Audio

Manchester’s AO Arena completes £50m transformation with a promise to elevate every person’s gig experience

A brand new bar and restaurant, larger standing space, and loads more to look forward to.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 24th January 2024

The AO Arena welcomed Andy Burnham and Blossoms today to celebrate the completion of its £50m redevelopment.

As the biggest indoor venue in the UK and one of the busiest in the world, the AO Arena is now working to even further elevate the guest experience, from start to finish.

Its huge investment has seen new features added like an increased standing floor capacity in the arena bowl itself, a brand new lower concourse bar area with capacity for 6,000 (plus new bars in the main concourse), and new entrances to make getting in and out of the arena the quickest in Europe.

Then there is the crowning jewel at the AO Arena, its new bar and restaurant The Mezz, set to open in March, which will welcome a new partnership with chefs Simon Rogan MBE and Tom Barnes of soon-to-open Skof.

To mark its monumental redevelopment, the AO Arena invited Stockport legends Blossoms to place their hands in cement on the concourse, leaving their mark permanently on the city’s most iconic venue.

Blossoms said: “When the AO Arena opened again after Covid, we were the first band to play a gig here. We’re excited to celebrate the official topping out of the redevelopments and look forward to seeing what the future AO Arena has to offer.”

The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham was also in attendance to celebrate the landmark moment, speaking of all the shows he’s seen over the years (Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Elbow all highlights, apparently).

The improvements to the venue aren’t just on a fan level either – work has also included a complete back of house overhaul including an artist green room, dressing rooms and crew facilities.

Andy Burnham and Blossoms attended the AO Arena today to celebrate the completion of its £50m transformation. Credit: Supplied
Andy Burnham and Blossoms attended the AO Arena today to celebrate the completion of its £50m transformation. Credit: Supplied
Blossoms placed their handprints in cement and spoke at the AO Arena today to celebrate the completion of its £50m transformation. Credit: Supplied
Blossoms placed their handprints in cement and spoke at the AO Arena today to celebrate the completion of its £50m transformation. Credit: Supplied

AO has also announced it is extending its naming rights partnership of the 21,000 capacity, 30-year-old venue all the way into 2030.

The AO Arena’s £50m transformation includes a new VIP entrance, a members only bar and restaurant, a brand new lower concourse, an improved focus on customer safety measures, and full wall wraps highlighting the venue’s iconic milestones.

On the concourse, there’ll be a brand new food and drink offering, including handcrafted burgers, salt and pepper chicken and accompanying vegan options including smash meat-free burgers with vegan smoked applewood and vegan loaded fries, as well as vegan bratwurst with sauerkraut in a vegan brioche bun topped with crispy onions and served with vegan chilli cheese sauce.

Over the years, the AO Arena has welcomed the biggest names in music and sport, such as Prince, Elton John, New Order, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Billie Eilish, Oasis, Dua Lipa and The Courteeners, plus of course Peter Kay’s record-breaking 50+ date residency (which is still ongoing, by the way…), and has also played host to The Commonwealth Games, The Davis Cup, boxing bouts with Mike Tyson, Anthony Joshua, Ricky Hatton and much more.

Visited by more than one million people each year, the AO Arena is promising this will be its best year yet, raising tens of thousands of pounds and giving hundreds of hours to local community projects.

And coming up this year alone there’ll be more Peter Kay Live, The 1975, Bill Bailey, Niall Horan, Ne-Yo, and plenty more to be announced.

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Featured image: supplied

Audio

Revenue from Manchester’s ‘big gigs’ to go towards supporting local grassroots music venues

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Manchester City Council is set to earmark almost £250,000 to support grassroots music venues in the city.

Following on from the success of the city’s huge summer of music, which in recent weeks has seen hundreds of thousands of fans converge in the city to see massive names like Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Charlie XCX, Elbow, and Robbie Williams, as well as other talents like Fontaines D.C. and Sam Fender still yet to come.

Oh yeah, and there was also that small matter of Oasis reuniting for five nostalgia-drenched gigs in Manchester’s Heaton Park earlier last month.

Over the course of the summer, it has been estimated that Manchester will have attracted a whopping 1.3 million music tourists, which is being described as a ‘tremendous’ boost for the city’s economy as a whole, especially the hospitality industry.

Concert crowd
Revenue made from Manchester’s ‘big gigs’ this summer is to go towards supporting local grassroots music venues / Credit: Eldhose Kuriyan | Joshua Hanson (via Unsplash)

These huge events are also generating income for the Council too, either by being hosted in the city’s largest parks with commercial arrangements for their use, or through the business rates paid by major venues – and it’s this income that has been earmarked to go towards supporting grassroots music venues throughout the city.

As well as reinvesting part of this revenue into parks and greenspaces, the Council is planning to set aside £245,000 to be made available in financial support for Manchester’s grassroots venues.

While exact details are in the process of being finalised, the intention is that the scheme will be administered by the Music Venue Trust to ensure that the money gets to where it is needed as ‘quickly and effectively’ as possible.

It’s estimated that Manchester will have welcomed 1.3 million music tourists before summer’s out / Credit: Nathan Mullet (via Unsplash)

“Manchester is a big noise in the music world,” commented Councillor Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council, “and this summer, all eyes have been on the city as we’ve hosted some huge concerts and seen unprecedented success in our large venues.

“But while the biggest gigs might dominate the headlines, we know they are only possible because they are part of a wider ecosystem, with grassroots venues providing the launchpads for acts to develop and grow.

“We know that across the country, grassroots venues are struggling. That’s why we want to ensure that our grassroots venues can share some of the benefit from the success of those big events.

