Catch Bez and Boy George Celebrating with Lottery Winners at the Manchester Show!

The lottery winners perform with special guests

The lottery winners were joined by Bez and Boy George at their Manchester show last night (December 28).

Exciting performances at the Manchester Academy

The band performed a host of hits from their 2023 album Anxiety Replace Therapy at the Manchester Academy, including “Money”, which saw the former tied up on stage with his maracas. His Happy Mondays bandmate Shaun Ryder sings on the album version of the track.

They were later joined by Boy George, who sang vocals on the song “Let Me Down”, which he also included on the record’s single. You can watch both performances below.

The band continued to perform other songs from their recent album, including “You’re Not Alone”, “Sertraline” and the record’s title track.

Celebration @LotteryWinners album number 1 with Bez! The first night was great, but this was special 🙂 pic.twitter.com/y7Xd9I7OEM

— Manchester Lives (@ManchesterGigss) December 28, 2024

Bez and Boy George join @LotteryWinners tonight @MancAcademy. As Larry David would say, “Pretty good…..Pretty good.” pic.twitter.com/LEJausjhVd

— ANDREdoubleU (@ANDOWALSHO) December 28, 2024

The show was the second of three graduation concerts for the band, which concludes tonight (December 29) at the Manchester Academy.

Controversy and future endeavors

This comes after frontman Tom Rylance recently spoke to NME about his regret at starting a row with Kate Nash over the lack of working-class representation in the arts.

Last month he tweeted that Nash should not try to represent working-class musicians and also criticized her background as a former BRIT school student, wrongly calling it a fee-paying institution.

The tweet was in response to Nash’s “Butts For Buses” campaign, in which the singer joined Only Fans to raise funds for her tour, and also highlighted how it is much more lucrative for musicians to sell images of their bodies than streaming royalties.

Nash responded to Rylance, saying she was “a little confused by your argument.” Read more in a recent interview with NME she continued: “What is the controversy about the BRIT school? This is a free performing arts school. An important message to convey to the public is that BRIT is for everyone. You don’t have to pay to go there. If you have heard and are confused, do not despair, apply. Free access for young people to the performing arts is very important.”

Rylance previously clarified his comments, saying that he was “in no way going to start a showdown with anyone.” Then in a recent interview NME Rylance admitted he regretted the attacks on Nash and the BRIT school, fearing his comments had overshadowed his wider view that working-class people need greater access to music and other art forms.

“My intention was to make a compelling case, but the way I did it robbed me of that validity,” Rylance said. “Looking back, it’s a great thing. So did education, and I’ve spent a lot of time studying this since then.”

Lottery winners were recently named to support Robbie Williams on his 2025 European tour. The band will also release their new album, KOKO, on February 21, which will feature collaborations with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, Frank Turner, Reverend And The Makers and Shed Seven singer Rick Witter.