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
Akon speaks on his connection to Manchester after run of Co-op Live gigs
Danny Jones
Music veteran Akon has recently discussed his connection to our city following his run of live shows here in Manchester.
In fact, he went so far as to say he feels much more affinity here than he does with ‘The Big Smoke’.
The seasoned Senegalese-American rapper, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and humanitarian, teamed up with fellow chart-topper Ne-Yo for not just one, not even two, but three whole nights at Co-op Live this May as part of their co-headline tour across the UK and Ireland.
Chatting with Simone Riley on BBC Radio Manchester before the third and final gig of the trio, Akon admitted that there’s “something about Manchester” that he loves way more than London.
As you can see, while he couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly is about it in the North compared to the capital, he said simply that “it’s crazy here”, and he loves it.
Same, mate. Same.
Admitting that he feels “more attached to Manchester than London” and labelling the energy from the crowds as “stupid” up here (he meant it in a good way, we promise), Simone couldn’t help but confess her joy over his comments.
He’s not the only global superstar to have recently shouted out their affection for 0161, either, as Billie Eilish also said something similar.
Speaking to the mainline BBC at the premiere of her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), she said that while the dates lining up were certainly a key factor, there were other reasons why she chose Manchester to film her new movie.
Our Audio North team were also lucky enough to chat with Akon’s touring partner Ne-Yo recently, too, who also had nothing but good things to say about us as a place to play.
As for Akon, the 53-year-old has obviously played here plenty of times over the decades, with last year’s tour being his first return in a decade.
That being said, given how glowingly he’s spoken about us and how popular these joint performances were, we reckon it won’t be that long before he comes back.
Last but not least, we obviously couldn’t resist going along to at least one of the nights for ourselves; listen to what we had to say about the tour in our full review down below.
Antony Szmeirek announces second album along with biggest UK tour dates yet
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester spoken word artist Antony Szmeirek has finally revealed the name, cover art and release date for his second album, along with his biggest run of UK tour dates yet.
The Tameside teacher turned full-time artist dropped his maiden record, Service Station at the End of the Universe, back in February 2025, and now, just over a year on from its launch, he’s getting ready to deliver his highly anticipated follow-up.
Entitled Decoding Birdsong, the sophomore studio project is scheduled for this summer, with a series of live shows booked for the following autumn.
Having already dropped lead single ‘The Heron’ earlier this year, Szmeirek has just released the opener from his upcoming LP, which is simply called ‘Chalk’; he’s also unveiled the rest of the tracklist and a rather striking bit of album artwork.
The Hyde-born artist is making big moves not only within the spoken word space but across multiple genres, with his music blending everything from indie, hip-hop, electronica and more.
His latest song, for instance, is more of an acid-house-esque meets contemporary EDM outing, and has quickly gone down as a popular addition among fans.
On the album name itself, he’s never one to shy away from a weird title or two – case in point, ‘The Great Pyramid of Stockport’ from his debut and ‘Dave’s Angling Superstore’ on this new record.
The 34-year-old carries that same idiosyncrasy throughout his lyricism and creative concepts, as well.
‘Chalk’ is a perfect example of this, as the song is inspired by The Edge of Everything documentary: a film about the career of legendary British snooker player, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Here’s the music video…
As for his latest raft of live shows, these will be some of the biggest domestic gigs that the local lad has played in his career so far.
In addition to a pair of hometown shows here in Manchester, he is set to play a dozen different cities across Great Britain and Ireland.
Antony Szmierek UK/IE tour dates – October 2026
We’ve highlighted the Northern stops for you, too:
Emily Sergeant -
15th November 2021 
