Bugzy Malone is a rap sensation, an actor, a clothing designer, and – in his words – a man who is ‘capable of anything’.
On the brink of his biggest UK tour to date, which includes a massive homecoming gig at Manchester’s AO Arena, Bugzy’s rise to the big leagues didn’t come easy.
He had to break into an industry that was stubbornly focused on London, escape a life of ‘struggle’, and put in serious graft.
He’s at the highest point of his career so far – and yet, this will be his final tour.
In an exclusive interview with The Manc, we hear about Bugzy’s retirement from the touring circuit, his memories of finding fame in Manchester, and how he got into ‘the shape of his life’.
‘People call me the king of the north’
Growing up in Crumpsall, Bugzy Malone is a born-and-bred, loud and proud Mancunian.
He’s been dubbed ‘King of the North’ – also the name of his chart-topping EP – which is a title he takes seriously.
“I see it as my duty to give a good account of myself for the north so people can come after me and be taken seriously,” he tells us.
“I was the first Manchester artist to get taken seriously in what was a London-centric industry, in my genre of music anyway – obviously there was Oasis and things like that.
Bugzy Malone
“We’ve laid a foundation here for other rappers from the north of England to go into the industry and make a serious impact.”
He name-checks a couple of rising stars from our region – Moston-born Aitch and ‘very talented’ rapper Meekz Manny.
“All I would really say to them guys is ‘Keep going’,” he says.
“The talent’s there in Manchester but the belief system’s not.
“I’m hoping this tour will demonstrate that it can happen – it’s been six years and here I am performing at the arena in my hometown.”
‘Who better to headline the Manchester Arena than me?’
Bugzy Malone will be the first solo grime artist to headline Manchester’s enormous AO Arena.
It’s a big undertaking to perform in front of a crowd of 21,000 but he’s match-ready.
“For the first rapper from my genre to headline the Manchester Arena, who better than me to do it?” he asks.
2.7M VIEWS IN 5 DAYS & TRENDING #1 😅 All i’m saying is if WARMODE hits 3 Million views by Thursday night, FUCK IT i’m bringing my Lambo out on stage the night of the Manchester arena tour show on Dec 4th!!! 💪🏾😤#RunItUppic.twitter.com/9NYiXlEIxV
“As you know, Manchester’s a unit. To stand there with my audience, who are a real loyal bunch of individuals.
“They’re my people – the people I was getting on the bus with, the people I was sat on the tram with, the people I was walking in the Arndale with. That’s a real deep connection.
“You can’t beat the atmosphere at a Manchester show.”
He promises that there are ‘serious surprises’ in store on the Resurrection tour, adding: “There are people coming out on stage to perform with me that’s going to blow people’s minds that they’re coming out on tour with me.”
‘Parklife was a big moment’
The AO Arena gig is a big deal, but it’s not the first time the star has been faced with a huge hometown crowd.
He was one of the headliners of Parklife festival back in 2018, a performance that stands out for him.
“I went there nervous,” he admits. “You do wonder if anyone will care when you rock up on stage.
Bugzy Malone on stage at Parklife in 2018. Credit: Andy Hughes
“But I remember I couldn’t see to the back of the audience, it was just thousands of people out on the field.
“The reaction was insane. When I rolled up on stage it was just a complete shutdown.
“That for me stands out as a big moment and a moment when I knew that my hometown was behind me and I’d built to a big place.”
‘You’re not supposed to go shopping when your face is in the window’
Bugzy’s fame has grown exponentially since his days of freestyling on YouTube (he’s now amassed more than 320m views), and the journey has come full circle.
He says he remembers window-shopping at JD (though he was always ‘nervous’ browsing in Selfridges, which is ‘a bit posh’) with his mates as a teenager.
Then the first time he was recognised and asked for a photograph was also in a JD.
And now, his face is in the windows.
He says: “There are things that I miss from when I wasn’t famous – Manchester is a real community-based place and I was a kid who was just everywhere all the time.
In 2019, with the B. Malone trainers he designed. Credit: Twitter @thebugzymalone
“You start becoming a little bit famous and that becomes harder to navigate.
