Audio

Sam Smith at AO Arena Manchester – setlist, tickets, support, stage times and what to expect

The Gloria tour is finally here. (Contains affiliate links)

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 23rd May 2023

Sam Smith’s Gloria tour will finally arrive in Manchester this week, as the singer wraps up the UK leg of their huge tour.

Sam had to pull out of several other UK tour dates after being struck down by a virus.

But after a run of gigs across Europe, they’re back in British soil and ready for their AO Arena gig.

The ‘Unholy’ singer will be hitting the huge stage on Wednesday 24 May – bringing along the giant golden nude statue that they and their dancers perform on.

The Gloria tour is in support of Sam Smith‘s album of the same name, which was released earlier this year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of their AO Arena Manchester gig.

Tickets for Sam Smith in Manchester

Tickets have been selling fast for Sam Smith’s Gloria tour, with just a handful left on sale.

ADVERTISEMENT

Seated tickets range between £35 and £80, with standing tickets priced at £60 – plus booking fees.

You can check the latest availability with See Tickets here.

Who is supporting Sam Smith?

Sam will be supported by Cat Burns throughout the Gloria tour.

ADVERTISEMENT

This British, Brit Award-nominated singer-songwriter shot to fame with her 2020 single ‘Go’, which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart after trending on TikTok.

Sony Music has described Cat Burns as a mixture of ‘gospel and pop influences combined with guitar-led indie music’.

Stage times for Sam Smith at AO Arena

Based on recent shows, you can expect to see Cat Burns take to the stage at 8pm.

Then Sam should start performing from 9pm, with a venue curfew of 11pm.

As always, stage times are subject to change.

ADVERTISEMENT

Expected setlist

Stay With Me
I’m Not the Only One
Like I Can
Too Good at Goodbyes
To Die For
Perfect
Diamonds
How Do You Sleep?
Dancing With a Stranger (Sam Smith & Normani cover)
I’m Kissing You (Des’ree cover)
Lay Me Down
Love Goes
Gimme
Lose You
Promises (Calvin Harris & Sam Smith cover)
I’m Not Here to Make Friends
Latch (Disclosure cover)
I Feel Love (Donna Summer cover)
Gloria
Human Nature (Madonna cover)
Unholy

The venue

The AO Arena seating plan.

The AO Arena has a few strict policies to keep gig-goers safe. Make sure to check entry requirements carefully before you travel.

For example, only one small bag per person is allowed, and bags like backpacks, travel cases and laptop bags are not permitted inside the arena.

All bags are scanned on entry to check for prohibited items like laser pens, flares, projectiles, weapons, drugs and alcohol, and even selfie sticks.

Featured image: Publicity picture

Audio

Potato peelers are banned at Parklife festival — and it’s all Liam Gallagher’s fault

Danny Jones Danny Jones Potato peelers banned from Parklife Liam Gallagher

The list of prohibited items and illegal contraband at a festival is long and, in most instances, very obvious, however, one thing we never expected to see banned is potato peelers and for that we have Liam Gallagher to thank.

You can file that one firmly under sentences we never thought we’d write.

After a Parklife punter tweeted a picture of the conditions for entry and the list of banned items and was understandably confused when she saw potato peelers on the list, she simply had to know what happened in the past for the festival to put this on their list.

Apparently, she was unaware of the infamous ‘Spudgate‘ incident of 2017.

Parklife explaining exactly why potato peelers are banned from the festival: LG x

For any of you haven’t heard about until now either, a few years back the former Oasis frontman decided to take the piss out of his big brother Noel after he enlsited the help of someone to play scissors during a performance on Jools Holland.

Taking inspiration from an admittedly random and easily memeable moment, his younger sibling asked fans to bring along potato peelers “peel some spuds live on stage” in an effort not only to mock the random ‘instrument’ choice but to make yet another dig at his brother, who he’s often called a “potato”.

Naturally, his die-hards took the request seriously and began bringing along the kitchen utensil to gigs and literally started peeling potatoes in the crowd.

No, we’re not joking. This happened at a random little intimate gig in London’s Bethnal Green:

A man literally peeling potatoes at a Liam Gallagher.

Read more:

A truly unbelievable and crease-worthy sight, we’re sure you’ll agree — Liam certainly seemed to enjoy this legend’s commitment anyway, tweeting: “To the peeler who peeled his little heart out last night you my friend are truly out there psychedelic even as you were King Parka Monkey x”.

However, as hilarious and iconic a moment it is in music history, it came a great cost as the following year Parklife announced they were banning potato peelers from the festival from 2018 onwards.

The rule seems to have been kept in place ever since and while it’s become a bit of a running joke, we genuinely wouldn’t fancy your chances of sneaking one past security.

While we obviously don’t condone potato peeling at festivals, if you manage it we want video proof.

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

Featured Image — George Godfrey (via Twitter)/Pixabay/The Johnathan Ross Show (via ITV)

Audio

The Weeknd at Etihad Stadium — stage times, support acts, setlist and more

Danny Jones Danny Jones The Weeknd Etihad Stadium gig info

It is an absolutely massive few days of music here in Manchester and although while plenty will be focused on the arrival of Parklife, there’s another big name arriving at the Etihad this Weeknd.

