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Manchester music collective and label Swing Ting announce last ever release

The final release marks the end of over a decade of Swing Ting parties, once a monthly fixture in the Soup Kitchen basement

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 25th January 2022

After eight years of making music and thirty-six imprint releases later, seminal Manchester music collective and label Swing Ting has announced its last drop – and it’s a belter.

Finishing on a high, the Swing Ting label has dropped a collection of remixes of Manchester MC Fox’s debut 2019 album Juice Flow, which focused on his own journey whilst working with the collective over the years.

A stalwart of the Manchester scene, Fox has appeared regularly as a vocalist on Swing Ting’s releases as well as acting as a resident MC at the now-discontinued club nights that once filled Soup Kitchen’s basement with ravers every month.

So it seems only fitting that he’s all over the final release, too.

MC Fox pictured outside Soup Kitchen, the home of the Swing Ting dance in Manchester, where the collective hosted monthly parties from 2011-2019. / Image: F_13zm

The culmination of a decade of performing at Swing Ting dances, the original Juice Flow album featured a star-studded guest-list of worldwide collaborators, friends and family.

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Now, this new Juice Flow Remixed package sees producers Lenzman, Nowheretobefound, Sam Binga and Sherry S retouch and revisit four of the original thirteen tracks with a contemporary edge.

Firstly, North-Quarter’s Lenzman flips the Tappa Benz featuring Day Ones into a sweet, soulful drum and bass roller that has already been getting rotation from scene heavyweights. Opening with the line “Out to my day ones and my day twos / Shout to my bredrins and my stay trues,” it all feels a bit emotional.

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North-Quarter’s Lenzman / Image: Izzy Gramp

Next, mysterious Nowheretobefound takes the eponymouse title cut on a breezy, blissed-out soulful garage tip, before Sam Binga takes the Coco-featuring Rebel Souljah on a bubbling, percussive UK funky-ish workout.

Last but not least, Sherry S steps up for the final rework, ramping up the tempo of the Anz-produced Live Life for a roughneck, two-step banger set to cause club damage. 

Set to drop on Friday 4 February, it is the last ever release on the Swing Ting label – first founded in 2014.

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Image: Swing Ting

Read more: Manchester club night Swing Ting is ending after 13 years

Over the years, the Manchester label has achieved global acclaim from the likes of Mixmag, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag, Pan African Music, Riddim Magazine and The Wire with wide support across BBC 1Xtra, Radio 1, NTS live and more.

Just like Swing Ting itself, Fox has never been one to be held down to one particular sound and this final release seems a fitting tribute to both.

A mix of bass-heavy party sounds spanning a range of genres, Juice Flow Remixed sees them exit out on a high in a fitting tribute to many years of hard work and floor-filling party bangers.

Feature image – Swing TIng

Audio

Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live, Manchester – tickets, times, setlist and more for ‘intimate’ UK tour

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia

The red-headed, guitar-strumming, lyrical genius, also known as Ed Sheeran, is back, and he’s heading to Co-op Live for one night only as part of his current UK tour.

‘Bad Habits’, ‘Shape of You’, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, Sheeran has built quite an impressive music catalogue over the years and amassed a whopping 60 billion streams while doing so.

The UK music heavyweight scored his ninth number one album with Play, all while adding two more top ten hits to his discography with ‘Azizam’ and ‘Sapphire’, driving his overall top ten singles total to 43 – that’s ‘Perfect’.

Last week, Sheeran dropped his latest musical addition, Play (Deluxe), which features 14 brand new tracks, and lucky fans who have tickets to these upcoming shows will be eager to see which ones he adds to his setlist.

Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live, Manchester – all the key info you need to know

Ed Sheeran is performing a run of intimate shows in the UK including Co-op Live in Manchester / Credit: Press Shots (via Petros Studio)
Ed Sheeran is performing a run of intimate shows in the UK including Co-op Live in Manchester / Credit: Press Shots (via Petros Studio)
Ed Sheeran is performing a run of ‘intimate’ shows in the UK (Credit: Press Shots via Petros Studio)

Now he’s bringing his huge hits to Manchester’s biggest indoor entertainment venue, Co-op Live, just across from the ‘Castle on the Hill’, Etihad Stadium, which Sheeran has performed at on eight occasions.

Ed Sheeran UK tour dates

  • Fri 5 December – Coventry, UK – Coventry CBS
  • Sun 7 December – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
  • Tue 9 December – Dublin, IE – 3Arena

Ed Sheeran tickets for Co-op Live gig

If you’re patiently trying not to get your hopes up, thinking about tickets for Sheeran’s latest gig while simultaneously saying ‘I Don’t Care’, think again.

All you ‘Beautiful People’ after tickets to go see Ed Sheeran when he plays out at Co-op Live on 7 December, you’re in luck as there’s a handful waiting to get snapped up HERE.

Ed Sheeran setlist

Prepare yourself, but with 43 top ten hits next to his name, it’s no surprise Sheeran’s setlist is quite a lengthy one; here’s what he performed at his Paris show earlier this month:

  • Give Me Love
  • Castle on the Hill
  • Shivers
  • Sapphire
  • The A Team
  • Don’t
  • Boat / Life Goes On
  • Galway Girl
  • Nancy Mulligan
  • Old Phone
  • Celestial
  • One / Photograph
  • Thinking Out Loud
  • Eastside / 2002 / Cold Water / Little Things / Love Yourself
  • I See Fire
  • River / Peru / Beautiful People / I Don’t Care
  • Camera
  • Slowly
  • Perfect
  • Symmetry
  • Bloodstream
  • You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
  • Shape of You
  • Azizam
  • Bad Habits
  • Afterglow
  • Merry Christmas

What are the stage times for Ed Sheeran in Manchester?

Ed Sheeran is bringing this short string of tour dates to Coventry, Ireland and Manchester / Credit: Mark Surridge and Petros Studio (via Press Shots)
Ed Sheeran is bringing this short string of tour dates to Coventry, Ireland and Manchester / Credit: Mark Surridge and Petros Studio (via Press Shots)
Credit: Mark Surridge and Petros Studio

Co-op Live has a strict curfew of 11pm, meaning you can ‘2step’ to this chart-topping superstar’s tracks and get tucked up in bed before the early hours of the morning.

Anyone attending can expect the doors to open from 6pm, and not one but two very special guests as the support acts: contemporary Irish band, Biird, and folk duo, Nizlopi, who Ed Sheeran has been a big fan of for a long time now.

You can hear more about his connection with the group down below.

How to get to Co-op Live

Tram

For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.

Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.

Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre and until 1:00am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Bus

You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live. You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.

Getting there by car and parking

If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue, but this must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are designated drop-off areas.

The postcode is M11 3DU, and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.

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Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide come event day, though estimates will obviously vary:

  • Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
  • Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
  • Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.

There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:

  • Ashton Moss (Ashton line) – 183 spaces and 12 disabled spaces
  • Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
  • Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces

Walk/cycle

Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.

Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes through the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.

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For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Petros Studio and Mark Surridge (via Press Shots)

Audio

Hazlett at Manchester Academy 3 – some of the best ‘sad and depressing songs’ you could ever ask for

Danny Jones Danny Jones Hazlett live review Manchester

On Thursday evening, we finally got to see Hazlett in a small, tightly-packed room here in Manchester and have maybe never heard so many people sing so expertly quietly so as not to even remotely dullen the stunning voice of this rising solo artist.

For anyone who isn’t aware of Hazlett, he’s an Australian singer-songwriter who has been gradually growing in popularity over the last couple of years, but his journey to where he is dates back much further than that.

Noticing a few familiar faces in the crowd from his last visit to the city for a performance at The Deaf Institute just over a year ago – one we sadly missed and have been kicking ourselves ever since – he acknowledged that many may already know his story, but it’s nevertheless worth sharing with the class.

