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AJ Handley-Rowe - 10th November 2021

A Harry Styles-themed running event is coming to Manchester

Lydia Mastrolonardo

A Harry Styles-themed running event is coming to Manchester

A Harry Styles-themed running event, ‘Styles-Athon,’ is coming to Manchester later this year.

Styles-Athon is set to be an action packed event, centring around all things Harry Styles – there’ll even be a live tribute performance and DJs blasting some of our favourite songs.

This event is brought to us by Run Fanatics, a group that focuses on creating memorable, themed running events, maintaining that ‘it’s not about how far or fast you run, it’s about how much fun you have.’

Styles-Athon is open to all abilities, with Run Fanatics priding themselves on inclusivity and their welcoming sense of community, offering both 5k and 10k routes to either walk, dance or run around. No matter what the running ability, this is a great day out for all Harry lovers.

Having successfully hosted other music-led events such as a Swift-Athon and an ABBA themed run in Manchester, we’re excited to have them back and keep the energy in Heaton Park ‘Watermelon Sugar’ high.

Why not try something new and contribute to a good cause while you’re at it – runners are welcome to run in support of a charity of their choosing.

Finally, some real motivation – run like you’re chasing Harry Styles.

What you can expect from Styles-Athon:

Live Harry Styles tribute performance and warm-up
DJ and professional sound team
Music guides running the course to keep the energy high
Exclusively Harry Styles music throughout the event
5K and 10K routes
Free professional event photos
Chip-timed race with official results
Exclusive Harry Styles finisher’s medal

Timings:

9am – 10am – Harry Styles tribute performance in the event village as runners arrive
10am – 10.10am – Harry Styles tribute to lead the warm-up hosted at the start area
10.15am – 10.25am – Getting race ready and walk to the start line
10.30am – 12pm – Race begins, with most runners finished by midday

Styles-Athon will be set up for around 1,000 attendees and is taking place in Heaton Park, on Saturday 19 September 2026.

Featured image: Run Fanatics

Kings of Leon at Co-op Live, Manchester – blinding in every way

Daisy Jackson

Will Kings of Leon ever lose their ability to sell out enormous arenas in the UK? Based on the cup-slinging, sat-on-shoulders, full-pelt-singing crowd that rushed the Co-op Live on Saturday night – nope.

The American rockers are back out on a short tour, but rather than plugging a new album, this feels like a greatest hits, remember-how-good-we-are-live tour.

It’s a setlist that will please those of us who loved their twangier, garage-rock earlier albums, Youth & Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak, with live highlights including The Bucket, Molly’s Chambers, Four Kicks, and King of The Rodeo (my personal favourite).

But there’s plenty of their more recent, stadium-worthy rock anthems thrown in too, like the inescapable Sex On Fire. Love it loathe it, you can’t deny its impact when played in a venue of adoring fans.

Kings of Leon arrived in Manchester on 4 July, and dress for the occasion. Jared Followill strolls on stage in a faded, cropped Stars and Stripes tee. Caleb Followill opts for double denim. Nathan Followill is behind the kit in a ‘wife-beater’ vest.

They look every bit the all-American rock band. They must stick out like sore thumbs wandering around the UK between tour dates.

Less impressive is the slightly maddening stage design. The band spend much of the night silhouetted against enormous banks of blinding lights. If you’re looking straight at the stage, it’s like staring directly into the sun for two hours, or accidentally walking into a scrum of paparazzi just as Taylor Swift arrives. Once you accept that you’ll spend the evening partially blinded, though, there’s very little to fault.

Musically, they’re immaculate. Every song sounds as polished as the record, but never sterile. They make it all look absurdly easy, which is hardly surprising given they’ve been playing together for more than 25 years.

Nathan’s especially nonchalant – in the middle of intricate drum fills, he’s chewing bubble gum as if he’s waiting for a bus rather than holding together one of rock’s biggest bands.

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There’s an instinctive chemistry between the Followill family members that’s impossible to manufacture. Unlike the Gallagher brothers, who always seem on the verge of putting each other in a headlock, Kings of Leon perform with complete harmony. Every glance and transition feels effortless, the product of decades spent sharing stages together.

The band have been changing their setlist throughout the tour, but nobody expected a heartfelt rendition of America The Beautiful. Unsurprisingly, it’s the only song of the night the British crowd doesn’t sing along to, and it even draws a few boos before the band move swiftly on.

There are reminders throughout of where they came from. Caleb’s unmistakable Tennessee drawl still gives the songs that loose, bluesy Southern character that first set them apart, even as arenas sing every word back to them. During ‘Use Somebody’, he happily hands the chorus over to the crowd with a simple, “Alright, you sing it then,” barely needing to touch the microphone.

When the set finally ends, the band don’t rush off. They linger on stage, tossing guitar picks and sweat-soaked handkerchiefs into the crowd, waving from every corner of the stage and soaking it all in with broad smiles.

After all these years, they still look genuinely grateful to be there. For a band who’ve been doing this for more than two decades, it’s reassuring to see the novelty hasn’t worn off.