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Old-school American rock legends Toto return to Manchester for the first time in over half a decade

Bless the rains. (this article contains affiliate links)

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 10th September 2024

Yes, whether you only know ‘Africa’ or not, we refuse to let the news that American rock legends Toto are coming back to Manchester for the first time in half a decade pass you by.

The 1970s and 80s pop-rock icons are still one of the most commercially successful and beloved band groups to ever come out of the US, and that’s saying something, so it’s safe to say their return is a pretty big deal in our opinion.

Known for hits like ‘Hold The Line’, ‘Rosanna’, ‘I’ll Be Over You’, oh, and of course ‘Africa’, they’ve always firmly been in that category of bands that you know way more of their songs than you think.

Set to land at the equally legendary AO Arena early next year, the venue is kicking off its 2025 calendar of shows in style.

Now active for nearly half a century (albeit across a total of three spells and numerous different lineups when it comes to live performances) their longevity is up there with some of the very biggest and best names in music.

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With a whopping total of 14 studio albums to their name, well over 40 million albums sold worldwide since 1977 and an estimated 1,253,376 daily streams of ‘Africa’ on Spotify alone, they’ve done it all.

Beyond that, they’re littered all over movie soundtracks, influenced countless acts across the globe that came after them and were probably at least one of your relatives’ favourite bands at one point or another.

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Polishing off their ‘Dogs of Oz’ tour for the remainder of 2024, the LA-formed outfit will be taking a short break before gearing up for a world tour consisting of 20 tour dates and just four here in the UK.

Fortunately, one of them just so happens to be in Manchester on Tuesday, 4 February. Phew.

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It may only be guitarist and singer Steve Lukather left when it comes to original members, but it’s still great to see them going strong.

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It’s also been five whole since they last played Manchester at Bridgewater Hall, so to experience the veterans back on an arena stage will be special, to say the least.

Better yet, with fellow contemporary Christopher Cross – best known for ‘Sailing’, ‘Ride Like The Wind’ and ‘Never Be the Same’ – joining them as a special guest, this is set to be a real throwback show that fans are sure to lap right up.

Tickets for Toto at the AO Arena go on sale this Friday, 13 September at 10am. Be ready to ‘Hold The Line’ and grab yours HERE. See what we did there?…

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Press Images/Wikimedia Commons

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Pierce the Veil are bringing their massive world tour to Manchester’s Co-op Live

Danny Jones Danny Jones Pierce the Veil Manchester Co-op Live tickets

Contemporary rock heavyweights Pierce the Veil have just announced a massive world tour and they’re bringing it to Manchester for their Co-op Live debut.

The emo, prog rock, pop-punk, hardcore and all-round heavy hitters last played Manchester this past April, putting on a pretty huge gig at Victoria Warehouse, but now they’re set for their biggest show here to date.

Co-op recently welcomed Sleep Token for their first real metal show last month, one that proved the venue is more than up to the task of putting on a proper rock show, and now Pierce the Veil are the latest confirmed to be headlining the state-of-the-art arena.

Announcing the news on Tuesday, 3 December, the California-based band will be heading to the moody skies of Manchester next year.

First forming back in 2006 and now five studio albums deep, the new world tour which features nearly 50 dates around North and South America, the UK and Europe, the aim of this new show is to span their whole career thus far.

With a healthy selection of songs from each era, this one will not only as a walk down memory lane for die-hard fans but a pure celebration of Pierce the Veil throughout each evolution of their sound.

Speaking in an official statement after the tour was announced, the band said: “Nearly two decades in the making, this tour is a monument to everything we’ve built with our fans.

“These shows will honour our roots, spanning all five albums and the music that brought us here. We’re bringing to life the songs you’ve been waiting to hear in some of the most iconic venues in the world, including Madison Square Garden, The Forum, Red Rocks, and Wembley Arena.

“This will be our largest, loudest, and most unforgettable tour yet. PTV fans, it’s time to raise our voices like never before. Can you hear us now?”

We’re certainly about to…

Better yet, with a wide breadth of modern rock on show in the support acts too as the San Diego sons will be bringing along Cavetown, Hot Mulligan (a personal favourite of ours) and Crawlers as their UK warm-up acts, these shows are going to be plenty good value for money.

Pierce the Veil’s landmark Manchester gig takes place next autumn on Thursday, 25 September 2025 and, if Sleep Token’s attendance even just a year into their massive boom was anything to go by, this one will sell out pretty quickly.

General admission tickets go live at 10am on Friday, 6 December and official Co-op Members can access exclusive pre-sale from Wednesday (4 Dec).

You can get ready to grab your tickets HERE.

See you in the circle pit.

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Featured Images — Stefan Brending (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group

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Noel Gallagher says there ‘won’t be any fighting’ as he speaks on Oasis reunion for the first time

Danny Jones Danny Jones Noel Gallagher says there'll be no fallouts as he speaks on Oasis reunion for the first time

Noel Gallagher has spoken about the Oasis reunion for the first time and has promised there’ll be ‘no fighting’ when they set off on tour next summer.

In contrast to the younger Gallagher brother, who has been arguably more active and vocal about himself and Oasis since the reunion was confirmed, Noel has been pretty quiet on the comeback up until now.

However, speaking at the recent ‘Legends’ exhibition by Zoë Law held at the National Portrait Gallery, the guitarist and solo artist was quoted as saying that things won’t be anywhere near as rock and roll as it was back in Britpop’s heyday, as well as assuring he and Liam won’t be at each other’s throats.

The main reason being: age, in a word.

The Oasis songwriter said of the upcoming tour dates: “No, it won’t be as raucous as back in the day, because we’re on the wrong side of 50 now, so we’re too old.

“We’re too old to give a s**t now, so there won’t be any fallouts, there won’t be any fighting.” When asked if he’s glad to have buried the feud after a decade and a half of bad-mouthing and back and forth, the 57-year-old could only reply, ‘Of course.’

In Noel’s eyes at least, while many have been speculating that this reunion tour isn’t just a one-off (fingers crossed), he described wanting the now enormous world tour – with dates in the UK, Ireland, US, Australia, Japan, South America and more – to be a sort of “lap of honour” for the band.

Make of that what you will.

There have been reports that the duo have new music ‘ready to go’ or at least written, but let’s just say we got our Christmas wish with the reunion itself, so we’re not going to push our luck and risk jinxing anything by asking for too much. For now, we’ll settle for them remembering they love each other.

As for relations between him and Liam, we don’t know too much beyond the pictures we eventually saw of them smiling and joking together during that photo shoot for the official announcement in the summer.

That being said, iconic frontman and part-time troll has enjoyed playing a very comical version of kiss and make up on social media – as well as using the word ‘celestial’ a lot for some reason. He did, however, respond to what he called a “ridiculous question” rather recently.

Although he refused to name who it came from, he replied in truly irreverent LG fashion: “Oasis gonna be as good as you once were because when some bands get back together there not as good I said listen here you c*** even on our bad day we’ll still wipe the floor with [the] majority of bands out there.”

Meanwhile, it really does like the two have overcome their difference as Noel had the following to say in his interview for the Law’s photography series. We only hope this means there’s nothing holding them back from putting on the shows of a lifetime…

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Featured Images — National Portrait Gallery (screenshot via Facebook)/Press Image (supplied)

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