It’s been 21 long years since Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine, Nicola and Sarah won over the nation on Popstars: The Rivals, and whilst it’s been ten years since Girls Aloud last performed as a group, that’s all set to change in 2024…
The arena anniversary tour will honour founding bandmate and Mancunian Sarah Harding who sadly passed away in 2021.
The tour will “celebrate Sarah […] the band […] and the fact that we can still do this 21 years later” says Cheryl Tweedy.
The 15-date ‘Girls Aloud Show’ will begin in Dublin in May 2024, finishing in Liverpool six weeks later and includes two nights in Manchester at the AO Arena.
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No doubt these will be emotional nights for the whole band and Girls Aloud fans alike, as this was the city that Sarah Harding called home.
Before finding fame on talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, the popstar was a former Hazel Grove High School pupil who studied hair and beauty at Stockport College and she worked on the promotions team for two nightclubs in The Grand Central Leisure Park in Stockport, as well as waitressing at Pizza Hut.
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Kimberley said: “Over the last year, we’ve felt this outpouring of love – obviously towards Sarah, but actually towards all of us as a group. And I guess it’s ignited something in all of us again. It feels like something has changed and it does feel like the right time to celebrate Sarah and the 20-year anniversary that we didn’t celebrate at the time.”
Cheryl says: “We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloud’s 20-year anniversary a few years ago. The anniversary seemed like an obvious thing that we would celebrate. But when Sarah fell ill all priorities changed.
“She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didn’t feel right, it felt too soon. But now, I think there is an energy that does makes it feel right.
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“It’s the right time to celebrate Sarah, it’s the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. That’s a big honour in lots of ways.”
Entitled ‘The Girls Aloud Show’, the band have confirmed the tour will not feature any new music, but will instead “be a celebration of Girls Aloud’s rich back catalogue and all the ground-breaking success they have achieved as a band.”
‘The Girls Aloud Show’ 2024 arena tour dates
Saturday 18 May – 3Arena Dublin
Monday 20 May – SSE Arena Belfast
Thursday 23 May – Manchester AO Arena
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Friday 24 May – Manchester AO Arena
Monday 27 May – Cardiff Utilita Arena
Friday 31 May – Newcastle Utilita Arena
Saturday 1 June – Newcastle Utilita Arena
Tuesday 4 June – Aberdeen P&J Live
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Saturday 8 June – Glasgow OVO Hydro
Wednesday 12 June – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Saturday 15 June – Leeds First Direct Arena
Tuesday 18 June – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
Saturday 22 June – London The O2
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Sunday 23 June – London The O2
Saturday 29 June – Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Nadine: “Girls Aloud are a band that made such a huge impact on people’s lives. We grew up with the band, but so did so many other people. So for us not to do something again feels like such a shame and a waste. We want to have that moment with fans where we can all enjoy it together.”
Tickets go on sale on Wednesday 29 November from 9am, with the general on sale Friday 1 December at 9am, all via the Girls Aloud website.
Feature Image – Supplied
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Placebo are returning to Manchester with a special re-worked album tour for their 30th anniversary
Danny Jones
Placebo are coming back to Manchester city centre for a very special anniversary show celebrating their seminal debut album, which will be re-worked 30 years on from its release.
The beloved British alt-rock band, which first broke onto the indie, post-glam and pseudo-goth scene back in the mid-1990s, haven’t played here since November 2022, so it’s fair to say fans have been waiting for a return.
Last time out, they played the AO Arena, but this year they’ll be making a maiden visit to one of Europe’s biggest indoor entertainment venues.
Announcing the ‘RE:CREATED‘ re-release of their debut album and the accompanying anniversary tour this week, tickets are set to go on sale very soon.
Confirming just a handful of UK shows this December following a more extensive European run in autumn and winter 2026, they are the latest big rock name to book Co-op Live.
Placebo’s self-titled debut album, RE:CREATED
As mentioned, Placebo RE:CREATED features “powerful reworked and embellished versions of all ten tracks from the original album”, as well as two new bonus tracks.
The group say that these new songs are sort of like an ‘amplification’ of what made their inaugural studio outing such a success in the first place.
Speaking in an official statement, they said: “We think of this record as a director’s cut. We haven’t recreated it from scratch. We went back to the original master tapes and brought 30 years of playing these songs live back into the record.
