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Royal Blood at Manchester O2 Apollo — tickets, support acts, stage times and more

Big Weekend was a blip, let's get back to making a load of noise.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 19th October 2023

Rock duo Royal Blood are back in Manchester this Friday after smashing the AO Arena in April last year and having not long dropped their new record, Back to the Water Below, on 1 September.

Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher have made a very successful career out of making a racket with nothing more than a bass guitar and a drumkit between them, and even despite upsetting a few people with their Radio 1 Big Weekend drama earlier this year, they’re still one of the biggest bands in the UK.

In fact, with their fourth studio album now out and four consecutive number-ones to their name, not to mention charting extremely well in the US and beyond, Royal Blood remain at the forefront of modern rock music all over the world.

With that being said, regardless of what music lovers might have made of that admittedly very awkward with the crowd in Dundee, they’re rockstars at the end of the day and die-hard fans wouldn’t have cared for more than five minutes before grabbing a ticket. Speaking of which…

Are there tickets left for Royal Blood’s O2 Apollo gig?

If you were looking to hop on the gig at the last minute, you’re in luck: although the show is technically sold out, there are some standing tickets up for grabs in both the stalls and in the circle seated section of the O2 Apollo — however, they are resales.

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The Brighton boys might be going for a bit of a smaller venue this time around but believe us, this place is already packed out and if you’ve ever been to a sold-out gig, you know it can be a proper cauldron.

You can secure a spot from £53.63 on Ticketmaster and, obviously, keep an eye on other reseller sites like Twickets and TicketSwap but, as always, we urge you to stay away from ticket touts — there’s no point in getting stung on a Friday night.

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royal blood manchester supports
Credit: Royal Blood (via Instagram)

Who’s supporting Royal Blood in Manchester?

As for Royal Blood’s support acts for the Manchester gig, you’ve just got one this time which, in our opinion, often means two very good things: firstly, that the one act the artist has chosen gone is so good they don’t need another warm-up and secondly, the sets usually last longer. Only good news.

On this occasion, the standalone support comes from Hastings-based three-piece HotWax, who are already making a name for themselves as one of the most exciting new names in the genre that you should keep your eye on.

The trio have been around since 2020 and literally just released a brand-new EP entitled, Invite me, kindly. If you’ve never come across them before, we can promise you at three things: lots of raw rock riffs that will have no trouble filling the room, plenty of harmonised vocals and some funky basslines — no wonder Mike and Ben like them.

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Stage times

Now, as for when you’ll be hearing these two brilliant bands, the Apollo’s doors open at 7pm on Friday, 21 October and the curfew is expected to be around 11pm as per usual.

The venue doesn’t usually announce the specific stage times until around 2pm the day of the event but we’ll update you as soon as we know more. That being said, you can probably expect Royal Blood to take the stage around 9pm.

It goes without saying that stage times are always subject to change, so make sure to keep an eye on both the band and the Apollo’s social media channels, as well as check the event page nearer to the time.

Setlist

Having not long wrapped up their North American shows, Manchester has the honour of being the first proper date on the UK leg of their tour (because of course it does) after just playing a handful of more intimate album launch shows back at the start of last month.

With that being said, Royal Blood could have changed up things since then but if we’re going off their most recent shows over in the States, Setlist.fm has the running order looking something like this:

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  1. Mountains at Midnight
  2. Boilermaker
  3. Come on Over
  4. Lights Out
  5. Triggers
  6. Trouble’s Coming
  7. Typhoons
  8. Pull Me Through
  9. Little Monster (followed by drum solo)
  10. How Did We Get So Dark?
  11. Tell Me When It’s Too Late
  12. Loose Change
  13. Out of the Black

Encore:

  • Waves
  • Shiner in the Dark
  • Figure It Out
royal blood uk tour dates

Travel and parking for the O2 Apollo

As for those of you who haven’t been to this legendary gig location before or might be travelling into town from elsewhere, it’s very straightforward to get there.

Your main train station is, of course, Manchester Piccadilly and the same goes for your nearest Metrolink tram stop. There are also plenty of buses from the city centre on the Bee Network, with 192, 201, 203, 204 and 205 all stopping right by the Apollo. You can check the TfGM website for more info and to plan your journey.

As for parking for those of you driving to the concert, there are two official car parks immediately adjacent to the building which will both cost £10.00 to stay there — strictly cash only and obviously on a first-come-first-serve basis.

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With plenty of new tracks being played for the first time as well as the hits that put these two musicians on the map, this is sure to be an absolute rager of a gig in what remains one of our favourite venues.

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We’ll tell you another thing, there’ll be nothing disappointing or “pathetic” about the crowd’s performance here in Manchester, lads — you just make sure you put on a good show and we’ll do all the rest, don’t worry.

See you there.