See what we did there?…

That’s right, Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd is one of many amazing incredible acts set to perform this Saturday, following Coldplay last week by taking the stage at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

With The Courteeners kicking off the Heaton Park party vibes on Friday before the Parklife festivities get into full swing, you obviously can’t cram absolutely everyone onto one big field, so for those of you that are going along, here’s everything you need to know.

Are there any tickets left for The Weeknd’s Manchester gig?

We’ve got some bad news for you, tickets to see The Weeknd at the Etihad sold out a while ago — we’re talking seated, standing, hospitality, the lot.

He is one of the biggest pop and R&B artists on the planet, so not that much of a surprise, to be fair.

You can obviously always keep your eye out on resellers like TicketSwap and Twickets for any spares that might go up but, as always, we advise caution when purchasing second-hand tickets from anyone and to steer well clear of ticket touts.

Who are The Weeknd’s support acts?

As for those of you who have managed to bag a ticket, you’re in for an absolute treat as not only will you be seeing The Weeknd but his support acts are absolutely dynamite.

As well as prolific producer Mike Dean (not the one that’s usually at the Etihad) as the first support, who has worked with the likes of Kanye West, Travis Scott, Drake and countless other big names — The Weeknd included, obviously — you will also get to see global DJ and electronic sensation Kaytranada before the main event.

Madness, right? For anyone still sleeping on Kaytra (there can’t be many of you left in the world), the fellow Canadian is arguably one of the best live acts going at the minute, selling out stadiums all across the world, headlining Coachella and costing a fair few quid to see alone.

It’s not hard to see why:

@adelamariiaa best night of my life #kaytranada #kaytranadalondon ♬ original sound – adelamariiaa

The Weeknd ‘After Hours til Dawn’ setlist

Now, when it comes to setlists, given that artists like switch things up from show to show all the time, we can only ever really give you predictions.

However, according to Setlist.fm and his last show in Passeio Marítimo de Algés, Portugal, he is what you very well be hearing come Saturday night.

We’ll warn you now, it’s an absolute whopper of a line-up.

  1. Take My Breath
  2. Sacrifice (Swedish House Mafia remix)
  3. How Do I Make You Love Me?
  4. Can’t Feel My Face
  5. Lost in the Fire
  6. Hurricane
  7. The Hills
  8. Often
  9. Crew Love
  10. Starboy
  11. House of Balloons
  12. Heartless
  13. Low Life
  14. Reminder
  15. Party Monster
  16. Faith
  17. After Hours
  18. Out of Time
  19. I Feel It Coming
  20. Die for You
  21. Is There Someone Else?
  22. I Was Never There
  23. Wicked Games
  24. Call Out My Name
  25. The Morning
  26. Save Your Tears
  27. Less Than Zero

Encore

  • Blinding Lights
  • Double Fantasy
  • Creepin’ (Metro Boomin cover)
  • Popular

What a show this is going to be.

Stage times

The Weeknd support acts Manchester
Kaytranada tour Manchester date
The Weekend stage times Manchester
Mike Dean/Kaytranada/The Weeknd (via Instagram)

Speaking of the lineup, in case you’re wondering when you can expect each of them to rock up to the Etihad stage, doors are set to open at 4pm and with Manchester set for yet another gorgeous day, you can spend hours enjoying tunes in the heat before the sun even goes down. Wonderful stuff.

While the exact times of each act are yet to be fully announced, the live entertainment is set to start around 7pm, with The Weeknd expected to take the stage around 9pm.

With a setlist this long, who knows how long he tends to go on for, but we’d ballpark that the show will finish around 11pm.

How to get to the Etihad Stadium

Last but not least, getting to the Eithad should be a doddle regardless of how you’re getting there. If you’re choosing public transport, the Metrolink is the most direct route, with a tram stop right outside the ground and just a few stops away from Manchester Piccadilly.

ADVERTISEMENT

Both Holt Town and Velopark Metrolink stops, located on either side of the Etihad Campus stop, will not be open for at least an hour after an event at the stadium and they’ll obviously be very busy, so just make sure plan accordingly.

The trams will be very busy though, and since the weather looks so nice again, so you might prefer to walk; if so, it’s only around a 30-minute stroll from town with this safe walking route recommended.

If you need to drive in, official car parking is priced at £25 for cars, £50 for coaches and £40 for minibuses. There are of course other unofficial car parks and drop-off points nearby too, so just make sure you’re not getting ripped off.

Read more:

We repeat again, this weekend in Manchester is going to be absolutely MASSIVE and we can’t wait.

Whether you’re doing The Courteeners, The Weeknd, Parklife or any of the countless other gigs going on around town, we hope you have a sick time.

ADVERTISEMENT

God, we love summer.

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

Featured Image — The Weeknd (via Instagram)

More Audio

Audio

Travel advice for how to get to Parklife festival in Heaton Park – and home again

Audio

Parklife DJs to play free shows at one of Manchester’s best beer gardens this weekend

Matty Healy responds to Noel Gallagher calling him a 'slack-jawed fuckwit'

Audio

Matty Healy delivers perfect reply to being called a ‘slack-jawed f***wit’ by Noel Gallagher live on stage

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches