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The Clone Roses to play huge Heaton Park show for their 25th anniversary this May

'Spike Island - The Resurrection' was one of the biggest Manchester music events of the past few years. The sequel is going to be something else.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 18th April 2023

For anyone who’s ever seen them before, you’ll know The Clone Roses are no joke — they’re arguably the best tribute act on the planet — and for anyone who their massive headline show at Heaton Park is your chance.

Not just imitating much-loved Manc band The Stone Roses but faithfully recreating their tunes to thousands of people across the UK year-round, 2023 marks their 25th anniversary together as a band, so it’s only fitting that they celebrate the occasion with a big gig.

Admittedly, it doesn’t get much bigger than their now iconic ‘Spike Island – The Resurrection’ show in 2021, where they recreated The Stone Roses’ legendary open-air show (it might genuinely be just as famous as the original now), but they’ve managed it with a roughly 6,000 capacity Heaton Park.

If you’re struggling to picture exactly how mint this thing is going to be, this should give you an idea:

Returning to the scene of one of the UK’s most legendary gigs in its own right — Stone Roses’ ‘Second Coming back in 2012, which sold out 220,000 tickets in a record-breaking 68 minutes — their hugely popular tribute band will bring their 25th-anniversary tour to a close in a similarly epic fashion.

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The St Helen’s-based band were there for the 2012 reunion themselves and described it as the perfect setlist; taking up the mental themselves next month, frontman Gav Scott says they want to do the same and “celebrate their 25th Anniversary in the city that have been so loyal to us from day one”.

Moreover, the band promises “an absolute feast of Manchester music” as many other tribute bands will be playing on the day such as The Smiths Ltd, The Courtbetweeners and Happy Mondaze, not mention fellow legends Bez and Clint Boon in the flesh, and many more.

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Yeah, this is going to be an absolute party.

Credit: The Clone Roses (via Instagram)

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‘Heaton Park – The Resurrection’ arrives at the beautiful Manchester garden and gig venue on Saturday, 13 May, and is sure to be a sellout.

Its precursor event at Spike Island broke records by selling over 5,000 tickets on the first day of sale alone, making the biggest tribute-themed festival the world has ever seen, and with even more room to play with at Heaton Park, we expect another landmark musical event of near mythic proportions.

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Grab any remaining tickets for The Clone Roses at Heaton Park HERE whilst you still can.

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

Featured Image — The Clone Roses/@manc_wanderer (via Instagram)

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Bands panic as Easy Life report they’re being sued by EasyJet

Danny Jones Danny Jones are easyJet really suing easy life over their name?

The music industry and social media at large are taking aim at easyJet in light of what might be one of the most ridiculous stories we’ve ever heard, as the airline is reportedly suing alternative indie-pop band, Easy Life, because their names are apparently too similar.

Like the majority of people who first saw this online, we thought it was a joke at first too. Apparently not…

Despite having been formed in 2017 and having seemingly caused no disruption to the company’s business in the past six years, Easy Life shared a statement on Monday evening claiming that popular UK airline easyJet is set to sue them simply because they share the word ‘easy’ in their name.

Much to our and everyone else’s shock, the lawsuit appears to be real after a spokesperson for the budget flight operator told NME: “Stelios and easyGroup founded and (now) own the right to the easy brand name… We cannot allow unauthorised third parties to simply use it free, gratis and for nothing. That would be very unfair.”

They basically believe they have a copyright on the word ‘easy’. Simply flabbergasting and, as you can expect, it has led to some very low-hanging fruit and amusing reactions:

The full statement by the Leceister-based band reads: “Okay… never imagined having to do this but we’ve no choice but to address the situation we find ourselves in. As some of you have already discovered, we are being sued, easyjet are suing us for being called easy life.

“They’re forcing us to change our name or take up a costly legal battle which we could never afford. we’ve worked hard to establish our brand I’m certain in no way have we ever affected their business.

“Although we find this whole situation hilarious, we are virtually powerless against such a massive corporation. I don’t really know what else to say, will keep you lot updated.”

