Ne-Yo has just announced details of a huge UK tour, including two night in Manchester.
Setting millennial hearts aflutter, the R&B star will perform at the AO Arena with support from Mario.
Three-time Grammy Award-winning Ne-Yo is bringing his Champagne and Roses tour to the city in 2024, as well as venues in Leeds, Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Newcastle.
The news comes as the star wraps up a sold-out tour of the US and in support of his eighth album Self Explanatory.
Since releasing his debut album in 2006, Ne-Yo has sold 20+ million albums worldwide and racked up hits including Sexy Love, Closer, Because of You, Miss Independent, So Sick and Push Back.
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The Las Vegas-born star has also written songs for stars like Rihanna, Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Carrie Underwood, and Celine Dion, among others.
His award-winning lyrics include: “Just one touch and I erupt like a volcano and cover her with my love.” The noughties were a weird time…
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Ne-Yo will be joined on his tour, including his Manchester gigs, by R&B legend Mario, the man behind iconic hit Let Me Love You as well as his recent collaboration with Chris Brown on Get Back.
Ne-Yo has announced a huge UK tour including a Manchester date. Credit: Publicity picture
Mario also starred in films including Step Up, and on the small screen in Empire.
Tickets for Ne-yo’s Manchester show will go on sale at 9am on Friday 24 November from See Tickets here.
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Tickets for his second date go on sale from 9.30am on Friday 1 December through See Tickets.
Ne-Yo’s UK Champagne and Roses tour dates in full
Thu 7 March 2024 – Manchester AO Arena
Fri 8 March 2024 – Leeds First Direct Arena
Sat 9 March 2024 – Cardiff Utilita Area
Mon 11 March 2024 – Newcastle Utilita Arena
Wed 13 March 2024 – London The O2
Thu 14 March 2024 – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
Tuesday 19 March 2024 – Manchester AO Arena
Featured image: YouTube
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The Cure announce outdoor summer gig at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
The Cure have just been announced as a headliner for next summer’s Live From Wythenshawe Park.
The legendary band will be performing at the outdoor venue with support from Slowdive and The Slow Readers Club.
Formed in the late 1970s, The Cure – fronted by Robert Smith – are considered one of the most influential bands of all time.
Their big hits span generations and include Friday I’m In Love, Boys Don’t Cry, Lullaby, The Lovecats, and The End of the World.
Taking place on Friday 21 August 2026, The Cure will be performing hits from across the five-decade-long career.
The Sussex-formed band have performed nearly 1,800 concerts worldwide, released 14 studio albums, more than 40 singles, as well as live albums, books, soundtracks, concert films and loads more.
The Cure were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Joining The Cure in Manchester next summer will be shoegaze pioneers Slowdive, who’ve gone from strength to strength since reuniting more than a decade ago.
Also taking to the stage at Wythenshawe Park will be The Slow Readers Club, one of Manchester’s proudest exports known for their blend of electro-driven rock.
Live from Wythenshawe Park has become the hottest ticket in Manchester in recent summers, with previous headliners including Sam Fender, Fontaines D.C. and New Order.
Next year’s line-up already includes a show from Lewis Capaldi, and now The Cure too.
Tickets to The Cure at Live From Wythenshawe Park in Manchester will go on general sale on Friday 10 October at 9am.
Pre-sale tickets will go on sale on Wednesday 1st October at 9am (you can sign up for pre-sale HERE)
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | September 2025
Danny Jones
‘Hello… is it more Manc tunes you’re looking for?’ because if so, you’re in the right place, as it’s time to reel off a whole new list of new music and Manchester artists we’ve been listening to over the past 30 days or so.
Give or take – you know how months work.
If you are new around here, it’s all very simple: every few weeks, we round up a load of local bands, duos, solo acts and everything in between to help spread some love and exposure to the wonderful talents that have been stuck in our rotations and so on.
Honestly, it really is that straightforward, and there’s no point in faffing around any longer, so let’s just get stuck into September’s Manc artists of the month.
Manchester music we’ve been listening to lately
1. SHADE
Now, this first one is rather bittersweet, because despite having just gotten back into SHADE, we’ve sadly learned that the lads are seemingly looking to wrap things up as a musical unit in just a matter of days with their final ever headline show right here in Manchester.
