The Last Dinner Party announce headline UK tour including a massive Manchester gig
A pretty big venue for a band that feel like they've been around for all of five minutes. Nothing short of huge for the newcomers. (this article contains affiliate links)
Rising stars The Last Dinner Party have announced a brand-new headline tour around the UK and Ireland in support of their debut album, including a truly massive Manchester gig.
One of the biggest up-and-coming names in the music world, having secured multiple festival slots and made their TV debuts on the likes of The Late Show and Graham Norton, The Last Dinner Party haven’t even put an album out yet but once they do, they’ll be embarking on their biggest run of shows to date.
With their debut record, Prelude To Ecstasy, set to release on Friday, 2 February, their rapidly growing fan base are already gagging to hear more and the album title will no doubt have lived up to its name as the band confirmed they will be playing a 16-date tour from late September to mid-October.
The London-based five-piece made sure to get Manchester on the list too, of course, scoring a gig at one of the city’s biggest and best venues: the legendary O2 Victoria Warehouse.
Charting with their hugely popular single ‘Nothing Matters’ and even working their way onto this year’s FIFA soundtrack (a huge honour in its own right, even if they have changed the name), the indie rockers are quickly becoming one of the most talked about artists going.
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Having also won BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of 2024 award, it’s actually little surprise they’ve already managed to earn themselves a spot at the 2,500+ venue and former Warehouse Project base.
The all-female and non-binary British lineup actually began back in 2021 but they only only started releasing music in April of 2023.
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Safe to say it’s been a whirlwind journey for them in less than a year on our radars. You can hear their latest single, ‘Caesar on a TV Screen’, here:
The Last Dinner Party last played to Manchester gig-goers at Academy 2 back in October 2023 to rave reviews.
Set to play Victoria Warehouse on Friday, 11 October, you can well and truly expect the Manc crowd to be well and truly up for it after months of getting their teeth stuck into the upcoming 13-track album.
Tickets for their gig here in Manchester go live on Friday, 9 February at 8am and we sincerely advise you to jump on them as quickly as possible as the buzz around this lot is so big that they’re going to absolutely fly.
Featured Images — Cal McIntyre/Press Images (supplied)
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Inspiring new 360° immersive David Bowie experience to open in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Music lovers will get a glimpse inside the mind of a creative genius when a new immersive experience opens later this year.
Factory International has this week announced its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season, and by far one of the stand-outs on the list has to be the return of Lightroom for a new 360° experience called David Bowie: You’re Not Alone – which is set to immerse audiences in the iconic performances and creative mind of one of the world’s most visionary and influential artists.
Bringing together a wealth of visual material from a wide range of sources, the experience combines rare performance footage, photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes, and audio recordings from the late Bowie himself.
You’re Not Alone will showcase some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mix of iconic, rarely seen, and even never-before-exhibited material.
Selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, you can expect to see everything from Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs, through to Heroes, Black Star, and more.
Each track has been newly reconfigured by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer, Gareth Fry, to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system.
The 360° experience is set to be both a multimedia spectacle and an intimate self-portrait in one, giving audiences a unique insight into Bowie’s perspective on the subjects that were most important to him, like theatricality, spirituality, songwriting, and the transformative power of creativity.
David Bowie: You’re Not Alone is being made in close collaboration with, and has been authorised by, the David Bowie Estate.
It’ll run at Aviva Studios from 8 December 2026 through to 10 January 2027.
Featured Image – Supplied
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Parklife has quietly added a major DJ set from Happy Mondays’ Bez
Daisy Jackson
Parklife has quietly added a DJ set from Bez this afternoon, joining an already stacked festival line-up.
Eagle-eyed users of the Parklife app (aka, us) have spotted that as the big weekend nears, a few new stages have popped up on the plans.
And that’s included a new Beatbox Stage, which on Saturday will host a mega set from the icon that is Bez, from Happy Mondays.
Bez isn’t the only nostalgic name who’s been added to the line-up for Saturday – the Beatbox Stage will also host a set from Artful Dodger.
The 2000s garage icons will be taking to the stage at 3pm for a set that will hopefully include their massive hits like Moving Too Fast, Re-Rewind (with Craig David), and Woman Trouble.
On Sunday, the newly-added Beatbox Stage will be hosting DJ Fat Tony, who you might know for getting stuck into the middle of the Beckham family feud – but he’s also one of the most in-demand A-list DJs, having spun for icons like Madonna, Prince, and Elton John.
Parklife has also quietly added a few secret sets to the bill, which we’ll be keeping a close eye on.
They join existing Parklife headliners including Calvin Harris, Zara Larsson, Chris Stussy, Sammy Virji, Skepta, and East End Dubs.
On Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June, thousands of music-lovers will be flocking to the fields of Heaton Park ready for this year’s instalment of Parklife.
Danny Jones -
29th January 2024 
