Chris de Burgh headlines Salford Proms

Gutted! Anyone want my tickets?

"Manchester gets Elbow, Salford gets Chris de Burgh" 'nuf said. Anyone else wondered why an international org like the Beeb signed up to Salford 'city' council's policy of selling the first tranche of cheap £10 tickets to 'Salford residents Only' - for an internationally broadcast event like Last night of Proms? Surely not the small-town attitude you'd expect for a 'world-class events venue' - nor one you'd expect the BBC to associate itself with. Sure, Salford as a former poor district in Manchester has its poverty like Manchester has, but it's got its Worsley footballer territory as well. Don't cities look outside their boundaries?

I think there are a number of reasons behind Chris de Burgh headlining. The BBC have a massive say in the matter seeing as it is the BBC proms, not the Salford City Council Proms. At least Salford Council are doing something for the local people and at least there are tickets available for Proms for the public, up to 10,000 will get to see them, unlike the privileged few who got to see Elbow at Halle - etc etc There is also the fact that there is another event that night, Coldplay whom, I believe, are being supported by Girls Aloud. So Mr de Burgh will be catering to a different market. I'm not a fan of his but a lot of people are. I'm sure many a wedding dj would be lost without his copy of Lady in Red! I like Elbow but I can imagine a lot of people have never heard of them. This is irrelevant. What is all this nonsense about looking outside boundaries? Salford does this all the time. When it does so, it gets accused of not concentrating on its own residents or trying to get one over on Manchester when all they're trying to do is raise the City's profile. Last year Russell Watson headlined. He was about as local as you can get and has a national/global appeal.