Renowned as one of the most influential bands of the past 40 years, New Order have announced details of a huge homecoming show at Manchester’s Heaton Park on Friday 10th September 2021.
For what will be their first hometown show in 4 years, New Order’s celebratory night promises to be a defining moment in their illustrious career. Synonymous with inspiring generation after generation with their unparalleled catalogue of hits, New Order return to the city that first gave them their start – and a city forever shaped and influenced in their image.
A quintessential force in British music, their sound has travelled the globe and led the way for millions, from ‘True Faith’, ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Regret’ to ‘World In Motion’, ‘Ceremony’ and countless more.
Released in 2015, their last album ‘Music Complete’ was adjudged a career highlight by critics and with the release of ‘Be a Rebel’ in September, New Order continue to innovate and point to the future, with Heaton Park primed to be an historic night for a band like no other.
Heaton Park
Speaking about their huge headline return to Manchester, New Order said: “The connection between ourselves and Manchester has played a pivotal role in who we are as a band. We have countless memories from across the city, from our early days starting out, and beyond. We promise to bring a celebration like no other to Heaton Park in 2021, and we can’t wait to see everyone come together for a night we’ll never forget.”
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To celebrate news of New Order’s return to Manchester in 2021, the band will participate in a very special Tim’s Listening Party for their most recent LP ‘Music Complete’ on Tuesday 15th December at 8pm. Use the hashtag #TimsTwitterListeningParty to get involved, as the band share memories and stories as they prepare for Heaton Park next year.
Joining New Order for their special Heaton Park homecoming are two acts whose lineage, sound and attitude perfectly match the legendary headliners. Whipping together the dancefloor like few others can, Hot Chip will head to Heaton Park with a soundtrack destined for huge summer moments. From ‘Ready For The Floor’ and ‘Over And Over’ to cuts from their latest album ‘A Bathful Of Ecstasy’ to the Jarvis Cocker-featuring latest release ‘Straight To The Morning’ – expect Hot Chip to be the perfect dancing partner for a historic night in Manchester. Both will be joined by the critically acclaimed electro-punk sounds of Working Men’s Club, whose self-titled debut album stands as one of 2020’s finest – with an equally ferocious and captivating live show sure to go down a treat as the sun sets on Heaton Park.
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Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, looking ahead to next year’s show, said:“We’ve learnt a lot from New Order (including how Bernard likes his tea), and they have made some incredible music, marrying the emotional with the electronic, a synthetic, at times icy beauty with rawness and pop melody, and they’ve certainly influenced us, as well as us sharing some of the same influences that have informed their music, like Chicago House, Detroit Techno, or Italo Disco. But they’re always proudly themselves, and it will be a great honour to play on the same bill with them, in their hometown, and for us to be back on stage in Manchester. Can’t wait!”
Working Men’s Club’s Sydney Minsky-Sargeant said:“It’s an honour to play with a band as significant as New Order and on more or less home turf too. I’m sure it’ll be a day to remember and to be supporting New Order in Manchester will be super special.”
Tickets for New Order at Heaton Park go on sale this week, with a special fan pre-sale starting from 9am on Tuesday 8th December – before full general release tickets go on sale at 9am on Thursday 10th December here.
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Government to introduce price cap on ticket touts and launch consultation on dynamic pricing
Danny Jones
The UK government are finally set to install a price cap on re-sale tickets for touts and open an official consultation on the growing trend of dynamic pricing.
If you’ve bought a ticket to a live music show over the past year or so, you’ll have noticed that ticket prices in general are on the up – particularly if purchased from a reseller, in which case you might have paid through the nose for the privilege.
Not only does ticket touting remain a prevailing problem in the industry, with tonnes of tickets for big shows, especially, being snapped up in bulk or by bots and listed for re-sale before you’ve even added them to your basket, but the advent of this new dynamic pricing lark has made things even harder.
You only have to look at the controversy and chaos surrounding Oasis’ reunion tour, which ultimately saw some fans paying significant amounts more for practically the same ticket just a few days later in what many dubbed as ‘fraud’ and even ’emotional blackmail’.
Justin Timberlake at Co-op Live Manchester was one of countless gigs where ticket prices fluctuated. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Tackling resellers head-on
Knowing full well that people will go to extreme lengths to try and see the musicians and artists they love so dearly – in some cases being backed into a corner as the final figure displayed on the screen when they checkout suddenly jumps up – the modern ticketing industry is severely broken.
With all that in mind, the government are now looking to enact more stringent measures on resellers, by announcing a new price cap on tickets put back up for sale which is set to be introduced (hopefully) in the very near future.
Targeting sites infamous for inflating re-sale costs such as Viagogo, StubHub and others, the bill published on Friday, 10 January proposes a price cap of face value plus 10-30% but no more, with an obvious aim to keep that number as low as possible.
According to the current figures, touts reportedly cost music fans alone more than £145 million in extra re-sale fees when purchasing tickets every year – a frankly ridiculous sum. There will always be tickets ending up on re-sale sites, that’s unavoidable, but a price cap could seriously improve the situation.
The Manc music legends themselves claim they had little control over the situation.
Down with dynamic pricing
Labour, who were voted into power back in July, are also set to try and combat dynamic prices, which essentially sees gigs and events set people back more or less depending on how the popular ticket sales have been up to that point, market trends and general demand. An initial review was called for last year.
Put simply, the more people want to attend a gig, platforms like Ticketmaster feel they are able to jack up their margins even after the initial price point has been established. The European Commission has been investigating these methods since September 2024.
Although it is still unclear as to the exact time scale of when these changes will come in, Labour MP Chris Bryant told NME that although they are still in the early stages, it is “now just a matter of how the government takes action.” And that’s where you come in.
The consultation is also crucially public, with the calling for people to submit their evidence on current pricing practices and continue engaging in the discussion throughout the progress. New Year’s Resolution: let’s curb ticket touts as much as we possibly can.
The AO Arena is giving away FREE tickets for a year to celebrate 30 years in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
The AO Arena has announced it’s giving away free tickets for a year to celebrate its 30th anniversary in Manchester.
The iconic music venue has welcomed the biggest names in the world in its three decades, with millions of us making memories for life inside its huge space.
And now you could win VIP tickets for an entire year, simply for sharing those memories with the AO Arena.
Fans who submit their old photos, videos and tickets will be in with a chance to win tickets to all the shows coming up in 2025 – which already includes massive gigs like Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry and Busted vs McFly.
AO Arena wants to dig deep into ‘first gig’ nostalgia territory, using fan-submitted snaps to build a collection of Manchester memories.
Were you in the same room as Taylor Swift, did you party like it was 1999 (because it was) with Spice Girls, did you cry over the sight of Gary Barlow or cry laughing with Peter Kay?
Britney Spears and Beyonce are among the names who have performed at AO Arena in its 30 year history. Credit: Supplied
Whatever your AO Arena memories are, you can share them before the end of the month to be entered into the competition to win VIP tickets for the year.
One overall winner picked at random will get the ultimate VIP experience, including access to a premium suite and The Beautiful North, as well as access to The Mezz with panoramic views of the main stage.
The 30th birthday campaign has been inspired by Adele’s monumental When We Were Young performance at Glastonbury, and all these memories will be projected around the arena before every performance.
You can submit your footage and enter the competition via the AO Arena website HERE.
The Manc -
7th December 2020 