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

Featured Image — Royal Blood (via Instagram)

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Chatting with DJ Fabio ahead of ‘A History of Jungle, Drum and Bass’ with Grooverider and The Outlook Orchestra

Danny Jones Danny Jones DJ Fabio Grooverider Untold Orchestra Manchester

Ahead of their upcoming tour next year, we got the chance to one-half of legendary DJing duo, Fabio and Grooverider, who’ll be coming to Manchester early next year.

‘The Godfathers of Drum and Bass’ were there at the very start of it all and have been able to see how the genre, along with offshoots like jungle, has evolved over the years — so it’s only right that they be the ones to deliver a real education to ravers and newcomers this January.

Bringing their ‘History of Jungle and Drum & Bass‘ to the Manchester Academy on Saturday, 13 January, 0161 is just one of three places that have been chosen for the limited run of shows and, as Fabio told us on the call, it because this city has a rich relationship with the genre and pioneering underground music in general.

Here’s what else he had to say…

So you’ve got the tour starting in the New Year and it’s a very limited run of shows — what can you tell us about what you’ve got in store?

What we’ve got in store is the best of live drum and bass and something very unique. It’s a great show and honestly, even if I wasn’t involved in this I’d go along and definitely enjoy it.

It’s everything that we expected and with a project like this, it’s not something that’s not really been done before, especially not with an orchestra of this size, anyway.

We want it to sound authentic and that’s what’s happened with the band; The [Outlook] Orchestra‘s amazing, the musicians are great and it’s a very entertaining two hours.

How have you found building this as a full production with the Orchestra and fine-tuning everyone’s performances on stage?

Well, over the course of our careers in general, it’s just got a lot tighter and we’ve all got a lot more confident. You’ve got to remember when this all started we’d never done anything like it before, you know — we’re DJs and we were on BBC Radio 1 for 14 years and then Kiss for seven.

Public speaking is a completely different thing than speaking in front of a mic, so that was really daunting at first, I’ve got to say; the first one we did I was really nervous and we still get that sense of anticipation, but where it was a bit around the edge at the start, the audience didn’t know that and now I’d say it’s almost 100% the way we want it.

We’ve been doing it two years now and, yeah, it’s just a process of tweaking those fine margins and getting your timings right — when you’ve got 40 musicians, even if you’re a millisecond off it can kind of throw everything.

Sounds like you’ve really nailed it. The idea of a ‘History of Jungle and Drum & Bass’ — how far back are you going into the genre and how do you think it’s changed over the years?

So we go back to 1992. It’s crazy for us to think that was 31 years ago, but yeah, we’re going right back to the beginning and we literally break up the set into years: ’92-93, 94-96 and so on into the 2000s.

I think it has changed over time and you can certainly hear it when you compare the likes of the first track we do, Johnny L’s ‘Hurt You So’, which is kind of like jungle techno, to the modern-day stuff which gets on the radio now, it’s different. But that’s the great thing about both genres, they move on real quick.

Say if you’re a drum and bass head now and took a year off and then came back, you’d be like, ‘What is this?’ but drum and bass is always like that, every single year.

It’s going through a great time at the moment, probably the best in three decades. It’s bigger now than I think that it’s ever been and I think it’s because it’s been accepted by the public get it; they understand it more and it’s less of a niche.

People have always known about house music but now people actually recognise the big names like Chase and Status, Pendulum and so on. It’s in a very healthy place and I know some of the real purists are a little bit p*ssed and feel it’s gone a bit commercial but the underground scene is still there and I don’t think that will ever die.

dj fabio grooverider manchester tickets
DJ Fabio (right), Grooverider and The Outlook Orchestra are set to school Manchester on jungle and all things drum and bass.

Yeah, and I suppose that’s what the beauty of events like these is you can play to both of those crowds. Do you find the audience has that mix?

Well, that’s why we’ve tried to get that fine balance between big tunes that your everyday, casual listener will recognise as well as keep some underground stuff in so the real ‘heads’ can come and dive into it.

It’s been very deliberate and we’ve sat down to really think about how to strike that combination and it’s another thing that’s been done really well.

And, obviously, you guys are London kings but how big a role do you think Manchester has played in the scene and how it’s progressed?

Oh man, it’s always been really important. Going back to A Guy Called Gerald who was one of the first truly big English producers, when people listened to ‘Voodoo Ray‘, even the Americans thought was a guy from New York and he’s a bit of an unsung hero really.

He made some of the first jungle tunes as well, so we’ve always felt the influence and link with Manchester, especially over the last 10 to 15 years when it’s been really, really strong here.

You know, you’ve got DRS and, of course, had Marcus Intellect, God bless his soul, who always flew the flag for Manchester, you know what I’m saying? And, um, you know, there’s a really healthy, uh, seed in Manchester.

