I’m going start this review (if you can even call it that as opposed to just pure, unadulteratedfanboying) by noting that I have a pretty high bar when it comes to concerts making it into my top 10, let alone considering ‘the best ever’, but Wunderhorse at Manchester Academy was the one.
Game-changing, a magnum opus; the yardstick by which I will now compare every gig for the foreseeable future – this all might sound far too superlative and exaggerated but I’m sticking by it.
This year alone, we’ve had the privilege of going along to see Jungle, Liam Gallagher, The 1975, Blossoms’ biggest-ever show at Wythenshawe Park and even the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter as the frontman just to name an extraordinary few.
Every single one of them was unreal and made me eternally grateful for that incomparable feeling of ecstasy that seeing the music you love brought to life in front of you brings, but seeing the increasingly high-flying Wunderhorse do their thing in front of a Manchester crowd sent actual chills down my spine.
Wunderhorse at Manchester Academy was pulsating from start to finish. (Credit: The Manc Group)
If you’ve for whatever reason not cottoned on to what these lads are doing yet, I’m not going roll out the typical tired trope of “What are you playing at!?” or any of that, I’m just going to implore you to start your journey with this band now and see them live as soon as you can.
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Besides maybe Fontaines D.C., who they have already toured with earlier this year – cannot believe we missed out on that one – they are perhaps one of the most exciting bands around right now and they have just given me a core memory I will never forget. I dare say plenty of others in the room would agree.
For me there’s no question about it: I’ve fallen in love with this ferocious four-piece so hard it’s made me feel like a teenager who’s just discovering their taste for the first time and despite still only being a few years in, I am fully convinced they are the best thing since sliced bread.
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The show itself was everything you would hope for from a proper rock show, from the fans screaming every last word like their lives depended on it, to the entire crowd jumping up and down from start to finish and the pit nearly consuming everyone with crowd-surfers galore and utterly breathless energy.
A 10/10 performance from the audience is always guaranteed in Manchester but the band themselves also went above and beyond by delivering moments like this:
It might seem like a little thing to some of you, but vamping for a good minute or so on stage and thrashing out solos that aren’t part of the studio version of a song as if they’re jamming in a room like no one else is even there just doesn’t happen any more – at least not very often.
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We’ve been watching clips of the Midas tour ever since it kicked off earlier this year and for me, personally, I feared that I had built up the expectation so much that it could never possibly have lived up to the vision I had in my head.
I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Not only were they flawless, with frontman Jacob Slater (who we recently interviewed) and lead guitarist Harry Fowler particularly intoxicating to watch up close and personal, but the roughly 2,600 fans inside the venue gave every last ounce of their effort.
There were the usual limbs, beers, cups and even items of clothing being flung in the air but, more specifically, I don’t think I’ve ever perspired so much at a gig. I was literally dripping and let me assure you, neither I nor anyone else could care less.
In fact, following a particularly sweaty mid-song hug with a stranger, we turned to each other and realised we were wearing the same bit of merch before proceeding to spend the entire gig losing our minds together and even swapping numbers after the show. You have to love special moments like that.
We started out here and ended up bouncing within spitting distance of Jacob’s viral barking. It was utterly delightful carnage.
It’s hard to say how or why a band strikes a chord with so many people, never mind so quickly having only put out their first single back in 2021, but they’re truly bound for greatness in my eyes.
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This isn’t a love-drunk echo chamber either: another member of the team reviewed their gig at The Deaf Institute back in April 2023 and labelled them “a band so good you’ll never see them on a stage this small again.” We love it when we’re right.
We first saw them supporting the mighty Sam Fender in 2022, who is also clearly up there with this country’s greatest at the minute, and we were pretty blown away even back then as largely uninitiated listeners. Nothing has changed since other than the fact that both have gotten much, much bigger.
Wunderhorse have clearly set a ridiculous standard for their live shows and simply refuse to drop their performance levels by even an inch and I can wholeheartedly say with my chest that last night will go down as the single greatest gig of my life.
But they’ve been making those kinds of memories for weeks on end now. Here they were in Leeds on Friday when our equally obsessed Hoot team went along to see them:
Much like their unskippable albums, there wasn’t a single low point in the entire set but highlights included ‘Purple’, ‘Arizona’, ‘Emily’, the ultimate thrasher that is ‘July’ and cult-favourite ‘Superman’, which has only be played a handful of times on this tour. How lucky are we, eh?
In fact, we spent this entire song holding one fan a lot as he didn’t crowd surf so much as he just slowly spun in absolute dreamland and it’s the most envious I’ve been of someone so clearly in the moment that I’ve possibly ever been.
My arms are still aching, as is everything else to be fair, but there is nothing like walking away from a gig knowing that you left it all out on there and so did everyone else.
They were incredible and so were every single one of you inside the venue. I don’t care how over the top it may sound, nights like that are when the power of music literally floors you and makes you feel grateful to be alive to experience that level of emotion.
Anyway, enough of all that uncomfortable sincerity; this review of Wunderhorse at Manchester Academy wouldn’t be complete without the song everyone was waiting for: ‘Teal’, a.k.a. song that made me so happy I let out a tear the second the intro started. Soak it in and go see them for yourself.
Influential indie veterans The Wedding Present to embark on 40th anniversary tour
Danny Jones
Influential indie band The Wedding Present are about to begin a big live tour across the UK for their 40th anniversary, and one stop is right here in Manchester.