“We’re blessed in Manchester with an array of great smaller venues.

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“They are there to be enjoyed and I’d encouraged anyone who values them to get out and support them.”

Featured Image – Rahul Kukreja (via Unsplash)

Audio

Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | July 2025

Danny Jones Danny Jones New Manchester music artists July 2025

Hello again, it’s us: The Manc, or more specifically, our Audio North arm – back to talk about the music coming out of Greater Manchester that we’ve been listening to over the past month.

If you’re new here, it really is as simple as that, and whether they’re revered veterans of the region’s music scene or what we think might be the next up-and-coming thing, as long as it’s from ’round our way, we’ll give it a chance.

Five native artists, three recommended tracks from each and hopefully hours of exciting new listening if you play your cards right.

Headphones and playlists at the ready. Here’s what we had on in July.

Manchester music we’ve been into recently

1. poor effort

We’re kicking things off with an experimental project from Salford-born and Manchester-based musician and writer, Matty Dagger, whose new outing in the spoken word space immediately caught our attention when it came down the grapevine. It’s a bit alternative, a bit punk and very Manc. We love it.

Some might say it’s reminiscent of Yard Act and Sleaford Mods, which would be fair, but more specifically, our first listens gave us Stockport’s very own Hello Cosmos with a sprinkling of Oldham’s Seb Lowe (both previous monthly picks). The lyrical/vocal delivery is charmingly casual and anecdotal.

Dagger’s poor effort couldn’t be anything less than; there seems to be a very considered approach to the more electronic style of spoken word and poetry-driven music. You can complete the discography already, but we’d start with ‘you’re wrong, i’m right (symphony)’, ‘HMRC’, and then ‘City of Hope’.

Cool visual aesthetics going on too.

2. Victoria Jane

Next up is a big knee-jerking turn in genre and overall temperament, as if Dagger has been making us pay microscopic attention to every word and Greater Mancunian reference, this local musician hooked us in with her somewhat quieter but inviting timbre of voice and smooth, almost sleepy melodies at times.

Victoria Jane may have been born in London, having previously collaborated as part of the Vibbar collective, but having moved to 0161 as a kid and falling in love with Man United, she’s always immersed herself in the Northern way. The R’n’B act also presents BBC Radio 1 ‘Future Soul’ show.

Her work really hits all the notes you want, from smooth and soulful singing, to not quite voice cracks but soft, intentional breaks that often feel nigh on agonising – as if she’s into you and welcoming you to slump back the other way. ‘The One’, ‘Voicenote Freestyle’ and ‘On My Own’ are our picks.

3. Phellotape

Number three is, admittedly, another big whiplash when it comes to overall experience, but it’s one of the most unique musical discoveries we’ve made in a hit minute. This musical duo is called Phellotape, conceived by double bassist Alice Phelps and multi-instrumentalist producer Thomas ‘Twem’ Twemlow.

They met while playing in the queer alt-rock outfit, The Irrepressibles, but this project could be branded as anything from alternative and/or experimental to maybe even art pop. All we know is the multi-talented mix of instruments within almost every section, and pulling from numerous styles is pretty staggering.

Rather fittingly, there are only two recorded tracks to their name so far; ‘Rain’ is a quiet, atmospheric song that puts you in mind of London Grammar with a mix of the xx and Massive Attack, while ‘Hungry Ghost’ is quite easily one of the most interesting tunes we’ve heard in the past decade. No exaggeration.

4. 10cc

Fancing something more familiar for number four? Well, as a born and bred Stopfordian myself, every now and again I go back and admire some of the incredible names that recorded at the town’s famous Strawberry Studios – one of which is Stockport‘s very own 10cc. Great name, great band.

The moment I heard my then-teenage brother play ‘Donna’, I was baffled as to why he was playing what I then just dismissed as “old music”, before it quickly got stuck in my head. Is it their best tune? No. Does it still hold a special place in my head and heart? Yes. Do they have other standouts? Absolutely.

For the record, while most people recognise the likes of the controversial ‘Dreadlock Holiday’, I’d argue ‘Good Morning Judge’ is their best track and the first time I listened to it, I thought it was one of the coolest sounding intros ever. Still do. ‘I’m Not In Love’ with them, but they are a core childhood memory.

A hugely undercelebrated of Greater Manchester music history (Credit: AVRO/Dirk Annemans (via Wikimedia Commons)

5. Oasis

Speaking of legends who evoke nothing but feelings of hometown pride, legacy and pure admiration, it’d be the most see-through lie ever to pretend that we haven’t spent most of this last month listening to the almighty Oasis amid their comeback tour.

We had the pleasure of being there at Heaton Park and up on ‘Gallagher Hill’, which now has its own precious place in British music history, and July as a whole still feels akin to a fever dream and similar to what we imagine Glastonbury is like for those nearby when it takes over their entire universe.

July 2025 really was “biblical” and we don’t think we’ll ever get over it, so, last but not least, we’d thought we’d give a special shout-out to some of our favourite tracks that didn’t make the setlist. ‘Don’t Go Away’, ‘Shock of the Lightning’, ‘Round Are Way’. Done.

As The Masterplan proved, everything from the so-called ‘filler’ album tracks to those B-sides is better than most other bands could dream of. As you were x

Oasis are clearly doing something very deliberate for the as-yet-unconfirmed Live ’25 reunion album
We can’t NOT get carried away as long as Live ’25 reunion season goes on, a.k.a. ‘Manchester Music Christmas’.

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Featured Images — University of Salford/Soundcloud/Jamie Soule (supplied)

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