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Strategy, Dogger, Mindstate: a lot of those guys are very important to drum and Bass and a lot of them grew up knowing each other as well, which is cool. We’ve also got Jenna G in the show and not only is she from Manchester but she’s one of the real highlights of the show, she’s absolutely amazing.

Also, it’s really important that we put on a good show because the Manchester music crowd know their sh*t as well — you can’t really con them.

Absolutely, and in terms of artists right now, whether they’re from Manchester or elsewhere, who’s really exciting you at the minute?

I mean, the staple is obviously Chase and Status who have helped get [the genre] some radio play to the point where there were four drum and bass tracks in the top 40 just last year. Absolutely insane.

Hedex and all those guys are also helping grow the underground scene but, honestly, there’s too many names to mention that lifting up others so we’re in a real good spot at the minute.

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Are there any favourite Manchester venues that come to mind?

Band on the Wall — I LOVE it in there and, of course, Warehouse Project which is basically flying the flag for drum and bass across Britain right now. WHP is possibly the hottest venue in the UK so, yeah, Manchester was always a no-brainer and we’re really looking forward to coming there.

Nice, and lastly, if you could describe the upcoming shows in three words what would they be?

Pretty. Damn. Good.

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It was a pleasure chatting with Fabio; both he and Grooverider are not just radio veterans but drum and bass royalty.

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From the glimpses we’ve caught of what the set looks and sounds like with the full might of The Outlook Orchestra behind them, this thing is going to be blockbuster.

There are still tickets left to see all three live at Manchester Academy on Saturday, 13 January HERE.

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

Featured Images — Supplied/@matthiggs (via Instagram)

Audio

Ice Cube, Cypress Hill and D12 bring a night of West Coast classics to Manchester’s AO Arena

The Manc Audio The Manc Audio Ice Cube Cypress Hill D12 Manchester AO Arena review

Last night the AO arena found itself deep inside the West Coast, as Ice Cube, Cypress Hill and D12 gave Manchester the ‘High Rollers Tour experience’. The 90s and Noughties at its finest.

2000s rap heavyweights D12 opened the show for a Manchester crowd that began filling the AO Arena from the moment the doors opened.

The Detroit legends paid homage to their heyday years with Eminem performing tracks like ‘Lose Yourself’ and ‘Purple Pills’ to get the crowd rolling back the years.

Serving as a brilliant support act for headliners, they did plenty more than just warm up the once-freezing fans on a frosty night in Manchester and before we knew it, Cypress Hill stepped up to set the arena alight.

Sen Dog, B-Real, DJ Lord and Eric ‘Bobo’ Correa demonstrated exactly how and why they have stayed in the game for more than 32 years now.

cypress hill manchester gig review
Cypress Hill’s set was packed with plenty of nostalgia. (Credit: The Manc Group)

Lord commanded the turntables with a level of skill that’s becoming more of a rarity these days, intertwining with Bobo’s unfathomably fast and rhythmic percussion, all whilst B-Real and Sen Dog worked a lively crowd to tracks like ”Dr Greenthumb’, ‘Rock Superstar’ and ‘Hits from the Bong’.

However, the real reminder of just how crazy their sets can be at times came when they dropped the iconic ‘Insane In The Brain’. Old-school lyricism, marijuana-filled graphics on the big screen and a crowd clearly breathing just as much of the ‘atmosphere’ as B-Real himself, is was like Cali had been transported to Manny.

And then Ice Cube arrived. Chills, pun intended.

Proving to everyone in the building that he’s still got it and then some, his arrival at the Arena was his first return to the UK since 2011, and oh how he’s been missed.

Cube owned the stage; no dancers, no gimmicks — just himself and long-time partner in crime WC giving everyone a legendary recap of a legendary career all the way back to the 80s.

Ice Cube walked into Manchester’s AO Arena like he owned the place — and he did.

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From ‘Natural Born Killaz’ to ‘Why We Thugs’ and, of course, ‘Straight Outta Compton’, the duo showed precisely what an OG can really do. It felt like an honour to watch the N.W.A legend Crip-walking across the stage as a reel of film clips played behind him. The crowd were starstruck and rightly so.

One of the greatest MCs to ever do it even blessed us with arguably one of the greatest diss tracks of all time, ‘No Vaseline’, in which he kills off four rappers and a DJ — and makes sure nobody forgets. Mint.

As he asks the crowd if they want one more, he’s met with an inevitable roar of cheers and applause four times over and then, as he’s done a thousand times before, he signed off by letting everyone know that ‘It Was a Good Day’. Perfection.

It was a truly special performance for those inside the AO on Thursday night and one which we can guarantee no one will be forgetting any time soon. Still going 35 years strong, that was all about Ice Cube making a point of reminding everyone why he’s still one of the best in the game.

It certainly was.

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

Featured Images — The Manc Audio

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