“For the first year I’d be looking at my friends like ‘This is mad isn’t it?’ but eventually you start to understand the connection with you and your fans.
“And then flipping heck, eventually we had the clothing [his range B.Malone] in JD.
“I was still in the habit of running in there for a pair of trainers but one time I was shopping and there was a big picture of me.
“It started to not look right and not feel right. The perception is that you’re not supposed to be in there buying a pair of Nikes when your face is in the window.”
‘Touring is too big of an obligation’
While he’s promised to keep making music, and working the festival circuit, there won’t be a tour of this scale again.
He’s just not got the time with his fingers in so many pies, and refuses to do anything half-heartedly.
“I’ve just got to a stage now where my time’s just really taken up with the bigger picture of where I’m going and where I’m expanding to, so instead of half-heartedly doing anything, I thought I’ll go and do some festivals and connect with people there, but in terms of a tour, it’s a little bit too big of an obligation.
“People will get 100% of me, but next year, the year after, if I’ve got three or four films lined up and big business ventures flowing, I can’t promise that.
“And that’s what’s important for me. As long as I put 100% in, I’m happy.”
Bugzy appeared in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen alongside Hugh Grant and Matthew McConaughey, and has recently been filming alongside Jason Statham in Doha, again on a Guy Ritchie project, due to for release in January.
Acting is time-consuming, he’s discovering, saying: “It all involves a lot of commitment to rehearsals and a lot of commitment to training.
“I’m a secret agent now,” he jokes, “I had to look cool, you know?
“I’m in the film with Jason Statham and as you know, he’s in crazy shape, so I had to put myself through my paces to get into the shape of my life.
“I turned up in the Middle East for that film and I was in solid shape, I won’t lie to you, and it’ll be the same process for the tour.
“It makes you a sharper individual.
“I’ve got myself to a level of fitness now where I’m capable of anything.”
‘It takes hard work and dedication to transcend the position you start in’
Bugzy Malone in The Gentlemen. Credit: Twitter @thebugzymalone
Bugzy repeatedly circles back to the message of inspiring future generations.
“I have an investment in people that come from a similar situation to me, which was basically struggle,” he says.
“It takes hard work and dedication to transcend the position you start in.
“You’ve got to figure out who you want to be and build yourself up.
“Any ventures that I’ve got going on, it’s a new opportunity to speak to my audience and teach lessons.
“Everything I do is about the narrative of get up out of bed and create yourself some freedom – financially and psychologically.”
Bugzy Malone will play at the AO Arena on Saturday, December 4. Final tickets are now on sale through Gigs and Tours.
Featured image: Publicity picture
Feature
Review | Snow Patrol roll back the years at Co-op Live for a mini-Manc’s first gig
Danny Jones
This weekend we enjoyed a new kind of live music experience: rediscovering the joy of listening to a childhood favourite by watching it through the eyes of the next generation – that was how we witnessed a fully-fledged arena return to Manchester for Snow Patrol at Co-op Live.
And it was special for lots of reasons.
Taking a little one to their first gig is something you’ll never forget and sharing a new-found connection with a band that you loved when you were their age is one of those magical things about music that we’re eternally grateful for.
You might assume the Snow Patrol crowd one skews a little older for the most part but we were pleased to see there were more than a few kids and teenagers donning tour tees, looking wide-eyed at the sheer size of the Co-op Live arena, and singing the words back better than Gary Lightbody at times.
Sees the sign: ‘Race you there!’ (Credit: Audio North)
Yes, the Belfast-born frontman made a few mistakes on the night, but it did add a rather laid-back quality to what many acts might have found a daunting performance: playing a sell-out night to around 23,500 fans inside the enormous state-of-the-art venue.
But, obviously, there wasn’t even a whiff of nerves from these lads.
You don’t get to have been around for this long and become as successful as they are without being able to relax on stage and lean into those idiosyncratic perfections that feel more like private moments shared between the artist and the crowd.
The young lad sat watching it with us certainly got a kick out of it and though we might not have been able to cover his ears in time to censor some light but ever-charming swear words (it always sounds better in Irish, don’t you think?), it made for some nice banter between him and the crowd.
