-of-the-art acoustics, there’ll be nothing to detract from the visual spectacles on stage either – the bowl will feature no corporate branding, and soundproof black curtains will be used in the suites that line the edges of level two.

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A spokesperson for the venue said: “This morning I am happy to reveal that Co-op Live will be opening our doors to fans in April 2024.

“It’s huge kudos to BAM, and the dozens of local subcontractors working on the project, that we are well within our original timeframe and on-budget given the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, supply chain shortages, and an energy crisis. 

“We’re proud to be on the home stretch to delivering  Co-op Live and we can’t wait to invite fans in to experience the biggest and most sustainable arena in the UK.”

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Featured image: Co-op Live

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Iconic musical Hairspray to kick-off UK tour in Manchester next year

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

One of the best-loved musicals of all time is kicking off its UK tour here in Manchester next year, and tickets are going on sale very soon.

That’s right, you can’t stop the beat… or Hairspray The Musical from heading back to our city.

There’s no denying that Hairspray is known and loved by millions worldwide since it first opened on Broadway all way back in 2002, and has had audiences tapping their feet on the West End and in countless other cities and countries across the globe ever since.

The eight Tony Award wins and the record-breaking 11 Olivier Award nominations prove that all to well, as does the smash-hit success of the 2007 film adaptation too.

But it’s been quite a while now since theatre lovers have been treated to the musical live on stage, and have been anticipating its return since 2017 – but luckily, the long wait is now over, as it’s just been confirmed this week that a new production of Hairspray The Musical is heading out on a major national tour of the UK and Ireland in 2024.

And what better way to kick things off than right here in Manchester?

In case you’re unfamiliar with the timeless story of Hairspray centres around heroine Tracy Turnblad, who has “big hair, a big heart, and big dreams” and wants to dance her way onto national TV, and into the heart of teen idol Link Larkin.

When Tracy becomes a local star, she is able to use her newfound fame to fight for liberation, tolerance, and interracial unity in Baltimore.

But the real question is, can she win equality – and Link’s heart -without denting her ’do?

Audiences in Manchester will be the first to hear some of musical theatre’s most well-known songs, including Welcome To The 60s, You Can’t Stop The Beat, and Good Morning Baltimore, before it heads out to other major cites across the country.

Iconic musical Hairspray to kick-off UK tour in Manchester next year / Credit: Hairspray the Musical

Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, and Bradford are just a few of the fellow Northern cites where the tour will stop off at in 2024.

The show’s original production team of Mark Goucher, Matthew Gale, and Laurence Myers will be joined by Brenda Edwards – who’s most famous for her appearances on ITV’s Loose Women, but also for having previously played “Motormouth” Maybelle in three tours of Hairspray – on the creative team as director for this new production, alongside Paul Kerryson too.

Choreography for the iconic show will come from Olivier Award winner Drew McOnie, while music is, of course, provided by the Academy Award, Tony, and Emmy-winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

The beloved production will take to the Palace Theatre stage next summer / Credit: Hairspray The Musical

Hairspray The Musical will take to the stage at Manchester’s Palace Theatre from 16 – 27 July 2024.

Tickets are going on general sale today at 10am, and although prices haven’t been revealed yet, it’s expected they’ll be available in a range of prices so it’s affordable for everyone looking to make the most of the all-singing-all-dancing experience.

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Grab tickets when they go live here.

Featured Image – Hairspray The Musical

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Bands panic as Easy Life report they’re being sued by EasyJet

Danny Jones Danny Jones are easyJet really suing easy life over their name?

The music industry and social media at large are taking aim at easyJet in light of what might be one of the most ridiculous stories we’ve ever heard, as the airline is reportedly suing alternative indie-pop band, Easy Life, because their names are apparently too similar.

Like the majority of people who first saw this online, we thought it was a joke at first too. Apparently not…

Despite having been formed in 2017 and having seemingly caused no disruption to the company’s business in the past six years, Easy Life shared a statement on Monday evening claiming that popular UK airline easyJet is set to sue them simply because they share the word ‘easy’ in their name.

Much to our and everyone else’s shock, the lawsuit appears to be real after a spokesperson for the budget flight operator told NME: “Stelios and easyGroup founded and (now) own the right to the easy brand name… We cannot allow unauthorised third parties to simply use it free, gratis and for nothing. That would be very unfair.”

They basically believe they have a copyright on the word ‘easy’. Simply flabbergasting and, as you can expect, it has led to some very low-hanging fruit and amusing reactions:

The full statement by the Leceister-based band reads: “Okay… never imagined having to do this but we’ve no choice but to address the situation we find ourselves in. As some of you have already discovered, we are being sued, easyjet are suing us for being called easy life.

“They’re forcing us to change our name or take up a costly legal battle which we could never afford. we’ve worked hard to establish our brand I’m certain in no way have we ever affected their business.

“Although we find this whole situation hilarious, we are virtually powerless against such a massive corporation. I don’t really know what else to say, will keep you lot updated.”

The five-piece signed off by joking, “for those of you who bought gig tickets and ended up on a budget flight to Tenerife, I apologise, for the rest of you, thank you so much for your support”. Naturally, they aren’t the only ones laughing at the absurdity of it all.

While a large proportion of the comments are versions of “surely they are joking?” and “this has to be a p*** take?”, for those that have clocked on to the fact this is somehow real, easyJet are currently being called every name under the sun.

Big up the guy who commented, “Jet from Gladiators should sue Easyjet. Pretty sure she was around before they were a thing.”

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As for the company’s stance on the matter, they went on to insist to the NME that “Stelios and easyGroup founded and (now) own the right to the easy brand name.

So yes, although it might sound silly that they are basically trying to copyright a common word in the English language which has been used in various different phrases since the start of the Middle Ages, easyJet have indeed been trademarking a number of different names including easyVan, easyProperty, easyCurrency and more — the suggestion being that they could be angling for easyLife insurance next.

It goes without saying that we find this whole thing stupid we’re still in disbelief that it’s actually genuine. Then again, we shouldn’t be too surprised as the company’s owner Stelios Haji-Ioannou has tried to sue everyone from the creators of Come Fly With Me, who parodied him back in 2010, to a small taxi company that also had easy in their name.

What they’ve actually done is just lost even more faith amongst Brits who travel from time to time and might have been considering using the airline and given easy life one of the best bits of inadvertent publicity and nationwide exposure we’ve ever seen.

Here’s hoping the boys’ nightmares turn into daydreams soon and in case it wasn’t already hammered home just how daft this whole thing is, just check the comments underneath this statement of solidarity from music label Blood Records.

Featured Image — easy life (via Instagram)/Bene Riobo (via Wikimedia Commons)

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