“This project was about finally finishing the record, dragging it into the 21st century sonically, while preserving the integrity and the spirit of the original. It’s not about improving it; there’s nothing wrong with it – it’s about completing it.”
Signing off and getting tails up ahead of the tour, they added: “It’s a celebration of where we began, and a meeting point between who we were then and who we are now; a way of honouring that innocence, while letting the songs exist with the scale, confidence, and energy of the band we’ve become”.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Placebo: 30th Anniversary Tour Playing songs from ‘Placebo’ & ‘Without You I’m Nothing' Friday 4 December https://t.co/qwOm3NNGQH @coopuk members get first in line for tickets. Co-op Member Presale: 09:00 Wednesday 25 March General Sale: 09:00 Friday 27 March pic.twitter.com/MO72ui1ntW
It remains to be seen who, if anyone, will be supporting them for the limited run of domestic shows, but it has been revealed that they will also be playing some fan favourite songs from their sophomore LP, Without You I’m Nothing. You can see the rest of the gigs here in Britain and Ireland down below:
Placebo UK tour dates 2026
2 – Dublin, Ireland – 3 Arena 4th – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live Arena 5th – London, UK – OVO Arena Wembley 7th – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
For those looking to secure early access, you can do so by pre-ordering the album (which drops on 19 June), with the pre-sale window opening at 9am on 24 March.
As for general admission, they will be available from the same time the following Friday, 27 March.
You can get ready to grab your tickets to see Placebo at Co-op Live in Manchester for their 30th anniversary gig right HERE.
They’re not the only big rock name that first back in the 90s set for a big Manc arena show this year.
Featured Images — Press shots (supplied via SJM Concerts)
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Review | What we made of Country 2 Country 2026, and why Manchester should be very excited
Danny Jones
Excuse me, but it looks like we might have a new favourite festival on the cards: Country 2 Country – and it’s very rare we gig in London and enjoy ourselves anyway near as much as we do up North, but now we’re already dreaming of just how good C2C Manchester could be.
In fact, scratch that, we know it is.
Billed as Europe’s biggest country music festival, there really isn’t anything quite like it here. Yes, there’s Buckle & Boots Festival closer to home, but there’s nothing in the folk and country world on this kind of massive scale, unless you go all the way to see the actual CMA Fest over in the US.
London’s also been lucky enough to host some very big names at BST Hyde Park too, but this fully-fledged arena weekender, complete with an outdoor festival hub, town square, trading post, a barn full of line-dancers, and SO much more, celebrates every single part of that culture.
By day, the aim is to make a little country town, complete with shops, food, drink and music aplenty. (Credit: Audio North)
But… We think the North can do it better.
So too did some of the acts and punters as well, by the way; we spoke to several people on-site who’d made the trip from all over because it was closer than Glasgow, Belfast or Berlin.
Up-and-coming British country rock artist, Bronnie – who was literally hours away from a move across the pond to pursue her dreams of living the cowgirl turned music artist experience down in the Southern states – said simply: “There’s always this feeling like there’s more fun to be had up North”
Moreover, the friends she’s already made over in America’s ‘Music City’, she says, have claimed that “the vibes are just better”, apparently. Not to sound too biased, but we obviously couldn’t agree more.
However, with the news that C2C is coming to Manchester city centre and Northern England for the very first time, people are already hopping mad at the idea of a Manc debut.
That’s to say that what The O2 in London isn’t special and will always be to most punters, we just know full well that our particular region is going to take to this new annual event like a duck to water.
A lot of the people we spoke to kept repeating the same: that working class connection, simple but relatable imagery, the pure poetry you’ll find not only in Nashville but creative cousins like Manchester.
The Broadway strip in Austin may be the spiritual home of this kind of music, but we Greater Mancunians lay claim to plenty of genres and some of the biggest artistic traditions ourselves.
With that in mind, we are convinced we’re going to leave a lasting impression when our inaugural Country 2 Country Festival comes to the AO Arena next year.
Our line dancing might leave a little to be desired, but we’ve got a whole year to work on it, not to mention plenty of time to dive even further into the UK’s growing country music obsession.
You can see more pictures from our 2026 C2C gallery down below.
Country fashion was everywhereThe official CMA Spotlight Stage was one of the bestNo one shyed away from a partyKruse Brothers were one of our favourite from the weekendAlana Springsteen was incredibleAnd by the evening, it’s a proper hedonist hoedown… (Credit: The Manc)
Sophie Smith -
22nd November 2023 
