Thousands of fans have been battling with online queues this morning in a bid to sign up to win tickets to The 1975‘s intimate charity gig at Gorilla.
The sign-up page to enter into the prize draw for the chance to win tickets to see the wildly-popular Manchester indie pop rock band live in the intimate setting of one of the city’s best-loved small music venues on Wednesday 1 February finally went live this morning after weeks of waiting.
The charity gig as part of the BRITs Week series was announced last month, with all proceeds set to go straight towards War Child UK.
👀 HERE IT IS // We are over the moon to officially announce that @the1975 will play Gorilla on Wednesday 1st February as part of BRITs Week 2023 presented by @Mastercard for @WarChildUK.
Given that Gorilla only has capacity for about 550 people, and The 1975 have already sold out two nights at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, as well as a night here at the AO Arena next Friday 20 January on their UK tour, the demand for tickets was always going to be high.
But demand ended up shooting through the roof though after the band’s frontman Matty Healy announced the gig way before tickets or other behind-the-scenes processes had taken place – which left Gorilla having to bat away thirsty fans trying to secure their place in the venue before even knowing the process and protocol.
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Some fans on Twitter even went as far as to offering the venue tongue-in-cheek bribes for tickets.
Bribes were coming in the form of meal deals, homemade banana bread, and a cardboard cut-out of Matty Healy, as well as “48p and a Wispa” from a Cadbury superfan – but sadly, none of these were going to cut it, so when the sign-up page for tickets did eventually go live, the band’s loyal fans were preparing for a fight.
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And, as was to be expected, fans found themselves in an online queue with thousands of others this morning.
The 1975 will play an intimate gig at Gorilla in Manchester on 1 February / Credit: The 1975 (via Twitter)
After the sign-up page for the BRITs Week presale went live this morning, War Child UK took to Twitter to warn fans that its website was “struggling with the traffic” from people hoping to get their names in the prize draw, and Gorilla followed-up by confirming that “thousands” were in the queue,
The venue encouraged people not to lose hope and to stay on the webpage if they’re hoping to get through, while telling people to “be nice to our friends at War Child UK”.
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Both Gorilla and War Child UK also reissued warnings to fans about fake tickets as the sign-up page went live this morning after receiving reports earlier this month that scammers were planning on targeting the sough-after event.
Just want to repeat what we have said in the past.
Please be careful with ticket touts/fake tickets/ people on here trying to scam.
We do everything we can as a venue to ensure tickets are sold to fans and stay with fans.
“Just want to repeat what we have said in the past. Please be careful with ticket touts/fake tickets/ people on here trying to scam,” Gorilla said on Twitter this morning.
“We do everything we can as a venue to ensure tickets are sold to fans and stay with fans. Don’t want anyone getting mugged off.”
The venue had previously warned fans “not to buy tickets from anywhere for any show unless advertised directly by us”.
War Child UK also echoed this warning.
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The charity added on Twitter after the sign-up page went live: “We’ve been seeing a few tweets about people selling fake tickets – be careful. The ONLY place tickets will be available is through the ticket link we or Gorilla provide, AND photo ID will be required for entry [so] please don’t fall for a scam.”
Take That ticket prices labelled ‘crazy’ as band add fifth Manchester date
Daisy Jackson
Take That have added a fifth date to their run at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena, but fans have expressed disappointment at the ticket prices.
The beloved Manchester boyband, consisting of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, will be performing at the brand-new venue in May 2024.
Although general sale on Take That tickets doesn’t begin until 9.30am on Friday 29 September, the pre-sales that have been happening this week have been flooded with people trying to grab tickets.
The demand has been so high, pre-sales for all five Co-op Live dates have already sold out.
And those who got to join the virtual queues first were quick to kick off at the ‘ridiculously expensive’ tickets for Take That’s This Life On Tour tour.
One person wrote (and I don’t know why she’s directly targeting Gary Barlow here): “Wow, @GaryBarlow the price of the Take That tickets are totally out of reach for a lot of us this time round . Two tickets approx £490, that’s a food shop for 5 weeks . Enjoy the profits.”
Another person said: “You know what @takethat you don’t need to charge a bloody fortune for the tickets, you’ve got enough cash yourselves and not every artist does it. I went to see Paolo at the Hydro 3 times for the price of 1 ⫩ ticket Ripping off your fans! Tickets are 4 times the price of 2015.”
Someone else said: “Prices are crazy…first time in 30 years that I’m not even trying for tickets.”
Another person commented: “Prices are ridiculously expensive, I got through to buy tickets for Birmingham but refused to pay £70 to sit at the very back of the arena.”
Take That ticket prices for Manchester
Take That Premium Floor Seat Package (includes a gift, a limited-edition city-specific signed print, a souvenir laminate, and an exclusive VIP tote bag) – £242.70 including booking fees.
Take That Premium Tiered Seat Package (includes a gift, a limited-edition city-specific signed print, a souvenir laminate, and an exclusive VIP tote bag) – £242.70 including booking fees.
Seats – £129.50
Seats – £107.50
Seats – £91.00
Seats – £69.00
Take That will be taking to the stage at Co-op Live on 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 May 2024 as part of the ‘This Life On Tour’ tour.
The trio will be joined by Olly Murs as the support act in Manchester.
General sale tickets for Take That are available through Co-op Live from 9:30am on Friday 29 September, and you can grab them here.
Chase and Status announce highly-anticipated UK tour with just three dates — and one of them is Manchester
Danny Jones
Drum and bass icons Chase and Status have just announced a brand-new limited-run UK tour with just three dates and, lucky for us, Manchester is one of them.
Still one of the biggest electronic artists on the planet and comfortably up there with one of the best acts we’ve ever seen live, the production and DJ duo (Saul Milton and Will Kennard) are hitting the road early next year and they’ll be gracing the O2 Victoria Warehouse.
With the boys not only bringing a full live band along with them for the ride but also set to release their new mixtape, 2 Ruff. Vol 1, the crowd will be treated to both the classics and all the new tracks to boot.
To be honest, we’d pay ridiculous money just to hear that new ‘Baddadan’ track in the flesh.
With the new record dropping on Friday, 27 October, just over a year after their previous and sixth studio album, What Came Before, the 10-track mixtape is set to feature massive collaborations with Flowdan, Arrdee, Stefflondon; Becky Hill, long-time friend and collaborator Takura, as well as many others.
Everything we’ve heard so far has been an absolute banger and we can only imagine how amazing these new tracks are going to sound in a live space as good as the legendary Victoria Warehouse.
I mean, these lads spent time here at university so they know full well just how special a venue this is.
Bringing along a number of special guests for each date — sorry, they haven’t let any info slip just yet — the London-based artists will be playing the Cardiff Utilita Arena and London Drumsheds in February 2024 before rounding things off with the main event: Manchester on Friday 1st March.
While pre-sale sold out in a flash, general admission tickets go live today at 9:00am (Friday, 29 September), so you better be quick if you fancy getting some.
You can grab your tickets for Chase and Status in Manchester HERE. Best of luck getting your hands on some!
Emily Sergeant -
11th January 2023 
