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Sleep Token announce headline UK arena tour, including massive Manchester gig
The genre-bending, masked metal band are heading straight to Manchester's newest and biggest venue.
The fast-rising and genre-bending rock group Sleep Token have announced their biggest-ever headline tour in the UK and will be coming to Manchester later this year — and wait until you find out where they’re playing.
For anyone yet to discover the progressive metal band, the masked outfit is probably providing one of the most unique and sprawling sounds in the industry right now, fusing everything from heavy rock and jazz to alternative electronic music and straight-up piano ballads.
Having built a steady but solid cult following since 2016, very little is known about the mysterious metalheads other than the fact they’re from London and have been blowing up worldwide on platforms like TikTok.
While this isn’t their first visit to the UK by any stretch, their recent surge in popularity has seen them skip more than a few steps on the way up to playing the biggest venues around the world and are now set to play none other than Manchester’s brand-new Co-op Live Arena.
Scoring a slot at what is set to be Europe’s largest and most sustainable indoor entertainment arena when it opens is no mean feat and just serves as more proof that Sleep Token are absolutely massive. Their legions of ‘worshippers’ would argue they already are.
Part of the obsession with them is the distinct look, culture and relationship with the fans; many of them have fully bought into the very specific mystical and gothic aesthetic, often likened to a religious following as opposed to a straightforward crowd.
With a whole subset of lore and mythology erected around them and their deity-like frontman, ‘Vessel’, for a lot of people, listening to this band is more than just popping in some headphones and pressing shuffle — so much so that they helped get them to number three in the UK and saw their latest record
Set to play Co-op Live on Tuesday, 26 November — being one of the first to be given the honour of kicking off its first year of events — the Manchester date is just one date in a small handful of five shows which also includes London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cardiff. Again, huge.
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Estimated to play in front of more than 75,000 fans over the course of the limited run, this will, without doubt, be one of their biggest tours to date anywhere, and if you haven’t listened to them before now might be the time.
It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, but if you’re into your heavier stuff and want to hear a band doing stuff like very few other artists on the planet are right now, maybe give them a go.
Tickets for Sleep Token’s 2024 UK tour and their Manchester gig go on general sale this Friday, 9 February at 10am and you can grab yours HERE, or you can go for presale by signing up to the mailing list from Wednesday, 7 Feb.
We know we say this a lot but, trust us, these things are going to sell out in the blink of an eye.
For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.
Featured Images — Press Image (via Co-op Live)/Drew de F Fawkes (via Flickr)
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Pussycat Dolls cancel wave of tour dates due to poor ticket sales
Daisy Jackson
Pussycat Dolls have finally addressed the swirling rumours that they would be cancelling their upcoming PCD Forever world tour.
The girl group announced a major comeback as a trio – Nicole Scherzinger, Kimberly Wyatt, and Ashley Roberts – and their biggest international run in years.
The new Pussycat Dolls tour included a significant run of shows in Europe, including a Manchester date at Co-op Live.
But now it appears the rumours of low demand are true, and the group are cancelling an entire leg of their world tour – though thankfully, Manchester appears to have made it through safely.
In an open letter shared with fans, Pussycat Dolls said that they have had to take ‘an honest look’ at the tour and have made ‘the difficult and heartbreaking decision’ to cancel a number of concerts.
The Buttons singers will now play just one of their scheduled dates in North America, which will be the WeHo Pride event in LA, acknowledging the importance of performing at the LGBTQ+ celebration.
Addressing rumours that European dates would also be cancelled, they wrote: “Our UK and European dates are still moving forward as planned, and the response has been incredible, with several shows already sold out.
“We are putting everything into making this show a true celebration of the music and the memories, for the fans who have been with us from the beginning and those discovering us for the first time.
“We’re working hard to create the kind of show we’ve always dreamed of bringing to you. We cannot wait to bring this reunion to Europe and make these nights unforgettable.”
Pussycat Dolls signed off: “Thank you for your love, patience, and support.”
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Featured image: Publicity picture, Rankin
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Five Finger Death Punch announce massive anniversary show in Manchester
Danny Jones
Five Finger Death Punch have announced a massive Manchester gig as part of their newly announced 20th anniversary tour.
Still one of our favourite unapologetic band names ever.
The heavy metal outfit is celebrating two whole decades of smashing you in the face with their hard riffs and aggressive vocals, and they’re bringing some other big hitters on the road with them.
Booking Manchester city centre’s AO Arena for the big birthday bash, this is going to be one hard-as-nails show.
Toasting the milestone at the start of 2027, the long-standing Las Vegas outfit will be coming to Manchester for the first time in the best part of a decade.
‘FFDP’, as they’re often abbreviated to, have played several substantial shows here over the years, including arena slots, but fans have had to wait a long time to see them return.
With a new album coming at some point this year – this being their 10th studio LP – we might not have a release date just yet, but you can guarantee die-hards will be snapping up tickets to hear their latest tracks live whenever it does finally drop.
Better still for metalheads, they’ve got not one but TWO popular contemporaries joining them across their extensive EU, UK and IE tour.
In addition to support from Scotland’s very own Bleed From Within, they’ve also got fellow veterans Lamb Of God as another one of their ‘warm-up’ acts.
Yeah, right… This place will be absolutely bouncing by the time the main event makes it to the stage.
Having just dropped their 10th record this year, too, the two heavyweights have plenty of parallels in their increasingly seasoned and successful careers; you could say they’re the perfect touring partners.
Speaking of which, you can see the full list of Five Finger Death Punch dates on the UK leg of their European tour run down below.
Five Finger Death Punch UK show – 2026 tour
- 16 Jan 2027 – Manchester, AO Arena
- 17 Jan 2027 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro Arena
- 19 Jan 2027 – Dublin, 3Arena
- 22 Jan 2027 – Birmingham, BP Pulse Arena
- 23 Jan 2027 – London, O2 Arena
As always with the AO, you can enjoy early access if you’re a Three Mobile member, and the band’s official pre-sale will be available via their mailing list from 10am this Wednesday (6 May).
For those simply looking to grab general admission, you can get ready to grab your tickets to see Five Finger Death Punch live in Manchester on from the same time on Friday, 8 May, right HERE.
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Featured Images — Press shots (supplied via AO)
Danny Jones -
5th February 2024 
