Justin Bieber has announced that he’ll be stopping off right here in Manchester as part of his world tour in 2023.
The global superstar will be playing the AO Arena on Saturday 25 February 2023.
The Canadian singer – who first shot to fame all the way back in 2008 after being discovered on YouTube, and has since gone one to become a teen idol with millions of fans across the globe – will be headlining the city’s largest music music venue, the AO Arena, as part of his first worldwide tour since 2017.
The new tour involves more than 90 shows at stadiums and arenas around the world, launching with a 52-date run through North America in February 2022, and then the UK and Europe shows taking place the following year.
He will also perform in Glasgow, Aberdeen, London, Birmingham, and Sheffield.
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🆕 🤩 JUST ANNOUNCED /// @JustinBieber is bringing his Justice World Tour to #Manchester's AO Arena on 25 February 2023!
📲 Set those reminders! 🎫 Tickets will be available from 10am on Friday 19 November.
Announcing the tour in a statement on social media today, Justin, 27, said: “We’ve been working hard to create the best show we’ve ever done, and we can’t wait to share it with fans around the world.
“I’ll see you soon.”
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General sale tickets to the UK leg of the tour will go live at 9am on Friday 19 November 2021.
Amex card-holders will have exclusive access to a presale for all events – excluding London – starting at 10am on Tuesday 16 November.
The UK dates are as follows:
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8 February: Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
11 February: Aberdeen, UK – P&J Live
13 & 14 February: London, UK – The O2
22 February: Birmingham, UK – Resorts World Arena
25 February: Manchester, UK – AO Arena
26 February: Sheffield, UK – Utilita Arena
The global superstar will be playing the AO Arena on Saturday 25 February 2023. / Credit: AO Arena
The Canadian singer – who is most famous for smash-hits including ‘Baby’, ‘Boyfriend’, ‘Sorry’, and more – has had tumultuous career, but has become the #1 artist on YouTube and Spotify after first entering the spotlight at 13.
Since childhood, he’s released six studio albums, and last year broke Elvis Presley’s record as the youngest solo artist to have eight albums reach #1 on the Billboard 200 charts.
Many people may remember that Bieber has an interesting history with Manchester, after playing several shows in the city in the past – most-notably making an appearance during the One Love Manchester benefit concert at Emirates Old Trafford, following the Manchester Arena attack in 2017.
He’s also grabbed local headlines in the past after being refused entry to Sankeys Nightclub in 2013, when the venue turned him away due to the fact he “shuffles on stage”, and after also ordering Manchester crowds to “shut up” during ballads in 2016.
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During his last appearance at Manchester Arena, he then preceded to storm off stage after audience members would not stop “screaming”.
You can grab tickets to Justin Bieber’s Justice World Tourhere.
Featured Image – Flickr
Gigs & Nightlife
An unmissable Whitney Houston tribute event is returning to Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
A much-adored and cherished Whitney Houston tribute show is returning to Greater Manchester later this year for not one but two different shows, each channelling the charisma and energy of the pop legend.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the phenomenal theatre production, ‘Queen of the Night’, the show is visiting a multitude of stages and venues all across the UK.
0161 had to receive at least one date on this tour, partly due to being the music capital of the North and also due to the fact that this is a city many fans of the 80s diva will forever hold close to their hearts.
Houston played her final ever concert performance of her career here in this very city back in 2010, taking up residence in AO Arena for two nights of world-renowned ballads and mesmerising live vocals.
This tribute show is set to include some of the diva’s biggest and much-loved hits like ‘I Will Always Love You’, ‘How Will I Know’ and ‘The Greatest Love of All’, the audience is sure to be singing along.
Adenike Adewale is taking on the role of the American R’n’B Pop singer and is no stranger to the stage or TV, featuring on The Voice in 2021 where she sang a Whitney classic, making it to the semi-finals.
Fast forward to 1 June and the tour returns to Greater Manchester and legendary city centre space, Bridgewater Hall: an incredible room more than fit for renditions of the powerhouse vocalist.
A pair of stunning venues, two stunning shows and one incomparable voice.
It’s not only our lovely region the Queen of the Night experience will be visiting; our friends over at The Hoot have plenty of nearby opportunities to sing along too, with Yorkshire dates in Hull, Halifax, Harrogate and Bradford to name a few.
I’m definitely saving all my love for when this show visits us later this year in March, and after I buy out the front row for all my friends I’ll certainly relate to the smash 1993 single ‘I Have Nothing’.
Tickets are on sale already now – you can grab yours HERE.
Government to introduce price cap on ticket touts and launch consultation on dynamic pricing
Danny Jones
The UK government are finally set to install a price cap on re-sale tickets for touts and open an official consultation on the growing trend of dynamic pricing.
If you’ve bought a ticket to a live music show over the past year or so, you’ll have noticed that ticket prices in general are on the up – particularly if purchased from a reseller, in which case you might have paid through the nose for the privilege.
Not only does ticket touting remain a prevailing problem in the industry, with tonnes of tickets for big shows, especially, being snapped up in bulk or by bots and listed for re-sale before you’ve even added them to your basket, but the advent of this new dynamic pricing lark has made things even harder.
You only have to look at the controversy and chaos surrounding Oasis’ reunion tour, which ultimately saw some fans paying significant amounts more for practically the same ticket just a few days later in what many dubbed as ‘fraud’ and even ’emotional blackmail’.
Justin Timberlake at Co-op Live Manchester was one of countless gigs where ticket prices fluctuated. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Tackling resellers head-on
Knowing full well that people will go to extreme lengths to try and see the musicians and artists they love so dearly – in some cases being backed into a corner as the final figure displayed on the screen when they checkout suddenly jumps up – the modern ticketing industry is severely broken.
With all that in mind, the government are now looking to enact more stringent measures on resellers, by announcing a new price cap on tickets put back up for sale which is set to be introduced (hopefully) in the very near future.
Targeting sites infamous for inflating re-sale costs such as Viagogo, StubHub and others, the bill published on Friday, 10 January proposes a price cap of face value plus 10-30% but no more, with an obvious aim to keep that number as low as possible.
According to the current figures, touts reportedly cost music fans alone more than £145 million in extra re-sale fees when purchasing tickets every year – a frankly ridiculous sum. There will always be tickets ending up on re-sale sites, that’s unavoidable, but a price cap could seriously improve the situation.
The Manc music legends themselves claim they had little control over the situation.
Down with dynamic pricing
Labour, who were voted into power back in July, are also set to try and combat dynamic prices, which essentially sees gigs and events set people back more or less depending on how the popular ticket sales have been up to that point, market trends and general demand. An initial review was called for last year.
Put simply, the more people want to attend a gig, platforms like Ticketmaster feel they are able to jack up their margins even after the initial price point has been established. The European Commission has been investigating these methods since September 2024.
Although it is still unclear as to the exact time scale of when these changes will come in, Labour MP Chris Bryant told NME that although they are still in the early stages, it is “now just a matter of how the government takes action.” And that’s where you come in.
The consultation is also crucially public, with the calling for people to submit their evidence on current pricing practices and continue engaging in the discussion throughout the progress. New Year’s Resolution: let’s curb ticket touts as much as we possibly can.
Emily Sergeant -
15th November 2021 
