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The Wombats are set to return with a new album, a UK tour and an unreal pair of North West support acts

This is some of the very best the North West has to offer, all on one bill. Dreamy. (this article contains affiliate links)

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 11th October 2024

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.

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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.

https://www.instagram.com/audio.north/reel/C5EKwS0tZB3/?hl=en

Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)

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Pierce the Veil are bringing their massive world tour to Manchester’s Co-op Live

Danny Jones Danny Jones Pierce the Veil Manchester Co-op Live tickets

Contemporary rock heavyweights Pierce the Veil have just announced a massive world tour and they’re bringing it to Manchester for their Co-op Live debut.

The emo, prog rock, pop-punk, hardcore and all-round heavy hitters last played Manchester this past April, putting on a pretty huge gig at Victoria Warehouse, but now they’re set for their biggest show here to date.

Co-op recently welcomed Sleep Token for their first real metal show last month, one that proved the venue is more than up to the task of putting on a proper rock show, and now Pierce the Veil are the latest confirmed to be headlining the state-of-the-art arena.

Announcing the news on Tuesday, 3 December, the California-based band will be heading to the moody skies of Manchester next year.

First forming back in 2006 and now five studio albums deep, the new world tour which features nearly 50 dates around North and South America, the UK and Europe, the aim of this new show is to span their whole career thus far.

With a healthy selection of songs from each era, this one will not only as a walk down memory lane for die-hard fans but a pure celebration of Pierce the Veil throughout each evolution of their sound.

Speaking in an official statement after the tour was announced, the band said: “Nearly two decades in the making, this tour is a monument to everything we’ve built with our fans.

“These shows will honour our roots, spanning all five albums and the music that brought us here. We’re bringing to life the songs you’ve been waiting to hear in some of the most iconic venues in the world, including Madison Square Garden, The Forum, Red Rocks, and Wembley Arena.

“This will be our largest, loudest, and most unforgettable tour yet. PTV fans, it’s time to raise our voices like never before. Can you hear us now?”

We’re certainly about to…

Better yet, with a wide breadth of modern rock on show in the support acts too as the San Diego sons will be bringing along Cavetown, Hot Mulligan (a personal favourite of ours) and Crawlers as their UK warm-up acts, these shows are going to be plenty good value for money.

Pierce the Veil’s landmark Manchester gig takes place next autumn on Thursday, 25 September 2025 and, if Sleep Token’s attendance even just a year into their massive boom was anything to go by, this one will sell out pretty quickly.

General admission tickets go live at 10am on Friday, 6 December and official Co-op Members can access exclusive pre-sale from Wednesday (4 Dec).

You can get ready to grab your tickets HERE.

See you in the circle pit.

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

Featured Images — Stefan Brending (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group

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Noel Gallagher says there ‘won’t be any fighting’ as he speaks on Oasis reunion for the first time

Danny Jones Danny Jones Noel Gallagher says there'll be no fallouts as he speaks on Oasis reunion for the first time

Noel Gallagher has spoken about the Oasis reunion for the first time and has promised there’ll be ‘no fighting’ when they set off on tour next summer.

In contrast to the younger Gallagher brother, who has been arguably more active and vocal about himself and Oasis since the reunion was confirmed, Noel has been pretty quiet on the comeback up until now.

However, speaking at the recent ‘Legends’ exhibition by Zoë Law held at the National Portrait Gallery, the guitarist and solo artist was quoted as saying that things won’t be anywhere near as rock and roll as it was back in Britpop’s heyday, as well as assuring he and Liam won’t be at each other’s throats.

The main reason being: age, in a word.

The Oasis songwriter said of the upcoming tour dates: “No, it won’t be as raucous as back in the day, because we’re on the wrong side of 50 now, so we’re too old.

“We’re too old to give a s**t now, so there won’t be any fallouts, there won’t be any fighting.” When asked if he’s glad to have buried the feud after a decade and a half of bad-mouthing and back and forth, the 57-year-old could only reply, ‘Of course.’

In Noel’s eyes at least, while many have been speculating that this reunion tour isn’t just a one-off (fingers crossed), he described wanting the now enormous world tour – with dates in the UK, Ireland, US, Australia, Japan, South America and more – to be a sort of “lap of honour” for the band.

Make of that what you will.

There have been reports that the duo have new music ‘ready to go’ or at least written, but let’s just say we got our Christmas wish with the reunion itself, so we’re not going to push our luck and risk jinxing anything by asking for too much. For now, we’ll settle for them remembering they love each other.

As for relations between him and Liam, we don’t know too much beyond the pictures we eventually saw of them smiling and joking together during that photo shoot for the official announcement in the summer.

That being said, iconic frontman and part-time troll has enjoyed playing a very comical version of kiss and make up on social media – as well as using the word ‘celestial’ a lot for some reason. He did, however, respond to what he called a “ridiculous question” rather recently.

Although he refused to name who it came from, he replied in truly irreverent LG fashion: “Oasis gonna be as good as you once were because when some bands get back together there not as good I said listen here you c*** even on our bad day we’ll still wipe the floor with [the] majority of bands out there.”

Meanwhile, it really does like the two have overcome their difference as Noel had the following to say in his interview for the Law’s photography series. We only hope this means there’s nothing holding them back from putting on the shows of a lifetime…

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

Featured Images — National Portrait Gallery (screenshot via Facebook)/Press Image (supplied)

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