If at some point in your life you sported an extreme side-swept fringe, knee-high socks, and a battered leather jacket you scoured the vintage shops for for months, you know what it means to have a noughties indie disco come to town – and that indie disco is courtesy of one of the genre’s greats, The Wombats.
The Liverpool three-piece were at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday evening, in support of their sixth studio album Oh! The Ocean.
The hair’s calmed down a lot (they were the MASTERS of whipping their ‘do all the way back from the crown of their head to their eyebrows) but the energy of The Wombats has done the opposite.
For a relatively chill indie band they’ve got a reputation for causing widespread mosh pits, and Manchester delivers them in spades.
It’s not just your regular elbow-to-the-face, lose-your-mates-for-a-bit, risk-your-ribcage moshpits either. At one point hundreds of people sit on the floor and pretend to row a giant, grimy boat. At another point there’s a confusing moment where three pits all congregate and everyone stares at each other for a split second before letting loose again.
They’ve got a lot of music to get through in the two decades they’ve been together, but it’s the debut stuff that has a weird effect on all the 30-somethings in the crowd.
Kill The Director, Moving to New York and Let’s Dance to Joy Division are all the sort of songs that transcend grimy basement nightclub all the way to the UK’s best arena with the same frenetic energy.
The Wombats have also pulled together one of the strongest support line-ups seen in recent years, which in turn pulls in one of the busiest standing sections I’ve ever seen, from the minute the doors open.
First is Red Rum Club, our pals from across the way in Liverpool, with their signature indie sound elevated by trumpet player Joe the Blow.
Then it’s over to local lads Everything Everything, in their matching acid-washed denim and art rock hits.
As for The Wombats – it’s not every artist who can get the goosebumps going within the first two songs – but chucking in Moving To New York as your second song will do just that.
Say what you want about the scousers but their comedic timing is unmatched too, whether it’s ribbing each other on stage or stressing that the lyrics of their song are ‘getting college girl drunk, not college girls drunk – a very important difference’.
There are, including vocals, eight instruments between three of them. Most would summon some sessions musicians, but not The Wombats.
They’re rock solid as a trio, but the whole show is carried along by their urge for playfulness – from the stage invasion by wombat mascots carrying confetti cannons, to dropping giant colourful balloons from the sky as they wrap up the night with Greek Tragedy.
There’s something pretty memorable about the sight of people determinedly carrying a gigantic pink balloon overhead onto the tram.
Adidas drop Liam and Noel Gallagher SPZL trainers
Daisy Jackson
Liam and Noel Gallagher have teamed up with adidas once again to create their very own SPZL trainers.
The sportswear giant has today dropped the designs for the adidas LG Achille SPZL and the adidas NG Marathon SPZL.
The sure-to-sell-out trainers will officially hit shelves in the new Manchester adidas store, and other stockists, next weekend.
The footwear drop coincides with the ongoing Oasis reunion tour, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people to the city when they played five nights in Heaton Park.
Liam and Noel themselves have maintained a close relationship with Gary Aspden, curator of the adidas SPZL range, for more than two decades.
They’re often seen sporting the iconic trainers and creating product collaborations, and now they’re back with a new Three Stripes partnership and their very own new adidas SPZL trainers.
Up first is Liam Gallaghers’s adidas SPZL, with the Oasis frontman asking to bring back a revised version of an archival runner, the adidas Achille.
The LG Achille SPZL features a khaki mesh base, chocolate brown stripes, a beige suede T-toe overlay, and a sand outside, with a motif of Liam on the tongue of the shoe.
Noel Gallagher’s NG Marathon SPZLs are his first collaborations with the brand since his immediate sell-out shoes back in 2017.
His are a new hybrid inspired by the adidas Marathon 85 silhouette, keeping the suede upper and rubber outsole of the Marathon 85 but with a deep navy/sky blue palette with a reworked toe box and midsole, as well as details like the Eco-Tex tongue and tonal eyelets.
Both shoes feature a portrait of their namesakes on the tongue, as well as spare laces, co-branded sock liners, and commemorative packaging.
The adidas LG Achille SPZL and the adidas NG Marathon SPZL are set to launch via adidas SPZL stockists and the adidas Carnaby and MCR retail stores on 16 August.
Inside the new supersized Zara store that’s just opened in the Trafford Centre
Clementine Hall
The new Zara has finally opened inside the Trafford Centre, and it’s even bigger and better than we could’ve imagined.
Back in April, the shopping centre signed a deal with Inditex for the new supersized Zara store that would occupy its own flagship space on Peel Avenue.
The Spanish fast fashion brand is famed for its affordable trend-led fashions which you’ll find in abundance at the new space which covers over 3,000 square meters across one single level.
It’s the very first concept store of its kind in the UK, featuring technology like you’ve never seen before.
Images: Supplied
Customers can interact with the brand in-store or via zara.com and the Zara app, enabling real-time inventory browsing, quick product location, and online order pickup.
Created by Zara’s Architecture Studio, the space has been redesigned to offer an elevated experience and is absolutely stunning.
Designed to be your personal stylist, the store features a series of interconnected rooms where each showcases its own curated identity – so you don’t have to go far to find the perfect fit.
Images: Supplied
To celebrate the opening, collections have even been advanced to the Trafford Centre before hitting the rails at any other Zara across the country.
From a dedicated shoe room and an adorable baby closet to an exclusive activewear department and fragrance room, there’s literally everything you could ever want to get you kitted out from head to toe.
Say goodbye to queueing with heaps of hangers, because the changing rooms will practically deliver the clothes for you whilst you can fly through the payment process with the 37 assisted-checkouts.
Images: Supplied
Every inch of the customer experience has been made as streamlined as possible, meaning you could be in and out in a matter of minutes without even having to speak to a member of staff.
But of course, there’ll be members of staff on hand wherever you may need from helping you find the perfect size in the changing rooms to assisting you with your returns.
It’s the best Zara we’ve ever stepped foot in, it’s like shopping in a space ship in the best way possible.
Daisy Jackson -
23rd March 2025 