As boundary-pushing veterans of the genre for the best part of four decades, The Wedding Present have always been one of the most pioneering auteurs of the Northern music scene, and nothing has changed even after all this time.
The Leeds-formed icons are a favourite not only of ours but even more so among our friends over at The Hoot, and with an artistic legacy as strong as Yorkshire’s, that’s saying something.
David Lewis Gedge’s long-standing project rather quietly announced its major retrospective series of live shows back in June – so quiet, in fact, that we missed it until now – but as they gear up for a handful of very special dates, we’d urge Manc gig-goers to give themselves a Wedding Present.
Gedge and co. will be coming to the O2 Ritz in Manchester for just the second show of merely half a dozen confirmed for The Wedding Present 40th Anniversary Tour, having played the venue many times.
In fact, even after visits featuring live configurations over the years, the current lineup played the Ritz as recently as May 2023; the show was met with strong reviews pretty much across the board, and it seemed to signal somewhat of a falling back in love with the crowds of the North.
For anyone unaware of the self-styled ‘semi-legendary band’ (their PR’s words, not ours), The Wedding Present are probably in similar territory to fellow underdogs and Manc natives, James, when it comes to the amount of music they’ve put out over the years, inspiring generations of those who came after.
You might assume we’d name one of their most famous tracks, ‘George Best’, as our favourite, for rather obvious reasons – but you’d be wrong: it doesn’t get much better than ‘Dreamworld’, if you ask us.
Their rich back catalogue encompasses not only so many different eras but also sounds, styles and various other eccentricities; so much so that their multi-genre-spanning music has even produced its own musical.
But before we dive any deeper down into the rabbit hole, let’s get back on track.
Set to play Manchester on Friday, 10 October, The Wedding Present will be kicking off the tour in Bristol at the start of next month.
There are other dates in the likes of Sheffield, Liverpool, Chester, Holmfirth, Buxton, Newcastle and more, but only a few are officially part of the anniversary tour.
Tickets are live as we speak, so if you fancy going along to see them, you can grab yours HERE.
Lewis Capaldi at Co-op Live Manchester – tickets, setlist, support and more
Daisy Jackson
Lewis Capaldi will be hitting the stage in Manchester this week for two huge sold-out gigs at the Co-op Live arena.
The Scottish singer-songwriter is currently on a sold-out 17-date UK arena tour after a two-year hiatus for his physical and mental health.
The much-loved performer took the decision to step out the limelight after his Glastonbury 2023 performance, where he struggled with his vocals, anxiety, and Tourette’s syndrome as the set went on – with the huge crowd stepping in to sing for him.
Lewis then made a triumphant return earlier this year with a surprise set at Glastonbury, proving he is once again back on top form.
He then released a new single, Survive, which stormed to the top of the UK singles chart, and an arena tour to go with it, adding a second Manchester date due to phenomenal demand.
His single Someone You Loved remains the most-streamed song in the UK, even seven years after its release. Us Brits love him.
Lewis Capaldi will be performing at Co-op Live on both Saturday and Sunday night this week, and we’ve rounded up all your essential info below.
And if you miss him this time, he’s just announced an outdoor summer show at Wythenshawe Park next year, tickets for which go on sale HERE on Friday 19 September.
Tickets for Lewis Capaldi at Co-op Live
Lewis Capaldi. Credit: Alexandra Gavillet
Did we mention that people really love Lewis Capaldi? So yeah, the show is fully sold out on both Ticketmaster and See Tickets.
However, you can still get through the doors by booking a VIP or hospitality package with Seat Unique, which are on sale HERE.
Your best bet at getting your hands on a pair of general admission tickets now will be to keep an eye out for resale tickets, but make sure you’re using a reputable resale site.
Face value ticket prices ranged from £32.10 up to £113.25 for seats, with standing tickets also coming in at £113.25 with fees.
Support acts
Lewis Capaldi has lined up a pair of excellent supports for his tour, including his Co-op Live shows in Manchester.
His main support act will be Skye Newman, a rising star singer-songwriter from South East London, who you probably know from her hit debut single Hairdresser and its top-five follow-up single, Family Matters.
Also warming up the crowds will be Aaron Rowe, an Irish musician with a hell of a voice who’s inspired by American soul legends as well as British bands like The Stone Roses and Oasis.
What are the stage times for Lewis Capaldi at Co-op Live?
Exact stage times haven’t been announced yet but we do know that general admission doors open at 6.30pm, and the show is set to start at 7.30pm.
That should mean Aaron Rowe will be on first, followed by Skye Newman around 8.15pm, and Lewis likely to start his show around 9pm.
If any official stage times get announced, we’ll update this article.
Lewis Capaldi setlist
The below is the setlist Lewis has been using for most of his shows so far.
Survive
Grace
Heavenly Kind of State of Mind
Forever
Wish You the Best
Love the Hell Out of You
Almost
Bruises
Pointless
Something in the Heavens
Leave Me Slowly
Forget Me
The Pretender
The Day That I Die
Before You Go
Encore
How I’m Feeling Now
Hold Me While You Wait
Someone You Loved
How to get to Co-op Live
Tram
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live. You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.
Getting there by car and parking
If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue,e but this must be pre-booked ahead of time and there are designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU, and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide come event day – though estimates will vary, obviously:
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Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes via the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Danny Jones -
20th October 2024 
