Wigan band Stanleys 'ecstatic' to be supporting Richard Ashcroft at Robin Park Arena

The four-piece will be supporting Richard Ashcroft at his show at Robin Park Arena on July 21, alongside The Zutons and The Royston Club.

The gig will be the finale of five spectacular nights of live music this summer as a series of top acts take to the stage, including X Factor winner James Arthur, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Wigan band The Lathums.

It will be the first time Stanleys have performed in their home town in a number of years and comes after they ended 2023 with sold-out headline shows in Manchester and London.

The band formed in 2017 and are influenced by a wide range of music, ranging from 1960s guitar music to 90s Britpop.

Stanleys is composed of Tom Concannon (vocals), Jake Dorsman (guitars), Harry Ivory (bass) and Rob Hilton (drums and vocals).

They met at Winstanley College – which is were they get the name from – although Jake, Harry and Rob had been jamming together since high school.

Members of Stanleys feel like they have a connection with The Verve frontman, who also studied at Winstanley College, and they are looking forward to sharing the stage with him this summer.

Singer Tom Concannon said: “We’re ecstatic about it. When we saw the gigs being announced, we thought what an opportunity it would be to perform there. It’s an amazing thing for Wigan as well.

"To get the call that we were going to be playing at one of the shows was amazing.

"We were hoping to get on one of the shows and then Richard came back and said we can support him, so we’re over the moon.

"I think the last gig we did in Wigan was pre-Covid at The Old Courts.

"The reason we’re called Stanleys is because we all met at Winstanley College, which is also where Richard went. It’s right around the corner and I suppose it gives you the realistic side of success being very local.

"It gives us inspiration knowing bands like The Verve have come through Wigan.”

The Robin Park gig will form part of a busy summer for Stanleys, which already features a sold-out headline show at the Jacaranda in Liverpool as well as festival appearances including Kendal Calling and YNot festival.

The four-piece are also writing new material for their first album, meaning the set list for Robin Park is still to be decided.

Tom added: “It’s going really well.

"We’re in the process of writing for an album at the moment, which is hopefully our next step, off the back of doing quite a lot of tours last year.

"We’re enjoying this period at the minute, getting some new material together.

"We’ve got the Inspiral Carpets tour this summer and a lot of festivals, which are great, we love doing them.

"We’re writing that much, the setlist is changing day by day. We’re really trying to zone in on the sound that has gotten us success in the past, but also keeping it new and refreshed.”