Contemporary rock heavyweights Pierce the Veil have just announced a massive world tour and they’re bringing it to Manchester for their Co-op Live debut.
The emo, prog rock, pop-punk, hardcore and all-round heavy hitters last played Manchester this past April, putting on a pretty huge gig at Victoria Warehouse, but now they’re set for their biggest show here to date.
First forming back in 2006 and now five studio albums deep, the new world tour which features nearly 50 dates around North and South America, the UK and Europe, the aim of this new show is to span their whole career thus far.
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With a healthy selection of songs from each era, this one will not only as a walk down memory lane for die-hard fans but a pure celebration of Pierce the Veil throughout each evolution of their sound.
Speaking in an official statement after the tour was announced, the band said: “Nearly two decades in the making, this tour is a monument to everything we’ve built with our fans.
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“These shows will honour our roots, spanning all five albums and the music that brought us here. We’re bringing to life the songs you’ve been waiting to hear in some of the most iconic venues in the world, including Madison Square Garden, The Forum, Red Rocks, and Wembley Arena.
“This will be our largest, loudest, and most unforgettable tour yet. PTV fans, it’s time to raise our voices like never before. Can you hear us now?”
We’re certainly about to…
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JUST ANNOUNCED: PIERCE THE VEIL
PLUS SUPPORT FROM: CAVETOWN, HOT MULLIGAN AND CRAWLERS
Better yet, with a wide breadth of modern rock on show in the support acts too as the San Diego sons will be bringing along Cavetown, Hot Mulligan (a personal favourite of ours) and Crawlers as their UK warm-up acts, these shows are going to be plenty good value for money.
Pierce the Veil’s landmark Manchester gig takes place next autumn on Thursday, 25 September 2025 and, if Sleep Token’s attendance even just a year into their massive boom was anything to go by, this one will sell out pretty quickly.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Friday, 6 December and official Co-op Members can access exclusive pre-sale from Wednesday (4 Dec).
Featured Images — Stefan Brending (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group
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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:
Danny Jones -
3rd December 2024 
