Audio

Hozier at Sounds of the City, Castlefield Bowl, Manchester – tickets, setlist, support act

It's the big gig tonight.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 5th July 2023

Sounds of the City is back at Castlefield Bowl with a packed programme of outdoor live shows – and next on the agenda is Hozier.

Irish singer-songwriter Hozier will take to the stage in Manchester on 5 July, as part of his Unreal Unearth Tour 2023.

The Take Me To Church singer is back from a four-year hiatus, releasing EP Eat Your Young on St Patrick’s Day, which also happens to be his birthday.

His third studio album, Unreal Unearth, is due for release in August this year.

After his Castlefield Bowl gig, Hozier will embark on a further tour in December – but won’t be back in Manchester on that one.

The stage is set canal-side in Castlefield, with other headline performances from Blossoms, Two Door Cinema Club, and Bastille still to come, as well as shows from Pulp and The Lathums already finished.

Here’s everything you need to know about Hozier at Castlefield Bowl.

Who’s supporting Hozier?

Sounds of the City at Castlefield Bowl
Sounds of the City at Castlefield Bowl. Credit: Sam Neill

Hozier has two support acts joining him at Castlefield Bowl tonight.

One of which will be The Teskey Brothers, an Australian blues rock band from Melbourne.

They have three albums under their belts – Half Mile Harvest, Run Home Slow and The Winding Way – and will also be doing a signing at HMV Manchester from 5pm.

Also joining Hozier is Victoria Canal, a rising star from Germany who has already supported some other big names, including JP Saxe and Emily King, on their tours.

Estimated stage times

Stage times haven’t yet been announced for Hozier, but based on The Lathums gig – which had the same number of support acts – these will be the rough times.

5.30pm – Doors and DJ
7pm – Support act one
8pm – Support act two
9pm – Hozier
11pm – Curfew

Tickets

Tickets for Hozier are, sadly, totally sold out.

They were initially priced at £45 including booking fee – a bargain in today’s world of concert prices.

If you’re desperate to go, keep an eye on resale sites but make sure you’re buying from a trustworthy seller so you don’t get ripped off.

Weather forecast

Castlefield Bowl is an outdoor venue, with only a very small amount of cover by the amphitheatre seating.

The wet weather is set to mostly take a break for Hozier’s Sounds of the City gig on Wednesday night, thankfully.

Temperatures are set to peak at 18 degrees, with a low of 13 degrees, according to the Met Office.

There’s a 30% chance of light rain at 6pm, but otherwise things are looking dry if cloudy.

Expected setlist

A previous Sounds of the City gig at Castlefield Bowl
A previous Sounds of the City gig at Castlefield Bowl. Credit: FAC51 The Hacienda

The below is the setlist Hozier used for his gig at Piece Hall in Halifax last week.

Eat Your Young
Jackie and Wilson
From Eden
To Be Alone
Dinner & Diatribes
Francesca
Cherry Wine
Like Real People Do
All Things End
Would That I
Someone New
Almost (Sweet Music)
Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene
Movement
Take Me to Church
Unknown/Nth
Work Song

About Castlefield Bowl

Castlefield Bowl is an amphitheatre-style outdoor venue in the city centre.

Although all tickets are billed as unreserved standing, if you’re quick you can take a seat on the large concrete steps that curve around the stage.

Many people also take a perch up on the grassy banks at the back of the venue too.

Castlefield Bowl is located at 101 Liverpool Road in the city centre.

The closest tram stop is Deansgate-Castlefield, which is only a six-minute walk away.

You can also walk it from the major train stations, or use the 101, 197, 255, 256, 41, 50 or X50 buses.

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Featured image: Publicity picture

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

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

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