Thankfully, our Manchester New Year celebrations are shaping up to be a damn sight better than last year’s locked-down version.
Now that more and more New Year events are getting announced, it’s looking like we’re going to be stuck for choice – and we would not have it any other way right now.
As always, The Warehouse Project comes through strong with their New Year agenda – and they’ve just dropped another cracking set of shows to celebrate the end of another tough year getting back to ‘normal’.
In a first for the city, four of Manchester’s biggest music brands will come together to round off what has been an unforgettable return to live music and events this year on New Year’s Day, whilst the New Year’s Eve event also has some big tricks up its sleeve.
Here’s what to expect.
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New Year’s Eve
The biggest party night of the year, New Year’s Eve is always one for making memories with some huge music lineups. Whilst we weren’t able to see in the new year at Depot Mayfield last year, WHP has pulled off one to remember for the big night on Friday, 31 December 2021.
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Fat Boy Slim and Radio and DJ legend Annie Mac will headline the night, bringing in the new year with another prime NYE slot, alongside Yousef.
Over on the Concourse, Hannah Wants, Redlight, Low Steppa, My Nu Leng plus loads more will be responsible for a house, tech, and bassline driven soundtrack. Then in the Archive, it’ll be over to Emerald, Big Miz, and Joe Motion to spin some funky beats.
With an early start from 8 pm, there’ll be plenty of time to get the drinks in before midnight strikes, too, before rounding things up by 4 am – if you can make it that far.
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New Year’s Day
On New Year’s Day, an extra special party is set for the Depot.
In a first for the city, four of Manchester’s biggest music brands will come together to round off what has been an unforgettable return to live music and events this year.
In a collaboration named ‘The Riot’, Homoelectric, Electric Chair, Repercussion, and The Warehouse Project will join forces to produce the biggest NYD lineup the Depot has ever seen.
Credit: WHP 21
If your New Year’s Eve hangover allows it, from 3 pm until 2 am, you can enjoy five stages of music, each with a different takeover all day and into the night.
The Depot’s usual three rooms will be open for business, with music from the likes of The Blessed Madonna, Todd Terje, Jayda G, and Krystal Klear in the Depot’s main room, with Louie Vega, Hunee B2B Palms Trax headlining the Concourse.
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Over in the Archive, a Homoelectric takeover will see Horse Meat Disco, Leon Vynehall, Shanti Celeste, Sherelle and more.
What’s more – one of Manchester’s most famed pubs, The Star & Garter, will play host to a WHP lineup again.
The venue was recently taken over as part of the inaugural Repercussion Festival back in September, where Sassy J, Greg Wilson, Krysko and Space Afrika took to the decks at The Star & Garter for a special day of music.
Repercussion Festival took over a number of venues in and around the Depot, including the Star and Garter and Temperance Street pictured here / Credit: Zed Bias
For The Riot, though, the pub will have two stages.
Upstairs in ‘The Loft’ you can expect to see Erol Alkan B2B Ivan Smagghe, alongside Nancy Noise and Maurice Fulton. Meanwhile the ‘Downstairs’ stage will feature the likes of Manc legend DJ Paulette, Abigail Ward, and Aficionado.
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And with that extra bank holiday on Monday, 3 January, you might just get away with the hangover for your return to work.
Micheal Bibi Presents Isolate
A third night has also been revealed today.
The brand-new show, Michael Bibi & WHP presents Isolate, has been added to the calendar on 18 December. Although we know there are some very special guests in the pipeline, the lineup announcement and full details will follow soon.
Credit: WHP 21
How to get tickets
Getting hold of tickets for the closing parties is simple.
For previous WHP21 ticket holders, limited pre-sale tickets will go on sale at 6 pm tonight (Wednesday, 27 October).
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The remaining tickets will go on general sale to everyone else from 10 am tomorrow (Thursday, 28 October).
For links and more info, head over to the Warehouse Project website. Here, you’ll also find tickets for the final 20 events that are still to come, featuring Bicep – Live, The Chemical Brothers, Honey Dijon, Jamie xx, Solomun, Avalon Emerson, and hundreds more.
To read more like this, head to our music tab. And don’t forget to stay up to date with music and events in Manchester over on Instagram with The Manc Audio.