The native four-piece band have always managed a good balance of the indie-rock split and, in our opinion, only gotten better with time; the instrumentation is tighter, Luke Owens’ vocals have come into their own, and the overall music itself is better produced.
Unfortunately, the lads never quite got the following we feel they deserved, and for whatever reasons, they confirmed they’re calling time after five years with one last gig at Gorilla. There’s a farewell after-party at Night and Day too, so come help us sing ‘Neverdie’, ‘Break Out’, ‘Lost in The World Together’ and more one last time.
2. Roxanne
From an example of a group coming to the end of the journey to one just at the beginning of theirs, number two is fellow Manc indie and alt-rock outfit Roxanne, who look to be developing a slow-moving, haunting, ethereal wave/shoegaze sound. It’s still too early to tell, but we’re certainly interested.
These guys recently caught some attention via grassroots events at the likes of Stage and Radio, and Mother Mary’s; now they have ours. A minor gripe, ironically, is that these lot are yet to put on the red light and record much studio material – at least nothing that they’ve dropped as far as we can find so far.
On the upside, you can at least be in from the ground floor for when they do finally release stuff, and even from the little demo teasers they’ve shared on social media so far, we think it’s well worth keeping an eye on how their first proper releases fare.
In at number three is someone at the opposite end of the spectrum: New Jersey-born BC Camplight – real name, Brian James Christinzio – who’s been around for some 20 or so years now, releasing plenty of music, but that we’ve somehow only just started cottoning onto now he’s based in Greater Manchester.
Camplight released album number seven just this past June, and it’s nothing short of one of the coolest, most creative, candid and most surprising things we may have EVER listened to. It feels abstract, post-modern and absurdist at times, but the highly idiosyncratic and anecdotal lyrics remind us of John Grant and a slightly calmer sounding Petey USA.
We’ll definitely be working our way backwards through his discography over the coming weeks to see how he’s developed such a unique sound over the decades, but for now we’ll reccommend you start with ‘The Tent’ and ‘Two Legged Dog’, which features Abigail Moss from The Last Dinner Party, as well as the title track, ‘A Sober Conversation‘. Some truly staggering and style-sprawling work.
You can help but wiggle your head and shoulders within seconds of hitting play.
4. Mae Grace
Switching from post-modern vibes to post-punk, next up is a fledgling five-piece fronted by, you guessed it: Mae Grace Williams. Another product of BIMM (British and Irish Modern Music Institute) University’s city centre campus, like Roxanne, they’re also still very early days, but there’s undeniable talent there.
Backed by the monthly ‘New Cult’ nights, which are hosted by indie record label Heist or Hit and held at NQ pub turned live music venue, The Rat and Pigeon, not only must we praise the showcase itself, but we’re not the only ones who have been intrigued by their embryonic stages.
There are elements of spoken word and prog rock guitar at points; we don’t know exactly what genre we’d call it or what they’re even going for in their infancy, but with another gig this autumn supporting Adult Leisure on Sunday, 2 November, your best chance of judging for yourselves is seeing them live.
Last but certainly not least is another Manchester-based project we’ve only just come across, but with just three songs to their name on Spotify, we don’t think we’ve been quite this excited by a local debut for a while now. And for bloody good reason, we think.
Moss Side Sauna Club isn’t just one of the best band names we’ve heard in ages, but the highly alternative, DIY, almost garage-rock act which throws in all manner of distortion, electronics, pedals, and more to build their deeply-layered and admittedly rather noisy experience. MSSC is its own sonic profile.
Even with all the processing and effects, it somehow doesn’t sound too cluttered either – at least not on tape, anyway. We’re yet to see them live for ourselves, but the triumvirate consisting of Will Brooks, Maddy Storm and Sam Craighan have got us gassed with their first trio of tracks. Watch. This. Space.
Would you look at that? We’re done with September’s round-up of new Greater Manchester music we’ve been listening to lately, just like that.
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It wasn’t intentional, but by and large, we really did spotlight some very up-and-coming acts on the scene for the most part. We love finding musicians right at their inception or riding the crest of a fresh wave of interest.
As always, we’ll be back again next month with more for you and in the meantime, you can always look back at Manchester bands and artists, be they new, current or old, that we’ve spotlighted in the past.
Daisy Jackson -
17th November 2023 
