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Johnny Marr slams Donald Trump for playing The Smiths at a recent political rally
No, it wasn't 'Bigmouth Strikes Again'.
Legendary Manc musician Johnny Marr has gone viral on social media after he came out to condemn a recent Donald Trump rally after they chose to play The Smiths.
Nope, not having that — and neither is Johnny.
The Smiths guitarist and rock and roll icon was made aware of Trump’s campaign team using the band’s music after ABC political reporter Soorin Kimshar shared a video of the classic track, ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’, being played at a rally in Rapid City, South Dakota in September 2023.
Having replied to a post detailing that “the new addition to [Trump’s] pre-rally music is The Smiths” before he took the stage in Laconia, New Hampshire on Tuesday, 23 January, it turns out that Trump and his team have been using their music at political rallies for a while now.
Probably up there with one of the very last places on Earth you want to hear the art of Marr’s guitar lines, Morrissey‘s vocals, Andy Rourke’s bass and Mike Joyce’s drumming, the 60-year-old didn’t waste any time in flagging it.
Starting off by simply writing, “Ahh…right…OK.”, Marr went on to say: “I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this sh*t shut right down right now.
It remains unclear how the Ardwick-born songwriter is going about preventing Trump and co. from using The Smiths’ music in the future, he is by no means the only artist to have found himself in a similar situation, with Adele, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and even The Beatles doing similarly protesting.
Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones went so far as to issue the former President with cease and desists in an effort to have their music pulled — Marr could do the same — but in the case of Prince, for instance, Trump has reportedly continued to use his tracks on occasion despite the demands of his estate.
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We can always trust social media to come up with witty responses, even if they did take up all The Smiths puns; ‘hang the DJ’ came to mind immediately but sadly I always ‘Want the One I Can’t Have’…
Although Morrisey continues to be a divisive figure, even managing to ruffle feathers when people were paying tribute to the late Sinéad O’Connor, Marr has remained equally outspoken against right-wing politicians, even telling David Cameron he was ‘forbidden’ to like The Smiths.
Safe to say we’re happy to limit playing the The Smiths in headphones, pubs and car radios in future.
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Featured Image — Man Alive! (via Flickr)/Michael Candelori (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 -
24th January 2024 
