This is some of the very best the North has to offer, all on one bill. Dreamy.
British indie legend The Wombats are back with a new album and a limited UK tour – plus, they’re bringing two very good Northern bands along with them as the support acts.
Announcing their sixth studio album on Friday, 11 October, The Wombats are set to return with new music after two years since their first UK number one and will be hitting the road for a select few dates including London, Manchester and Leeds , but this tour looks to be all about the North.
We’re not ready for how good the lineup is going to be and neither are you.
As you can see, the all-North affair will see the veterans of the genre flanked by Manchester’s very own alternative four-piece, Everything Everything , who we’ve now seen so many times that we’re genuinely starting to lose count.
They’ve not dipped in all those years either – not even a little bit.
But to make things even better, the support roster is completed by none other than fellow Scousers and much-loved indie icons: the ever-rising Red Rum Club, who will be making their AO Arena debut after smashing their hometown arena earlier this year.
You can’t really call them warm-up acts when they’re all this good, can you?
Set to play in Manchester on Saturday, 22 March, 2025 before wrapping up the small handful of gigs at the First Direct in Leeds on Wednesday 26 March a few days later, these are what we’d consider must-not-miss shows.
Tickets for the tour go on sale at 10am on Saturday, 19 October but you can access pre-sale by pre-ordering their latest record.
Speaking of the new album, Oh! The Ocean is the band’s sixth studio LP to date and is set to release on 21 February March, with the lead single ‘Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come’ having just dropped.
Discussing a family trip that inspired the new album, frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy says: “I’ve been to many beaches and seas and coasts over the years but, for some reason, it felt like the first time I had ever seen it and was truly present.
“There was this revelation that I had been living a life caught up in my own head […] It was really a potent experience. […] The album offers up some internal questions like: why are my head and body disconnected all the time? Why am I incapable at times of seeing any form of beauty in the world or in others? Why do I expect the world to conform to my will? Why do I never stop and smell the flowers?”
The single itself is a great taster of what’s to come and we can’t wait to hear the rest – nor can we wait to see The Wombats and two other Northern favourites all in one night.
You can check out our chat with Everything Everything HERE or the Red Rum Club boys down below.
Leeds breadwinners English Teacher are embarking on a UK tour with a date set for their hometown.
It has been quite a whirlwind experience for this four-piece Leeds based band recently and now they’re taking their hits on the road to play across the UK.
In September last year, they bagged the Mercury Prize for their landmark debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’, beating the likes of ‘Brat’ by Charli XCX and ‘early twenties’ by Cat Burns.
They kicked off 2025 with a bang too getting a spot on BBC Radio 1’s Sounds of 2025 list ranking at number 5 and performing a rendition of their track ‘Nearly Daffodils’.
The indie rockers have also managed to use their northern charm enough to bag a support act slot for Franz Ferdinand joining them for a one off gig in Glasgow this August.
And finally, the band are nominated for ‘Best Newcomers’ at the BRIT Awards 2025, they’re quite literally making history.
Now English Teacher have made their impact on music critics, they’re set to impress an even tougher crowd, the UK public, who have already grown fond of them.
This won’t be their first time educating a Leeds audience either as the band were billed on the Live at Leeds 2021 lineup with a slot at Brudenell Social Club.
English Teacher’s 2025 UK tour sees them travelling all around the country with stops at Nottingham, London, Newcastle and obviously Leeds.
Set to play songs from their ubiquitous LP, expect to hear favourites such as ‘R&B’, ‘This Could Be Texas’ and of course ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’.
If the Leeds date isn’t you still have another chance to catch them as they’re playing just over the hill in Manchester two days earlier.
English Teacher are coming to O2 Academy in Leeds on 22 November with pre-sale tickets live on 26 February and general on sale 28 February both at 10am HERE.
Featured Image: Publicity Picture via Denmarc Creary
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Sam Fender to play massive outdoor gig in Manchester this summer
Emily Sergeant
Sam Fender is set to play a massive outdoor gig at Wythenshawe Park this summer following the release of his next album.
The North Shields singer-songwriter has undeniably made a name for himself since bursting into the mainstream back in 2019 with the success of his debut album , followed the even more-successful release of his second, and so-called ‘coming of age’ record, Seventeen Going Under, in 2021, as well as several memorable festival headline slots and appearances, and arena and stadium shows.
Only recently, Fender blew the roof off Leeds' First Direct Arena, playing to thousands of adoring fans and cementing his place as one of the greatest live acts of the moment.
But now, with his forthcoming third studio album, People Watching, merely days away from release on 21 February, it’s been announced that he’ll headline Wythenshawe Park this summer.
Sam Fender 02 Academy Leeds;UK 28th November 2019Sam Fender will be playing a massive outdoor gig at Wythenshawe Park this summer / Credit: Wikimedia Commons | Live From Wythenshawe Park (via Facebook)
The 30-year-old indie rocker and his band will take to the stage at what is one of Manchester's most increasingly-popular outdoor venues in August.
Fender fans will get to sing along to the band’s most well-known hits, from title tracks ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ and ‘Seventeen Going Under’, to everything in between, as well as here the tracks from the upcoming People Watching album – which is being billed as “a collection of colourful stories and observations of everyday characters living their everyday, but often extraordinary, lives”.
Sam is currently gearing up for a sold-out tour of Europe in March, ahead of a US tour in the spring, and then a trio of sold-out shows at his boyhood football club’s stadium, Newcastle’s St James’ Park, as well as his biggest headline show to date at the London Stadium.
Support at Wythenshawe Park will come from acclaimed neo soul singer, Olivia Dean – with further supports to be announced soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
Sam Fender will play Wythenshawe Park on Saturday 16 August 2025.
Keen to get yourself some tickets then? Fans are advised to register or pre-order the album for the opportunity to get their hands on pre-sale tickets, with the registration period for this open now until Monday 17 February at 10am.
The pre-sale itself starts on Tuesday 18 February at 11am and concludes the following day on (Wednesday 19 February) at 10am.
All remaining tickets will then go on general sale on Friday 21 February at 10am, the same as the album release date.
Danny Jones -
11th October 2024 
