Ed Sheeran has announced a surprise arena tour, and he’s set to take to this stage here in Manchester in just a few weeks time.
It’s hard to keep up with the global megastar today.
It was only this morning the chart-topping singer songwriter announced on his Instagram that his sixth studio album, titled Subtract, will be released on 5 May – but now, just a few hours after breaking the internet with his first bit of news, Sheeran has announced that he’ll be stepping on stage at several major arenas.
The multi award-winner will be heading out on a six-date arena tour of the UK and Europe, and he’s kicking things off right here in Manchester with a massive show this month.
Sheeran will take over the AO Arena for one-night-only on Thursday 23 March 2023.
After he’s entertained the masses in Manchester, the ‘Shape of You’ singer will then continue on his tour with two dates in London, followed by shows in Glasgow, Dublin, and Paris all throughout March and April, before his new album drops.
Announcing the tour on his social media platforms this afternoon, Ed teased that he’ll not only be belting out a whole host of fan-favourite songs from his past five chart-topping albums, but he’ll also play a brand-new single before it’s released out into the world.
Sheeran candidly revealed this morning that he was “spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety” after a really difficult month in his personal life when he decided to turn to songwriting as “therapy” and make his new album.
He explained that he’d been working on the album for the best part of a decade, but in the space of a week, decided to replace it all with songs written from his “deepest darkest thoughts”.
The singer-songwriter said the new album is like “opening the trapdoor into his soul”.
“For the first time, I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life,” Sheeran said in his statement.
Ed Sheeran to play huge Manchester show THIS MONTH on surprise arena tour / Credit: Ed Sheeran
Understandably, tickets for the shows are expected to be in high demand.
Tickets will go on general sale next Friday 10 March at 9am, although fans can pre-order the new album before 9am on Tuesday 7 March via his official website if they want to gain early access to the ticket pre-sale – which will be held on Wednesday 8 March at 9am.
You can sign up for pre-sale access here, and grab tickets when they go on sale here.
Featured Image – Ed Sheeran (via Instagram)
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My Chemical Romance fans are losing it as emo favourites appear to tease UK tour
Danny Jones
American alt-rock and emo favourites My Chemical Romance aren’t just back for one last Black Parade; it looks like they might be heading to the UK for more tour dates.
Not just a phase, never was.
My Chemical Romance (an entirely different kind of MCR) made yet another mighty return to the fore earlier this year, nearly two whole decades on from the release of the seminal album, which dropped in 2006 and has now been toured live again by the New Jersey band.
Playing the album IN FULL for the first time in years, they’ve been busy in North America delighting die-hard crowds, but now a recent teaser has got My Chem fans gearing up for UK and Ireland shows.
As you can see, MCR released the somewhat cryptic comedy sketch above, in which they seem to spoof a gameshow centred around a robot named ‘Quizzo’.
The host of this fictional programme goes on to explain that the result will determine “who will be the next lucky country to win the grand prize of one nuclear winter.”
It might only last for a few seconds, but the main takeaway is that the ‘who’ selected as the recipient of this upcoming prize is none other than the United Kingdom.
Combine that with a simple caption that reads, “Let’s show them what they’ve won”, it’d be hard not to jump to the conclusion that we Brits are about to pretend we’re ‘Teenagers’ again and chant ‘Na Na Na’ until our lungs give out.
In the time since the post went live, fans on this side of the pond have understandably started getting very excited…
My Chemical Romance are coming back to the UK… For the 1st time since 2022 when we all thought it would be the last hurrah…#MCRpic.twitter.com/vHWO5mK89j
At first, some were wondering whether this year’s revival might have also seen the resurrection of their much-mythologised but ultimately scrapped 2019 record, The Paper Kingdom, but it seems pretty much nailed on that their transatlantic followers are about to get some gigs.
It remains unclear whether these still TBC dates will be an extension of the current ‘Long Live The Black Parade‘ tour, which began on 11 July, or something new entirely.
Either way, with this current run of shows due to end in September and hints at a ‘nuclear winter’, it’s a fair assumption to guess that My Chemical Romance will be coming to the UK either later this year or early 2026 – and you bank on a big Manchester booking to be thrown in there too.
Featured Images — NBSTwo (via Flickr)/Reprise Records
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Adidas drop Liam and Noel Gallagher SPZL trainers
Daisy Jackson
Liam and Noel Gallagher have teamed up with adidas once again to create their very own SPZL trainers.
The sportswear giant has today dropped the designs for the adidas LG Achille SPZL and the adidas NG Marathon SPZL.
The sure-to-sell-out trainers will officially hit shelves in the new Manchester adidas store, and other stockists, next weekend.
The footwear drop coincides with the ongoing Oasis reunion tour, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people to the city when they played five nights in Heaton Park.
Liam and Noel themselves have maintained a close relationship with Gary Aspden, curator of the adidas SPZL range, for more than two decades.
They’re often seen sporting the iconic trainers and creating product collaborations, and now they’re back with a new Three Stripes partnership and their very own new adidas SPZL trainers.
Up first is Liam Gallaghers’s adidas SPZL, with the Oasis frontman asking to bring back a revised version of an archival runner, the adidas Achille.
The LG Achille SPZL features a khaki mesh base, chocolate brown stripes, a beige suede T-toe overlay, and a sand outside, with a motif of Liam on the tongue of the shoe.
Noel Gallagher’s NG Marathon SPZLs are his first collaborations with the brand since his immediate sell-out shoes back in 2017.
His are a new hybrid inspired by the adidas Marathon 85 silhouette, keeping the suede upper and rubber outsole of the Marathon 85 but with a deep navy/sky blue palette with a reworked toe box and midsole, as well as details like the Eco-Tex tongue and tonal eyelets.
Both shoes feature a portrait of their namesakes on the tongue, as well as spare laces, co-branded sock liners, and commemorative packaging.
The adidas LG Achille SPZL and the adidas NG Marathon SPZL are set to launch via adidas SPZL stockists and the adidas Carnaby and MCR retail stores on 16 August.
Emily Sergeant -
1st March 2023 
