Attending a Nao gig is worth waiting ‘Another Lifetime’ for… especially when she performs directly from the venue’s bar.
As someone who has followed this artist for quite a few years, finally getting to see her do what she does best on stage and not through a screen is immense.
Last time she stopped off in Manchester she graced Albert Hall,this time she’s opted for another historic venue, New Century.Nao clearly knows how to choose her venues wisely.
Recently, the Nottingham star released her album Jupiter. So recent in fact, that it only reached our ears two weeks ago. The Manchester crowd certainly did their homework, knowing every lyric off by heart.
The first taste of this LP skyrocketed into our ears in October when the singer-songwriter dropped ‘Wildflowers’, so it’s only fitting this marks the opening of this setlist.
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This single’s accompanying music video saw her swarmed in a field of red-hue wild grass and it’s made its way to our vibrant city, decorating the Manchester stage.
Credit: The Manc Group
To follow this, she plays two tracks both taken from her other planetary project Saturn. ‘If You Ever’ is a great fire-starter ahead of a cracking night of live music.
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It’s almost like someone flips a switch as the audience immediately understands the assignment, feeling every rhythm in their body, rapping The Lumineers name-dropping ‘Make It Out Alive’ verbatim.
Credit: The Manc Group
Four songs in and ‘Happy People’ gets a turn at exciting the crowd. This uplifting and guitar-plucking number is one you can’t help but move to and New Century proves just that.
Nao’s personality flutters over the wild grass adorning the stage and radiates into the flurry of fans. One of these fans has travelled all the way from Portugal and ‘Tommy’, the Manchester legend, who’s attended every city centre tour date, both of which Nao pointed out.
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When the 37-year-old star sings her two Mura Masa produced bangers, that bouncy floor at New Century isn’t ready for what’s about to unfold.
Initiating the two-track ensemble the “Woa woa woa woa woa” filled, ‘Complicated’, excites and emits an electric energy, definitely helped by Nao’s necessary yet unexpected dance break.
Credit: The Manc Group
With the second anthemic instalment of the night ‘Firefly’, Nao sings, “Just say you’ll be my firefly” and with vocals this hypnotic, the crowd would do anything she asked of them.
An encore usually means giving a three minute rendition of your biggest hit. Well for Nao this isn’t enough. Instead she takes things one step further, climbing onto the venue’s bar for a stripped back version of ‘Another Lifetime’ and after those vocals my legs were liquid jelly.
Ending the night on even more of a high, Nao sings ‘Drive and Disconnect’ a standout in her discography and a much-loved track, proved by the fact she brings fans on stage to close the night with her.
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Credit: The Manc Group
Don’t meet your idols, they say, but when your idol is even better live than on her studio recordings, it’s hard to stay away. Thank you Nao for blessing Manchester once again and me for the very first time.
JLS announce huge UK tour including Manchester gig
Daisy Jackson
Boy band JLS have just announced a huge Manchester gig as part of a new UK tour.
The Everybody in Love singers will be heading out on a new tour, The Club Is Alive Tour, this autumn.
Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill shared the exiting news of the new tour dates this afternoon.
JLS will be performing at cities including Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield, as they head to arenas right across the UK.
And support will come from fellow noughties legend Example, who’s behind massive songs like Last Ones Standing, Kickstarts, and Changed The Way You Kiss Me.
JLS formed on the X Factor back in 2008, when they placed as runners-up to Alexandra Burke.
Then they went on to release five chart-topping angles and hit singles like Everybody in Love, She Makes Me Wanna, and One Shot.
The group parted ways in 2013 but reunited for a huge Beat Again tour in 2021.
And now they’re back again, heading to the Co-op Live this November.
Announcing the news this afternoon, they said: “It’s official! We’re hitting the road this year for “The Club Is Alive Tour” with our very special guests Example.
“Get all the info on JLSofficial.com and make sure to click the link and sign up for presale access to tickets. If you miss that, tickets will go on sale to the public on March 28th at 10 AM.”
Bastille announce blockbuster Manchester arena date for special anniversary show
Danny Jones
Alt and indie-pop band Bastille are coming back to Manchester for another big gig, only this one is set to be bigger than ever as they celebrate a huge music milestone.
Having played Castlefield Bowl back in 2023 and recently returned to the city for a pair of more intimate shows at Manchester Cathedral and as part of Amazon’s ‘City Sessions’ at Aviva Studios, the Bastille boys have frequented 0161 pretty often of late.
With their latest LP Ampersand (or simply “&“) having dropped back in 2024, the London-formed outfit are now five studio albums and dozens of songs into their career. That being said, they’re set to look back on the journey up till now with some huge UK arena dates.
Announcing the ‘From All Sides’ tour this week, Bastille will be coming to Manchester and several other major cities to play their biggest, best and most beloved songs from the first 15 years.
Effectively being marketed as a greatest hits so far gig, these will be the band’s first UK arena tour in over three years.
With each show featuring songs from across Bastille’s entire discography – everything from fan favourites to deep cuts and rarities from the Other Peoples’ Heartache mixtapes, as well as seminal moments from Bad Blood, Doom Days and more – it’ll be a long journey down memory lane.
Bastille will be returning to the AO Arena for their Manchester date, a venue they’re more than familiar with, but with a decade and a half of music to get through, it’ll be one of their biggest Northern gigs to date.
Speaking on the tour, the band said: “We’re really excited to announce that we’re going on tour for the first time in a while to play the songs we all love from our first 15 years and beyond. Hope to see a load of you in November.”
You’ll definitely be seeing a fair few of us there, lads.
JUST ANNOUNCED🎸 @bastille 'Songs From The First 15 Years'
Bastille arrives in Manchester for one momentous anniversary night on Friday, 14 November and you can bet the arena will sell out quickly.
They are also showing their support for grassroots youth music spaces by giving a tour donation to Youth Music’s ‘Rescue the Roots’ campaign, which helps raise money for the next generation of young creatives.
As mentioned above, there will be two opportunities at pre-sale: first for Three+ mobile members from 10 am on Wednesday, 26 March, and then again via the venue at the same time the following day; as for general admission tickets, they will go live next Friday (28 Mar), also at 10am.
Thomas Melia -
8th March 2025 
