Music legend Liam Gallagher is making the launch of the new Bee Network that much better by surprising Mancs with a series of special announcements on Metrolink trams this week.
The former Oasis frontman has teamed up with Transport for Greater Manchester and the Bee Network to be the voice of the Eccles tram line for the entire week as commuters travel in and out of Manchester city centre to make their journeys more entertaining.
Acting as the announcer on the pink line from Eccles all the way to Ashton-under-Lyne via Salford Quays and Media City UK from Wednesday until Sunday, 15 October, the iconic Manc musicians will be updating passengers on which stops they’re arriving at plenty more.
And, of course, in true LG fashion, the youngest Gallagher brother has made his voiceover revolve exactly what you’d expect: him being effortlessly funny, as laid-back as you can imagine and bigging up his beloved treble-winners, Manchester City. Here’s a taster.
Here is just one of multiple Liam Gallagher’s tram announcements.
Also set up as part of the celebrations for Beyond the Music, a brand-new Manc music festival and conference taking place until Saturday, 14 October, aiming to spotlight new music and grassroots venues, they managed to get one of the biggest names in the business to lend his pipes for the week.
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Teasing the surprise announcements in a statement earlier this week, a spokesperson for Liam Gallagher said: “Liam’s doing his bit to get behind the festival and encourage people to get into the city and support new up-and-coming talent.
“When the request was first made by Bee Network champion Andy Burnham, Liam loved the idea of surprising tram users by doing the announcements and he was given the chance to choose his favourite line. You’ll have to get onto a tram into the city to find out which it is!”
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We can now confirm that it is indeed the Eccles line, so if you’re heading that way or simply fancy a fun journey narrated by one of Manchester’s musical heroes, tap on to the tram sometime this week — just make sure to tap off!
Liam Gallagher is voicing Manchester tram announcements this week – and he's got a special message for those arriving at the Etihad stop 😂😂
Greater Manchester Mayor Burnham said it was “truly wonderful” to see the inaugural Beyond the Music finally taking place with such a strong line-up in venues across the city.
The founding member of the Beyond the Music co-operative, alongside Manchester City Council, CityCo and the city centre BIDs, AO Arena, Coop Live and Factory International, added: “We are supporting it all the way and are confident that it will become a fixture in the city’s calendar.
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“True to Manchester’s traditions, Beyond The Music is a cooperative endeavour which aims to give all players in the music industry an equal voice and equal say on the change it needs. By doing that, our aim is to strengthen one of Manchester’s, and Britain’s, most important exports.
“There surely can’t be any better way of marking the launch of the Bee Network and the first Beyond The Music than getting one of Manchester’s most famous voices announcing the stops on his favourite Metrolink line.
“It means a lot to us that Liam has agreed to do this and show his support for his home city”, he continued. “Supporting our music venues and giving people cheaper and better public transport to and from our gigs is what we’re all about.
“I am sure that Liam’s dulcet tones will wake up a few early-morning commuters, brighten up many a journey and produce a lot of smiles along the way.”
More than 100 artists will be performing at 17 different grassroots venues across the city for the inaugural Beyond The Music fest, and punters are being urged to make the most of the new Bee Network system to travel around the city to both enjoy and support Manchester’s incredible music heritage.
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You can find out more about Beyond The Music festival, including a select number of free live sets that you can enjoy around Manchester city centre down below:
Jimmy Bradbury, Reuben Haycocks, Aoife Anson O’Connell, and Paddy Murphy – better known together as Westside Cowboy – formed back in 2023 when they were students at the Royal Northern College of Music, so while they may not all be from Manchester, they definitely have the spirit of our city at the heart of everything they do.
After playing in different bands across the city throughout their student years, the four-piece joined forces to create Westside Cowboy – an indie rock collective credited with self-coining the genre of ‘Britainicana’.
Put simply, Britainicana is a cultural concept that mixes the hazy, mythic feel of American country and folk, with the sound of raw British punk, indie rock, and small-town life.
Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On / Credit: Clementine Schniedermann (Press Shots – Supplied)
If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you’ll be pleased to know that Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On, to the world today (21 August).
And the reception from critics, arguably, couldn’t be better.
Prior to the release of their debut album, the band had released two EPs, including So Much Country ‘Till We Get There in January earlier this year, and had started to make a name for themselves with their popular debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ in 2024.
They went onto make even further waves when they supported equally-rising American rock band Geese on their UK and Irish tour back in March – with many fans calling it one of the best support and main act combinations in some time.
Three singles from their debut album were shared with the world ahead of its release – ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ came first, followed by ‘Pin Up Boys’ and ‘Dobro’.
So, it’s fair to say the anticipation for album was high… and if the reviews are anything to go by (which we think they are), it looks like the band has very much delivered what they set out to achieve.
Westside Cowboy’s debut album It Goes On is now available to stream, or you can purchase a physical copy in a range of formats from their website here.
Take a listen👇
Featured Image – Press Shot (Supplied)
News
UK set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn
Emily Sergeant
The UK is being told to brace for a series of storms this autumn when the ‘unprecedented’ El Niño weather event arrives.
It’s already been a summer of extremes for the country, with multiple heatwaves over the past couple of months, but now it appears that autumn and winter are set to have some extremes of their own, as the Met Office is warning that this upcoming El Niño could be one of the most significant in recent memory.
El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5°C above the long-term average, which therefore impacts global rainfall patterns and average temperatures.
The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3°C in the coming months, according to the Met Office, making this year’s weather event have the potential to be ‘the largest since the 19th century’.
The UK is set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn / Credit: Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)
El Niño will create a heightened risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa, and north eastern Australia, but over in north western Europe – including the UK – it means we are likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions.
The UK, and of course Greater Manchester, is absolutely no stranger to a storm around this time of year, but forecasters say this could be an entirely different beast.
“We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” warned Professor Adam Scaife, who is the Head of Long Range Forecasting at the Met Office.
“I have never seen an El Nino signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Professor Scaife concluded: “A typical El Nino leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between one to 2°C, with 2°C being a really big event. This implies that, if the forecast is accurate, and other forecast systems show similar extreme values, then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Niño and its worldwide climate influences.’
Forecasters and officials, however, have warned that it could take months of sustained rainfall before rivers, reservoirs, and groundwaters are ‘completely replenished’ – which is when a drought can officially be declared as over.
It also warned drought conditions could persist into the new year as, despite El Niño, as current forecasts do not suggest this autumn will have the amount of rainfall needed to drive recovery.
Danny Jones -
11th October 2023 
