One of the world’s best singers performed in Manchester last night, but despite ranking alongside the likes of Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, this phenomenal talent flies a bit further below the radar.
Her latest album And in The Darkness, Hearts Aglow from 2022 smashed the review boards with a metascore of 88/100 which usually indicates ‘universal acclaim’.
If you haven’t guessed already, I’m talking about American singer-songwriter, Weyes Blood, who was recently voted by The Times as the fifth-best solo singer of this century behind other huge artists like Beyoncé and Amy Winehouse.
Also known by her real name, Natalie Mering, she’s been performing under the moniker Weyes Blood since 2003. Back in the day, you could find her in a noise-rock band called Jackie-O Motherf***er but it wasn’t until much later that she found success performing solo and releasing her last two albums on the massive American record label SUB-POP.
It was the latest 2022 album though which came with widespread praise, scoring a 5/5 with NME and the Telegraph. It also got into nearly every ‘top album of 2022’ list and was usually in the top 20.
All this combined is probably what led her ‘In Holy Flux’ tour to sell out nearly everywhere in Europe, including Le Trianon in Paris, Paradiso in Amsterdam… And last night in Manchester.
It was a massive show and even Weyes knew it as she told the crowd that ‘[She was] standing on the shoulders of giants’ and ‘she loves music from Manchester’.
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The O2 Ritz was quickly slammed, even before she had come out, and when the support, Sam Burton, was wooing the crowd.
The moment Weyes walked on stage though she had the crowd captivated. She came on to a sea of candles in old Victorian candleholders, in a long white robe which felt almost ethereal. It was like we had just walked into the church of Weyes Blood, and oh my god did she blow us all away.
As she started on her first song, the opener of her latest album, It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody, a complete understanding of why she was voted one of the top solo singers of all time washed over me. Even during the long, slower, quieter songs there wasn’t any of the usual chatter and hardly anyone was filming, it just seemed like everyone was in pure euphoria at her voice and presence.
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She played a bevvy of new songs and some from her previous album Titanic Rising, like fan favourite Andromeda. It was all so amazing, her set was heavenly and with strings and organs being key instruments in her band the whole show felt angelic.
The last time she played in Manchester was four years ago in 2019 so who knows when she’ll be back to grace our stages. All I know is that you’ve got from now until then to get listening. 👇
We’ll see you at the next one!
Featured image: Publicity picture
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Ticket requests are now officially open for Harry Styles’ one-night-only Manchester gig
Emily Sergeant
The time has come – the ticket request system for Harry Styles’ one-night-only gig in Manchester is now live.
In case you hadn’t heard, it was announced on Wednesday evening after much speculation that Harry Styles would be making a return home to Manchester for a one-night-only ‘intimate’ gig at Co-op Live to celebrate the release of his fourth studio album next month.
Styles is set to share Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally with the world on Friday 6 March – and it’s that very same night he’ll be taking to the stage in Manchester.
Although little is known about what to expect at the gig, the poster for the event does state that there’ll be a ‘special performance of the album’, so it seems fair to say that Manchester will be the first to hear the new set of songs in full live.
And if all of that wasn’t exciting enough as it is, the tickets are only £20 per person.
But, of course, there is a bit of a catch, as this isn’t your regular online queuing up for tickets scenario, this is a ‘ticket request’ system instead.
So, like us – and literally every other fan in the vicinity of Greater Manchester and beyond this week – you’re probably wondering what a ‘ticket request’ system is… what does it look like? How does it work? Basically, what the heck is it? Well, we’ve done a bit of digging around to get to the bottom of it so you’re not left too much in the dark.
According to Ticketmaster’s website, if an artist is running a ticket request, they’ll invite fans to request tickets so you don’t have to compete in a first-come, first-served sale.
This means you can take your time to review the available options and request the right tickets for you.
All you need to do is tell Ticketmaster which shows you’re interested in, the type of ticket you want, and your payment details. Then, if the tickets you request can be fulfilled, your card will be charged and you’ll get emailed instructions to access them in the Ticketmaster App.
Unfortunately, as much as we’d love it to be the case for everyone, submitting a request doesn’t guarantee you tickets – it really is just luck of the draw.
To request tickets, you’ll need to follow these three simple steps:
Select which shows you’re interested in and the type of ticket you want
Add your payment details
Harry Styles ticket requests are now live / Credit: Johnny Dufort (Publicity Picture)
Ticketmaster will then send you a summary email that details the tickets you’ve requested. Your card won’t be charged at this time, but they may charge a temporary £1 authorisation to your card to validate your request.
A maximum of two tickets per person can be requested, which has been set to allow for as many fans as possible to get tickets.
Now, here’s the crucial part – you will need to submit your request for tickets while the window is open until Sunday 8 February at 11pm GMT. After the request window closes, you’ll get a second email by 11:59pm GMT on Tuesday 10 February confirming whether or not your request has been fulfilled.
All that’s left to do now is provide you with the link here and send you on your way… oh, and may the odds be ever in your favour.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
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The story behind Sâlo: the rising Georgian-born Salford artist set be one of the region’s next stars
Danny Jones
We always love stories of people moving to Manchester to be more creatively engaged, but tales of entire families relocating here for a better life and art being born out of it is something truly special – and besides her obvious talent, that’s what has attracted us and plenty others to Sâlo.
This up-and-coming Salfordian artist may have been born around the border between Eastern Europe and Western Asia during a particular fraught time for her country, but she’s been raised and moulded like so many of us by this city’s rich music culture and wider artistic heritage.
She came to the UK with her family as a baby, with her parents fleeing poverty and lingering friction in Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s, and their journey as asylum seekers eventually brought them here to the North West.
It was clear from a young age that Sâlo (short for Salome) had a gift for the piano, but it was when her family moved to the Greater Manchester area that her own interest in genres and styles began to develop. Here’s a little snippet of her recent performance at the stunning Stoller Hall.
This short video was taken from her feature in a recent episode of Manchester: Unplugged, the web series by StreamGM that launched just last year and spotlights local songwriters.
Honing in on one of her newest releases, ‘Set Me Free’, which taps into that pure love for the keys.
While this clip shows a stripped-back version of the fully-fledged electronic studio version, with production playing a key role in defining her sound, she blends everything from classical music and jazz to neo-soul as well as drum and bass.
You hear the phrase ‘genre-bending’ thrown around a lot these days, but if this mid-20s star in the making isn’t the epitome of that term, then we don’t know who is.
Speaking more about her background in the short documentary film, which aired on YouTube this week, she talks about her first memory of visiting Forsyth Music Shop in Manchester city centre, and the inspiration behind the track in question.
You watch the Sâlo episode of Manchester: Unplugged in full here.
Detailed in the description of the newest edition of the online show, “Classically trained from the age of four, Sâlo’s journey runs through some of Manchester’s most important music spaces”, including time spent at the RNCM and Chetham’s School of Music and more.
As for the tune itself, not only do the lyrics revolve around a difficult patch in a personal relationship – this being one of the first times she felt like she’s fully opened up and not held back on letting people know what she’s speaking about – but it’s also the first track she’s produced and mixed entirely on her own.
Painstakingly mastered from a small studio at home, she almost “fell out of love” with the song altogether, but getting back to that simple joy of playing piano helped revive her passion for it.
With a stunning voice, natural musical talent when it comes to her instrument, and a great blend of different analogue and digital influences, Sâlo is definitely one to watch moving forward.
Dean Hadcock -
14th February 2023 
