Liam Gallagher has announced a super-intimate gig in Blackburn this month.
The former Oasis frontman will take to the stage at King George’s Hall to promote a Spezial trainer partnership with Adidas.
The gig on April 27, supported by Blackburn band The Illicits, will also raise money for local homeless charity Nightsafe.
It’s taking place ahead of his stadium gigs this summer, which includes two nights at Knebworth and one at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
Liam is set to release his third solo album, C’mon You Know on 27 May.
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Liam Gallagher will perform a gig in partnership with Adidas in Blackburn. Credit: Supplied
This will be the first time the rocker has performed at Blackburn with Darwen, which is recognised as the birthplace of Spezial.
The venue itself has previously welcomed music legends like David Bowie, The Beatles, The Clash and The Stone Roses.
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The gig will announce the launch of a new trainer collaboration with Adidas Spezial, called the LG2SPZL.
The Adidas Spezial range was founded and curated by lifelong three-stripes fan Gary Aspden, who is from Darwen, and who is good friends and long-time collaborator with Liam Gallagher.
Liam Gallagher will perform a gig in partnership with Adidas in Blackburn. Credit: Supplied
Liam said: “I’m glad to announce my new collaboration with Adidas Spezial. It’s our take on the one and only Barrington Smash and it’s absolutely incredible.
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“And if that’s not enough to blow your wig off, I’m going to be playing The King George’s Hall in Blackburn, Lancashire. All proceeds from the gig will be in aid of Nightsafe, a local homeless charity.”
Gary was the driving force behind the hugely popular Adidas Blackburn SPZL shoes and the Blackburn Spezial exhibition – which drew in thousands of visitors from around the world to the town.
This was followed up with the C.P. Company 50th anniversary event in an underground car park in Darwen last year – attracting a string of famous faces from Dynamo the Magician to Goldie and Shaun Ryder.
Gary said: “I could not be happier that Adidas agreed to support this event in east Lancashire and am super made up that Liam has agreed to come and perform here.
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“He has never performed in Blackburn before and given how the roots of Spezial are connected to the town it feels like an appropriate location to announce the forthcoming LG2SPZL trainer collaboration.
Liam Gallagher will perform a gig in partnership with Adidas in Blackburn. Credit: Supplied
“This should bring some great energy and positivity to Blackburn and will hopefully give Nightsafe a much needed boost after what have been a difficult few years for everyone.”
Denise Park, chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “We’re grateful to Gary and his team at Adidas for once again backing Blackburn with Darwen and working so hard to host such a high-profile event here – in King George’s Hall’s 100th year too.
“It’s an opportunity for us to again showcase what we have to offer in the borough as well as raise vital funds for Nightsafe – a fantastic charity.
“Gary is passionate about regenerating towns through culture and he is making a real difference to the place which he is proud to call home.
Neil Young U-turns on Glastonbury drop-out after being confirmed as festival headliner
Danny Jones
Barely a beat or two after having seemingly dropped out of the festival, Neil Young has now U-turned on Glastonbury 2025 and now looks set to be headlining it.
Thelegendary musician called out the world-renowned music festival for being under “corporate” control at the whim of the BBC (its official media and broadcasting partner for nearly 30 years) and said he would no longer be playing his slot.
Young went so far as to call it a “corporate turn-off”, claiming the event is “not how I remember it” in a message on his website.
However, just a few days after posting the news, it now appears as though the Canadian singer-songwriter will still be playing Glastonbury – and not just as one of the multiple legends lined up for 2025 either, but as a headliner.
Neil Young is now seemingly headlining Glastonbury 2025. (Credit: Screenshot via Neil Young Archives)
As you can see in the update shared on Friday, 3 January, the 79-year-old now claims there was an “error” in the information he received regarding his performance at the festival.
Having now cleared up whatever confusion occurred, he and his band the Chrome Hearts will in fact be playing the festival as planned, reiterating his long-lasting love for the festival.
Quite a far cry from the sentiment he seemed to be getting across in his previous post, but make of that what you will.
Furthermore, chief organiser Emily Eavis – whose parents Michael and Jean Eavis set up the first ever Glastonbury music festival back in 1970 – not only hopped on social media to confirm that ‘Shakey’ will be performing but that he will be headline the main Pyramid Stage.
“Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury”, she wrote, adding: “He does things his own way and that’s why we love him.”
So has he been given a slot upgrade of sorts or what? It still remains a little unclear.
At present, Rod Stewart is set to play the iconic and outright ‘Legends’ slot during Sunday teatime this June. We likely won’t hear much else about the rest of the lineup until sometime in spring.
This, of course, isn’t the first time Neil Young has done a 180 following a well-publicised decision in protest against a big media company.
The music veteran famously removed all of his discography from Spotify for two years before it eventually reappeared back in March 2024.
As for whatever happened between him and the festival or whether this was some gamesmanship from the influential music icon, at the end of the day, he’s heading to Worthy Farm after all.
Neil Young pulls out of ‘corporate controlled’ Glastonbury Festival
Danny Jones
Music icon Neil Young has pulled out of Glastonbury Festival 2025 after claiming it has lost its identity and is now under “corporate” control.
The 79-year-old singer-songwriter, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential to have ever lived, was due to play the festival as one of the legends named on this year’s lineup.
However, despite lots of excitement around the veteran being given the nod over others from what has largely been seen as a pop-leaning pool (at least according to the detractors) in recent years, Young has now decided to drop out of the festival.
Neil Young’s latest ‘NYA Times Contrarian’ post explains the decision to drop out of Glastonbury.Neil Young in 2023 Credit: Screenshot (via Neil Young website)/Per Ole Hagen (via Flickr)
“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs”, it reads. “We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in.”
For context, the BBC has been partnered with Glasto since way back in 1997 and Neil Young has already headlined the festival back in 2009, so this shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise.
“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being. Thanks for coming to us the last time!”, he continues. “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be.”
The message concludes with him hoping to catch fans at other venues and a simple “LOVE Neil – Be well”, but the tenor of the somewhat abrupt update is that the ever-opinionated and long-celebrated protest song-writer clearly believes the BBC‘s influence over the festival has now grown too strong.
Known not only as ‘Shakey’ and the ‘Godfather of Grunge’ but as one of the pioneering anti-establishment figures of a generation, the Canadian was previously in the headlines for demanding Spotify remove his music after taking issue with Joe Rogan’s anti-vax messaging on his show.
All that to say, the solo artist co-founding member of supergroup, Buffalo Springfield, is no stranger to taking on big business and companies if he feels he has good reason. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart will be performing in the coveted ‘Legends’ headliner slot at teatime on Sunday, 29 June.
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts are looking set for a European tour this summer but if he’s taking on corporations and concerts under umbrella control, it seems unlikely we’ll see him at too many festivals or the likes of Co-op Live.
The better question is: do you agree – has Glastonbury Festival become too corporate and sanitised, or do you think it still upholds the same core values it had when it first popped up on Worthy Farm in 1970?
Daisy Jackson -
19th April 2022 
