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‘Heartbroken’ Sam Smith offers refunds to Manchester gig cancelled after four songs

"Sam has been told by doctors that if they keep singing, they will do permanent damage to their voice."

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 25th May 2023

Sam Smith has offered refunds to everyone who attended their Manchester gig last night after cancelling the show just a few songs in.

The 31-year-old has also announced cancellations of upcoming shows in Birmingham and Glasgow.

It comes after the multi Grammy and BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter abruptly stopped their show at the AO Arena last night after only four songs citing “vocal issues”, leaving fans gutted and unsure whether the date would be rescheduled.

Dedicating the show to the late Tina Turner – who had passed away at aged 83 just hours before – the pop sensation performed four songs before stopping the show.

This initially left the thousands of fans inside the AO Arena thinking there had been been a power cut, only for the house lights to come back up around 23 minutes later and to be told the concert would not be continuing.

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‘Heartbroken’ Sam Smith offers refunds to Manchester gig cancelled after four songs / Credit: Sam Smith (via Instagram)

In an initial statement addressing the situation late last night, Sam wrote on Instagram: “Dearest sailors, I don’t know what to say honestly. I fought off a virus a few weeks ago and since then we have travelled across Europe and had such incredible shows.

“Today in soundcheck I felt fine and was so excited to give Manchester an amazing show tonight, with a special surprise at the end. During my third song, I noticed something wrong with my voice. I prayed it was just my voice waking up for the show but into the fourth song I could feel something was really wrong.

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“I came off stage and have tried everything to get my voice back in gear but it won’t.”

Sam’s addressed the incident in a follow-up statement on Instagram / Credit: Sam Smith (via Instagram)

Sam added that they were “heartbroken” not to have finished the gig in Manchester after being “so excited”, and even teasing a surprise at the end of the show.

Now, they have confirmed in a follow-up statement that refunds will be offered.

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Once again taking to Instagram to address the situation, Sam wrote: “Due to vocal issues during last night’s Manchester performance, regrettably we will be cancelling the rescheduled Birmingham and Glasgow Sam Smith shows.

“Refunds will be available at point of purchase for all three dates in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

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“A spokesperson said ‘doctors have advised due to a vocal cord injury, Sam must have complete vocal rest. Sam is heartbroken to have had to cancel these shows but they have been told by doctors that if they keep singing, they will do permanent damage to their voice.

“If they take some rest they will be able to perform again.”

Featured Image – Supplied

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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God, we love summer.

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Featured Image — The Weeknd (via Instagram)

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