The five-piece signed off by joking, “for those of you who bought gig tickets and ended up on a budget flight to Tenerife, I apologise, for the rest of you, thank you so much for your support”. Naturally, they aren’t the only ones laughing at the absurdity of it all.

While a large proportion of the comments are versions of “surely they are joking?” and “this has to be a p*** take?”, for those that have clocked on to the fact this is somehow real, easyJet are currently being called every name under the sun.

Big up the guy who commented, “Jet from Gladiators should sue Easyjet. Pretty sure she was around before they were a thing.”

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As for the company’s stance on the matter, they went on to insist to the NME that “Stelios and easyGroup founded and (now) own the right to the easy brand name.

So yes, although it might sound silly that they are basically trying to copyright a common word in the English language which has been used in various different phrases since the start of the Middle Ages, easyJet have indeed been trademarking a number of different names including easyVan, easyProperty, easyCurrency and more — the suggestion being that they could be angling for easyLife insurance next.

It goes without saying that we find this whole thing stupid we’re still in disbelief that it’s actually genuine. Then again, we shouldn’t be too surprised as the company’s owner Stelios Haji-Ioannou has tried to sue everyone from the creators of Come Fly With Me, who parodied him back in 2010, to a small taxi company that also had easy in their name.

What they’ve actually done is just lost even more faith amongst Brits who travel from time to time and might have been considering using the airline and given easy life one of the best bits of inadvertent publicity and nationwide exposure we’ve ever seen.

Here’s hoping the boys’ nightmares turn into daydreams soon and in case it wasn’t already hammered home just how daft this whole thing is, just check the comments underneath this statement of solidarity from music label Blood Records.

Featured Image — easy life (via Instagram)/Bene Riobo (via Wikimedia Commons)

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Bluedot will NOT take place in 2024 after extreme weather halted this year’s festival

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Bluedot Festival

Bluedot, one of the North’s best-loved festivals, will not be taking place in 2024, it has been announced.

The family-friendly festival in Cheshire takes place every summer in the staggering setting of Jodrell Bank, with the Lovell Telescope providing a backdrop to the main stage.

Bluedot had to partially cancel its 2023 festival and turn away day guests on its final day, after heavy rain left areas of the festival site ‘unpassable’.

Unprecedented rainfall in July turned Jodrell Bank into a muddy swamp that made it unsafe for day ticket holders to attend, despite the team on site laying more than 1.5km of additional track mat and track way, 130 tonnes of sustainably sourced wood chip, and bringing multiple trucks on site to pump out standing water.

Sadly, the damage done by this summer’s miserable weather is lasting.

Bluedot has now confirmed that its 2024 instalment will not be taking place, with the ground needing a fallow year to recover from the extreme weather.

The award-winning festival said that the record-breaking rain before and during the festival has had a severe impact on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The mud at Bluedot 2023 means that it will take a fallow year in 2024. Credit: The Manc Group
The mud at Bluedot 2023 means that it will take a fallow year in 2024. Credit: The Manc Group
The mud at Bluedot 2023 means that it will take a fallow year in 2024. Credit: The Manc Group
The mud at Bluedot 2023 means that it will take a fallow year in 2024. Credit: The Manc Group

Organisers said: “When we set out on the journey that is bluedot, our mission was to create a unique experience – a combination of discovery, exploration and grand cosmic ideas, soundtracked by the finest musicians from across the planet.

“An opportunity once a year to explore new and unique collaborations between science, music and the arts, to be amongst like-minded adventurers, and to rediscover and celebrate our shared humanity.

“Underpinning bluedot’s mission is a sincere love and respect for the earth and environment we are lucky to be part of. However, the earth beneath bluedot took a lot of strain.

“Experiencing the highest level of rainfall on the festival weekend since records began (records courtesy of Jodrell Bank’s own weather station!) we have patiently waited to see what the effects of this have been on the land itself. We have now sadly reached the conclusion that the ground on which the bluedot universe is built desperately needs some time to recover; a period of rest during which the soil will recover and regenerate.”

Bluedot has shared a full statement on its website.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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