40 years – that’s how long Simply Red have been putting out hit after hit and helping to build Manchester’s legacy as one of the world’s greatest musical cities.
They’re often overlooked when people put together a list of the best bands from our city (they’re not even on our own Top 30 list which is, quite frankly, a huge oversight on our part), but on this Saturday night, back on home turf and celebrating four decades, it’s hard to deny their impact.
This 40th anniversary tour was announced absolutely ages ago (the Co-op Live didn’t even exist yet) and you can feel that anticipation simmering in the audience.
It’s not exactly a gigantic production or build-up before Simply Red take to the stage – the music playing through the venue speakers just sort of turns off at 9pm on the dot and 20,000-odd people sit together in awkward silence until Mick Hucknall shows up a while later.
A VT of a young Mick in 1985 plays as he walks out.
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“I want to be a great singer” says VT Mick.
And as present day Mick launches into the bluesy Sad Old Red, he proves beyond doubt that he has achieved just that.
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His is a distinctive voice and one for the ages, especially here in his hometown.
“Thank you for creating me, Manchester,” he tells us, to rapturous cheers.
Simply Red on stage at Co-op Live in ManchesterSimply Red return to Manchester on their 40th anniversary tour
The rest of the band are mostly lined up neatly on one platform, in tight session musician style – brass, percussion, keys – only breaking free to perform the odd clarinet solo, while their frontman sashays across the rest of the stage in an incredibly snazzy jacket.
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The setlist is in loosely chronological order, which means it’s not long before Simply Red lure everyone onto their feet for Money’s Too Tight To Mention, their breakout 1985 single.
The hits all have similar effect – we sing so loud to If You Don’t Know Me By Now that he accuses us of coming after his job. For Stars, everyone flings their arms overhead and belts it out as best we can.
Fairground is like a very tame carnival, with whistles and maracas in the percussion section, and a slutty little samba step from Mick.
Holding Back the Years is a really, really boring song to end on though. There, I said it – someone had to.
It’s a grateful and engaged crowd at Co-op Live – there are couples dancing in the aisles, groups of pals shimmying, parents and grown-up children looking nostalgic (if you took a snapshot of Block 113 you’d see a mother and daughter wiping away a tear to For Your Babies… oh yeah, that’s me and my mum).
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Simply Red always sell out arenas in this city, their city, and probably always will. See you at their 50th?
Tickets for the remainder of Simply Red’s tour are on sale HERE.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Audio
Akon speaks on his connection to Manchester after run of Co-op Live gigs
Danny Jones
Music veteran Akon has recently discussed his connection to our city following his run of live shows here in Manchester.
In fact, he went so far as to say he feels much more affinity here than he does with ‘The Big Smoke’.
The seasoned Senegalese-American rapper, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and humanitarian, teamed up with fellow chart-topper Ne-Yo for not just one, not even two, but three whole nights at Co-op Live this May as part of their co-headline tour across the UK and Ireland.
Chatting with Simone Riley on BBC Radio Manchester before the third and final gig of the trio, Akon admitted that there’s “something about Manchester” that he loves way more than London.
As you can see, while he couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly is about it in the North compared to the capital, he said simply that “it’s crazy here”, and he loves it.
Same, mate. Same.
Admitting that he feels “more attached to Manchester than London” and labelling the energy from the crowds as “stupid” up here (he meant it in a good way, we promise), Simone couldn’t help but confess her joy over his comments.
He’s not the only global superstar to have recently shouted out their affection for 0161, either, as Billie Eilish also said something similar.
Speaking to the mainline BBC at the premiere of her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), she said that while the dates lining up were certainly a key factor, there were other reasons why she chose Manchester to film her new movie.
Our Audio North team were also lucky enough to chat with Akon’s touring partner Ne-Yo recently, too, who also had nothing but good things to say about us as a place to play.
As for Akon, the 53-year-old has obviously played here plenty of times over the decades, with last year’s tour being his first return in a decade.
That being said, given how glowingly he’s spoken about us and how popular these joint performances were, we reckon it won’t be that long before he comes back.
Last but not least, we obviously couldn’t resist going along to at least one of the nights for ourselves; listen to what we had to say about the tour in our full review down below.
Antony Szmeirek announces second album along with biggest UK tour dates yet
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester spoken word artist Antony Szmeirek has finally revealed the name, cover art and release date for his second album, along with his biggest run of UK tour dates yet.
The Tameside teacher turned full-time artist dropped his maiden record, Service Station at the End of the Universe, back in February 2025, and now, just over a year on from its launch, he’s getting ready to deliver his highly anticipated follow-up.
Entitled Decoding Birdsong, the sophomore studio project is scheduled for this summer, with a series of live shows booked for the following autumn.
Having already dropped lead single ‘The Heron’ earlier this year, Szmeirek has just released the opener from his upcoming LP, which is simply called ‘Chalk’; he’s also unveiled the rest of the tracklist and a rather striking bit of album artwork.
The Hyde-born artist is making big moves not only within the spoken word space but across multiple genres, with his music blending everything from indie, hip-hop, electronica and more.
His latest song, for instance, is more of an acid-house-esque meets contemporary EDM outing, and has quickly gone down as a popular addition among fans.
On the album name itself, he’s never one to shy away from a weird title or two – case in point, ‘The Great Pyramid of Stockport’ from his debut and ‘Dave’s Angling Superstore’ on this new record.
The 34-year-old carries that same idiosyncrasy throughout his lyricism and creative concepts, as well.
‘Chalk’ is a perfect example of this, as the song is inspired by The Edge of Everything documentary: a film about the career of legendary British snooker player, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Here’s the music video…
As for his latest raft of live shows, these will be some of the biggest domestic gigs that the local lad has played in his career so far.
In addition to a pair of hometown shows here in Manchester, he is set to play a dozen different cities across Great Britain and Ireland.
Antony Szmierek UK/IE tour dates – October 2026
We’ve highlighted the Northern stops for you, too:
Daisy Jackson -
28th September 2025 