Featured Image – The Warehouse Project
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Government to introduce price cap on ticket touts and launch consultation on dynamic pricing
Danny Jones
The UK government are finally set to install a price cap on re-sale tickets for touts and open an official consultation on the growing trend of dynamic pricing.
If you’ve bought a ticket to a live music show over the past year or so, you’ll have noticed that ticket prices in general are on the up – particularly if purchased from a reseller, in which case you might have paid through the nose for the privilege.
Not only does ticket touting remain a prevailing problem in the industry, with tonnes of tickets for big shows, especially, being snapped up in bulk or by bots and listed for re-sale before you’ve even added them to your basket, but the advent of this new dynamic pricing lark has made things even harder.
You only have to look at the controversy and chaos surrounding Oasis’ reunion tour, which ultimately saw some fans paying significant amounts more for practically the same ticket just a few days later in what many dubbed as ‘fraud’ and even ’emotional blackmail’.
Justin Timberlake at Co-op Live Manchester was one of countless gigs where ticket prices fluctuated. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Tackling resellers head-on
Knowing full well that people will go to extreme lengths to try and see the musicians and artists they love so dearly – in some cases being backed into a corner as the final figure displayed on the screen when they checkout suddenly jumps up – the modern ticketing industry is severely broken.
With all that in mind, the government are now looking to enact more stringent measures on resellers, by announcing a new price cap on tickets put back up for sale which is set to be introduced (hopefully) in the very near future.
Targeting sites infamous for inflating re-sale costs such as Viagogo, StubHub and others, the bill published on Friday, 10 January proposes a price cap of face value plus 10-30% but no more, with an obvious aim to keep that number as low as possible.
According to the current figures, touts reportedly cost music fans alone more than £145 million in extra re-sale fees when purchasing tickets every year – a frankly ridiculous sum. There will always be tickets ending up on re-sale sites, that’s unavoidable, but a price cap could seriously improve the situation.
The Manc music legends themselves claim they had little control over the situation.
Down with dynamic pricing
Labour, who were voted into power back in July, are also set to try and combat dynamic prices, which essentially sees gigs and events set people back more or less depending on how the popular ticket sales have been up to that point, market trends and general demand. An initial review was called for last year.
Put simply, the more people want to attend a gig, platforms like Ticketmaster feel they are able to jack up their margins even after the initial price point has been established. The European Commission has been investigating these methods since September 2024.
Although it is still unclear as to the exact time scale of when these changes will come in, Labour MP Chris Bryant told NME that although they are still in the early stages, it is “now just a matter of how the government takes action.” And that’s where you come in.
The consultation is also crucially public, with the calling for people to submit their evidence on current pricing practices and continue engaging in the discussion throughout the progress. New Year’s Resolution: let’s curb ticket touts as much as we possibly can.
The AO Arena is giving away FREE tickets for a year to celebrate 30 years in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
The AO Arena has announced it’s giving away free tickets for a year to celebrate its 30th anniversary in Manchester.
The iconic music venue has welcomed the biggest names in the world in its three decades, with millions of us making memories for life inside its huge space.
And now you could win VIP tickets for an entire year, simply for sharing those memories with the AO Arena.
Fans who submit their old photos, videos and tickets will be in with a chance to win tickets to all the shows coming up in 2025 – which already includes massive gigs like Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry and Busted vs McFly.
AO Arena wants to dig deep into ‘first gig’ nostalgia territory, using fan-submitted snaps to build a collection of Manchester memories.
Were you in the same room as Taylor Swift, did you party like it was 1999 (because it was) with Spice Girls, did you cry over the sight of Gary Barlow or cry laughing with Peter Kay?
Britney Spears and Beyonce are among the names who have performed at AO Arena in its 30 year history. Credit: Supplied
Whatever your AO Arena memories are, you can share them before the end of the month to be entered into the competition to win VIP tickets for the year.
One overall winner picked at random will get the ultimate VIP experience, including access to a premium suite and The Beautiful North, as well as access to The Mezz with panoramic views of the main stage.
The 30th birthday campaign has been inspired by Adele’s monumental When We Were Young performance at Glastonbury, and all these memories will be projected around the arena before every performance.
You can submit your footage and enter the competition via the AO Arena website HERE.
Hannah Starkie -
27th October 2021 