After self-deprecating (how oh-so British) about gigging in pubs when he was younger, and being told to stick to covers rather than try any of his own material, he moved to Sweden in 2019 and fell in love with not only a much more seasonal European but winter, specifically. No wonder he looked at home here.

manchester academy gig 2025
hazlett live review
Here’s our review of Hazlett at Manchester Academy 3, 4/12/2025. (Credit: Audio North)

Kicking off with one of his best-known tracks, ‘Please Don’t Be’, it immediately struck us how full and mournful it all felt in the flesh – arguably even more so than the studio version we’ve been playing in our headphones since 2023.

The atmospheric but not over-produced engineering is an aspect we’ve always admired about Hazlett‘s discography, and we were so relieved it came across on the night, with the Brisbane-born ex-pat crediting his talented live band with helping bring that same sound to life on stage.

It’s a regular trapping, we’ve found, when it comes to acoustic-led music; that instinct, perhaps, for an artist and/or a producer to use seemingly as many of the tools at their disposal as possible just because they’re available to them.

Sadly, this easy pitfall often ends up taking away from what makes those tunes so beautiful to begin with – but not in this case.

The rising solo star seemed to have an expert command not only of his vocals, but the second mic that added those subtle and yet stirring layers, and built those moving, almost ethereal effects on top of the words themselves.

Honestly, we were literally in awe of him just whistling…

Admittedly, it’s hard to put a finger on what exactly made this such a special show, but we think it is THAT same appreciation and embrace of colder months and how it’s inspired his music.

Just bear with us for a minute, it’ll make sense soon.

He actually said it was one of the things he loves the most about people in this country, and this specific part of the world, as well as other parts of Europe, such as his now beloved Sweden, where he says he found his creative spark.

It’s that feeling of the weather and the mood it brings so intensely that he says it helped him write ‘Bones Shake’, which was fittingly chilling as he played it to the spellbound, would-be choir, and could hear the soft sibilance of people gently repeating those S-sounds back to him.

There’s a genuine sense of being able to chart the slight sorrow in the passing of time through the seasons, and while some may not be afforded that same feeling from the sun-soaked shores of his homeland, it’s a concept he’s really run with – especially on his most recent LP.

Simply titled, last night you said you missed me, it’s almost something he kind of tried to resist, confessing that he wrote and finished the album in the space of about a month, fearing that it couldn’t be good enough/ready purely because it came together so quickly.

Given that two specific tracks from this record made a lady standing with us well up and eventually shed several tears (you know who you are), we’d say he absolutely nailed it.

hazlett manchester academy live gig review 2025
hazlett singer
Our only minor gripe was not getting to hear ‘Tell Me What You Dream About’. (Credit: The Manc)

He did joke that his set is filled with nothing but “a bunch of sad and depressing songs” and had a laugh at the idea of people being “dragged along” without any real idea of who he is or the kind of stuff he makes, but having now witnessed him play live, we can assure you it’s much more than that.

Bloom Mountain was an emotional, magical debut that found us in a particular place and time in our lives that we’ll always appreciate, but hearing him knit it together with his newest material confirmed to us that his music has to be more than listened to – it has to be felt.

Like the changing of the seasons. Like the winter. Like the cold.

We unfortunately didn’t manage to make it in time to watch the support act, Hans Williams, but judging by the reaction from the audience who did get in there early enough, the authentic but inventive stylings of the Americana, folk and soul-infused indie-pop artist, he definitely won over plenty of new fans.

As Mitchell Hazlett Lewis, to use his full name, he’s had our hearts since the very start and will continue to do so for however long he keeps bringing his relatable lyricism, delicate but impressive guitar-picking and gentle charm to Manchester.

Please check out his tour dates and see him the next time he’s in town. You can guarantee you’ll find

Please enjoy the song from his latest album that he says his mum likes best.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — The Manc Group

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