Pop icons S Club will kick off their 25th anniversary reunion tour right here in Manchester this week.
The group, better known to many as S Club 7, will be heading out as a five-piece after the tragic death of bandmate Paul Cattermole.
But Jo O’Meara, Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett and Bradley McIntosh have promised that the show will be a fitting tribute to Paul, renaming it The Good Times tour in his honour.
They’ll play two nights here in Manchester, at the AO Arena – the first is Thursday 12 October, the second Saturday 21 October.
S Club are best-known for chart-topping pop songs like Reach, Bring It All Back, Never Had a Dream Come True, Don’t Stop Movin’ and Have You Ever.
Their very first show back together on The Good Times tour will be in Manchester this week. Here’s what you need to know.
Tickets for S Club’s 25th anniversary tour
S Club 7 in their heyday. Credit: Publicity picture
At the time of writing, there’s still some very limited tickets on sale for S Club’s Manchester dates.
On Thursday 12 October, you can still get seated tickets for £72.50 including booking fees, but everything else is sold out.
Meanwhile tickets for Saturday 21 October are a similar story – there are just £72.50 seated tickets left at this point.
Remaining S Club tickets are available through See Tickets.
Support act for S Club at Manchester’s AO Arena
S Club have chosen a band with an ‘amazing vibe’ to support them on their The Good Times Tour.
Now United are an international pop group formed by S Club creator Simon Fuller.
The group initially consisted of 14 members from 14 different countries but is now running as a seven-piece.
In a clip posted on Instagram, Bradley said: “We have got some news for you. For quite some time a lot of you out there have been asking who will be the supporting artist on the tour.
“We’ve found a band that have got such an amazing vibe and we think you guys are gonna love them. We love their music, we love their style… we just think these guys are so much fun.
“And we want you to check them out. So, here they are… Now United.”
Setlist for S Club at Manchester’s AO Arena
S Club will kick off their reunion tour in Manchester. Credit: Publicity picture
As Manchester will be the first city to welcome S Club on their The Good Times tour, we’re a bit in the dark about what they’re planning.
Their setlist is more than likely to include their hits from the nineties and noughties, as well as new music, like their latest single These Are The Days.
We’ll update this article as soon as we get a whiff of what their setlist might be.
Stage times for S Club
The AO Arena hasn’t yet confirmed stage times for either of S Club’s shows.
But we do know that doors will open at 6pm, and curfew is likely to be around 10.30pm.
Again, we’ll update this article as soon as stage times are announced.
A huge record fair is coming to Manchester city centre this bank holiday
Thomas Melia
There’s a record fair making its way to Manchester next weekend, and it’s taking over one of Manchester’s iconic live music venues.
Record lovers and music fanatics this one’s for you.
Whether you’re after growing your own record collection back home, or showing off your DJ skills, this event has everything you could ever ask for.
The Very Good Plus record fair is arriving in Manchester city centre, and it’s coming to none other than independent live music venue, New Century.
You’ll be able to browse through some of the best vinyl in the region and hopefully spot some releases by some of your musical icons.
There’s even family-friendly stations which give little ones and grown-ups alike the chance to try their hand at making and designing their own record sleeve, as well as getting stuck in with a screen-printing workshop.
A record fair event is taking place at Manchester music venue New Century and NOMA this bank holiday / Credit: The Manc Group
If you cant find any LPs you’re after, you’ll definitely find a caffeinated drink or two at Sadler’s Yard and even have a go at creating your own track on the open decks.
There will be a variety of food and drink options, as well as some food for the soul too, thanks to an array of DJ sets running until the evening courtesy of Ded Luvly on a Pulp Coffee sound system.
Live music lovers can rejoice as just for this record fair event, they’ll be able to roam around this huge gig space and if you head downstairs there’ll be a DJ workshop and sound system experience taking place.
This music-oriented event is a collaboration between iconic music venue New Century, city centre neighbourhood NOMA, and DJ and music aficionado, Living Room Dance Club.
So get ready to dig through the crates, create a few demos of your own, design an album cover or two and enrich yourself in all things music because this event has it all.
The Very Good Plus record fair is coming to NOMA and New Century in Manchester on Saturday 23 August from 11am until 6pm, and it’s completely free – apart from all the money you spend on some good quality vinyl, of course.
Featured Images – Jamakassi via Unsplash/ Phillip Blocker via Unsplash
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My Chemical Romance fans are losing it as emo favourites appear to tease UK tour
Danny Jones
American alt-rock and emo favourites My Chemical Romance aren’t just back for one last Black Parade; it looks like they might be heading to the UK for more tour dates.
Not just a phase, never was.
My Chemical Romance (an entirely different kind of MCR) made yet another mighty return to the fore earlier this year, nearly two whole decades on from the release of the seminal album, which dropped in 2006 and has now been toured live again by the New Jersey band.
Playing the album IN FULL for the first time in years, they’ve been busy in North America delighting die-hard crowds, but now a recent teaser has got My Chem fans gearing up for UK and Ireland shows.
As you can see, MCR released the somewhat cryptic comedy sketch above, in which they seem to spoof a gameshow centred around a robot named ‘Quizzo’.
The host of this fictional programme goes on to explain that the result will determine “who will be the next lucky country to win the grand prize of one nuclear winter.”
It might only last for a few seconds, but the main takeaway is that the ‘who’ selected as the recipient of this upcoming prize is none other than the United Kingdom.
Combine that with a simple caption that reads, “Let’s show them what they’ve won”, it’d be hard not to jump to the conclusion that we Brits are about to pretend we’re ‘Teenagers’ again and chant ‘Na Na Na’ until our lungs give out.
In the time since the post went live, fans on this side of the pond have understandably started getting very excited…
My Chemical Romance are coming back to the UK… For the 1st time since 2022 when we all thought it would be the last hurrah…#MCRpic.twitter.com/vHWO5mK89j
At first, some were wondering whether this year’s revival might have also seen the resurrection of their much-mythologised but ultimately scrapped 2019 record, The Paper Kingdom, but it seems pretty much nailed on that their transatlantic followers are about to get some gigs.
It remains unclear whether these still TBC dates will be an extension of the current ‘Long Live The Black Parade‘ tour, which began on 11 July, or something new entirely.
Either way, with this current run of shows due to end in September and hints at a ‘nuclear winter’, it’s a fair assumption to guess that My Chemical Romance will be coming to the UK either later this year or early 2026 – and you bank on a big Manchester booking to be thrown in there too.
Daisy Jackson -
9th October 2023 
