'Our night singing in the pub with Wayne Rooney'

25.02.2022 - 09:29 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

The Lumineers are gearing up for their return to live shows after that enforced two year break due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Manchester is always a favourite date on their world tours.

Not least thanks to a very memorable night here with a certain Mr Wayne Rooney.

For it turns out that Manchester United legend Wayne, being a huge fan of The Lumineers' American folk rock, took it upon himself to show the band the sights and sounds of the city after a previous arena outing for the Denver hitmakers.

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Not only that - but bold Wayne even encouraged the band to sing along with him to fan anthem, Slow it Down, in a classic old boozer in the city centre.

The Lumineers' co-founder Wesley Shultz tells the Manchester Evening News: "We went to a football game in Manchester that one time, I'd never experienced a sporting game that felt like the Olympics, the stakes were high.

"Afterwards, we got to spend time with Rooney and he sang Slow It Down with us in a pub, we closed down a pub!

"We had a beautiful time hanging with him in the pub.

"The pub owner took us to this back room and it was like a shrine to him with all the photos in there, and he was looking at me winking, that was a crazy experience, I was getting to know him there in a pub."

Reflecting on that past experience today, Ho Hey star Wesley beams: "I got to walk into a place that I didn't know a lot about, compared to the amount of access we got given, so that was a really special memory in Manchester."

Wayne is among the thousands of fans who will no doubt be delighted to see The Lumineers back out on tour, off the back of their lockdown-inspired album Brightside.

The band will call at