Big props must go to Johnny McDaid on the keys too, who besides having written for the likes of Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams, Alicia Keys, Biffy Clyro and countless others over the years, also managed to impress by playing the majority of this entire tour after having trapped his hand in a train door. OUCH.
Credit: The Manc Group
Not only was that little interlude up there with one of the most applause-worthy parts of the entire show, but we were always pretty blown away by what we saw, as we all as what we heard.
Be it watching a digital tree come to life, shed its leaves and then fall as petal confetti, two sheer semi-opaque paper-thin screens swirl to create the album cover art for their latest album, or kicking the gig off with ‘Take Back The City’ as a multicoloured skyline appeared behind them, it was all pretty incredible.
We even got to hear a personal favourite of ours, ‘Set Fire To The Third Bar’, complete with a virtual performance from the voice that truly makes the song: Martha Wainwright.
It was in moments like this when we turned to see a 10-year-old’s face not quite sure of what it was seeing but an open-mouthed expression confirming they were finding it as stunning as we were.
We thoroughly enjoyed going through the back catalogue and working our way right up to plenty of the songs from The Forest Is The Path – which Gary himself firmly believes is their best work yet when we interviewed him – but it was as visually stunning as it was to the gorgeous sonically.
Both proved to be a brilliant way to see the contemporary rock, indie and alternative veterans, but there’s something about giving them a stage as big as this that reminds you of just how much they deserve it.
Up there with one of the prettiest gig snapshots in our memory.Not quite a hologram but very cool nonetheless.The production levels are always top-tier at Co-op Live but the Snow Patrol set was much more impressive than we expected.
Last but not least, thanks to Co-op Live not just for having but for creating a little boy’s memory that he’ll never forget.
Flashbacks: The timelapse of the Trafford Centre construction that’s gone viral
Danny Jones
The Trafford Centre might look like some decadent Roman emperor’s palace or as if it was plucked from the heart of Ancient Grecian city, but as anyone old enough to remember it’s opening and/or construction will tell you, it seems strange to think its not even been around for three decades yet.
As Greater Manchester’s and one of the North West’s most famous shopping centres full stop, the iconic attraction first began being built back in 1996, when John Major was Prime Minister, Manchester United were still Premier League champions, Britpop was at its peak and George Michael was number one.
It’s fair to say that a lot has changed since then and although Oasis might be back come 2025, The Trafford Centre and surrounding area are pretty unrecgonisable compared to nearly 30 years ago.
All told, it took approximately 27 months to erect the neo-classical epicentre of all things shopping, leisure, food and fanciness – and here’s what the process looked like:
With the initial 14 million sq ft shopping centre being completed in September 1998 following approximately 810 days of work, The Trafford Centre debuted to the Manc public and beyond.
It took more than 3,000 builders to bring the 60 hectare site to life at the peak of construction and since then the plot has only grown bigger, bolder and more ambitious over time.
Present day, it has everything from cinema screens and a mini Legoland to a Sea Life location, multiple bowling alleys and countless other forms of entertainment beyond just rows of shops and restaurants – hence why it remains busy pretty much year-round.
Back then, British celebrities, popular local names of note, politicians, dignitaries and prominent figures from the retail industry got to visit as part of exclusive preview events in the days before its launch date.
You can see the spectacle and fascination surrounding the official opening event here:
Seems surreal watching this today but the construction of the Trafford Centre was a huge moment not just for 0161 but all of the North.
But of course, the entire complex itself has seen multiple extensions over the years, including massive developments such as Barton Square and The Great Hall.
At the outset, it cost more than £600 million to build The Trafford Centre; the major renovations mentioned above which took place in 2008 cost another £100m and the Trafford Palazzo revamp around a decade later came in at around £75m.
There has and always will be lots of money put behind this intruguing monument to modern consumerism, and big brands will continue to flock to open units within the huge expanse whenever they can: some of the most recent being Archie’s, Flying Tiger, Sephora, Tiffany, Gymshark and more.
We’ll admit the aesthetic still makes us double-take from time to time (though not as much as confused Londoners visiting for the first time), but it’s not like this part of the world hasn’t boasted plenty of other curiosities in the past…
Daisy Jackson -
19th November 2021 
