British indie legend The Wombats are back with a new album and a limited UK tour – plus, they’re bringing two very good Northern bands along with them as the support acts.
Announcing their sixth studio album on Friday, 11 October, The Wombats are set to return with new music after two years since their first UK number one and will be hitting the road for a select few dates including London, Manchester and Leeds, but this tour looks to be all about the North.
Well, strictly our very specific part of the region, to be more precise – a.k.a. the best place for music on the entire planet. Yeah, you heard us…
We’re not ready for how good the lineup is going to be and neither are you.
As you can see, the all-North Western affair will see the veterans of the genre flanked by Manchester’s very own alternative four-piece, Everything Everything, who we’ve now seen so many times that we’re genuinely starting to lose count.
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They’ve not dipped in all those years either – not even a little bit.
But to make things even better, the support roster is completed by none other than fellow Scousers and much-loved indie icons: the ever-rising Red Rum Club, who will be making their AO Arena debut after smashing their hometown arena earlier this year.
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You can’t really call them warm-up acts when they’re all this good, can you?
Set to play here in Manchester on Saturday, 22 March, 2025 before wrapping up the small handful of gigs at the First Direct in Leeds a few days later, these are what we’d consider must-not-miss shows.
Tickets for the tour go on sale at 10am on Saturday, 19 October but you can access pre-sale by pre-ordering their latest record.
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Speaking of the new album, Oh! The Ocean is the band’s sixth studio LP to date and is set to release on 21 February March, with the lead single ‘Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come’ having just dropped.
Discussing a family trip that inspired the new album, frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy says: “I’ve been to many beaches and seas and coasts over the years but, for some reason, it felt like the first time I had ever seen it and was truly present.
“There was this revelation that I had been living a life caught up in my own head […] It was really a potent experience. […] The album offers up some internal questions like: why are my head and body disconnected all the time? Why am I incapable at times of seeing any form of beauty in the world or in others? Why do I expect the world to conform to my will? Why do I never stop and smell the flowers?”
The single itself is a great taster of what’s to come and we can’t wait to hear the rest – nor can we wait to see The Wombats and two other North West favourites all in one night.
You can check out our chat with Everything Everything HERE or the Red Rum Club boys down below.
Manc music legends James announce MASSIVE hometown show
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester music legends James have just revealed a massive hometown show here in the city centre as part of a landmark domestic arena tour.
Daisy bucket hats at the ready.
James is arguably the epitome of what it is to be the understated, underdog British band; they’ve gone about the business of making quality music somewhat quietly for several decades now, but they’ve had a fresh wave of interest over the past year or so
Having opened up for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback shows, not to mention playing multiple big festival slots in recent months alone, they’ve now announced a huge run of UK arena shows – and nowhere does a James crowd quite like us Mancs.
Details have been announced for our 2026 UK arena tour, and we’re delighted to be joined by very special guests @dovesmusicblog with tickets going on general sale this Friday at 9:30am. Access the ticket pre-sale on Wednesday via our official store: https://t.co/DwpGrAUESZ NBL x pic.twitter.com/A4CWVpCooL
Announced as part of the celebrations around their Nothing But Love ‘best of’ LP, which pulls tracks from James’ whopping 18 studio albums, the new run of UK arena shows in 2026 follows on from numerous noteworthy shows this calendar year.
In addition to the aforementioned outdoor gigs, like their stunning sold-out night at The Piece Hall in Halifax – not too far from frontman Tim Booth’s hometown in Yorkshire – the indie veterans also celebrated a huge landmark in 2025.
Surpassing the milestone of 40 years as a band, with a lineup that’s remained largely intact and only really grown in terms of live session players and touring bandmates.
The new “definitive” greatest hits record also includes two brand-new songs in ‘Wake Up Superman’ and ‘Hallelujah Anyhow’, both of which are produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with the band on their long-awaited number one album Yummy in 2024 – a feat loooong overdue if you ask us.
As evidenced by the sheer amount of new material they continue to put out and the almost non-stop touring, they remain one of the most prolific artists in the country. FACT.
You can see the rest of James’ upcoming tour dates, including a healthy number of Northern stops in the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and more.
James UK arena tour dates 2026
Fri 2 Birmingham Utilita Arena
Sat 4 Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
Tues 7 Aberdeen P&J Live
Wed 8 Glasgow OVO Hydro
Fri 10 Newcastle Utilita Arena
Sat 11 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Mon 13 Cardiff Utilita Arena
Tues 14 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 17 London The O2
Sat 18 Manchester Co-op Live
With James returning to Manchester for their Co-op Live arena debut next April, along with a sensational support slot from fellow local legends, Doves (I know, how lucky are you lot?!), you can bank on this one selling out quickly.
General admission goes on sale this Friday, 10 October at 9:30am, so you’d better be ready to grab yours in a flash.
You can find the ticket link HERE, and we’ll see you in the crowd for a good ol’ singalong.
Featured Images — Ehud Lazin/Press shots (supplied)
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Electronic icons Kraftwerk announce first Manchester gig since 2017
Danny Jones
Pioneering German band Kraftwerk have announced their first UK tour since 2017, with fans having to wait almost a decade for another Manchester gig.
Thankfully, they’ll be heading back down the Autobahn and across the channel for a return to our shores soon enough with a long-awaited list of British and Irish live dates.
Kraftwerk remains one of the most groundbreaking groups in the electronic scene to this day, having paved the way for generations of new artists to keep experimenting with the genre in the 50+ years since their formation.
Heading back to Manchester early next year, die-hards will no doubt snap these tickets faster than you can say ‘Das Model’.
For anyone unaware of these veritable legends of electronica and the world of alternative/Euro-synth pop, Kraftwerk formed all the way back in 1970 and went on to shape the modern music industry, bridging the gap between music and the digital age.
Best known for tracks like ‘Computer Love’, ‘The Robots’, ‘Pocket Calculator’ and the aforementioned on named after the national motorway network, they spearheaded futurism in the musical landscape from the outset.
It seems only fitting, therefore, that their upcoming highly anticipated return to the UK comes as part of their ‘Multimedia’ tour.
While they have played a number of live shows all over the globe this year, including an extensive run in the US, next spring will be our domestic visit from Kraftwerk in nine long years.
Credit: Press shot (supplied)
You can see the full list of UK and Ireland tour dates – including a handful of Northern gigs – down below:
Spanning a total of 15 UK dates, as you can see, there will also be tickets to see Kraftwerk nearby in the likes of Liverpool and with our mates over in Sheffield.
Kraftwerk legend Ralf Hütter famously played a set inside our city’s velodrome at the National Cycling Centre for Manchester International Festival (MIF) back in 2009, and has collaborated with the event on multiple ocassions.
In fact, that very performance was seen as a turning point for MIF, so the Manc Kraftwerk connection speaks for itself; O2 members can obviously get pre-sale, but general admission tickets go live from 9am this Friday, 10 October.
Danny Jones -
11th October 2024 
