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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Rose Hill

Peter Kay breaks down in tears on stage as he opens first live stand-up tour in 12 years

Peter Kay broke down in tears as he opened his first live stand-up tour show in 12 years this evening.

The Phoenix Nights comedian, 49, received a standing ovation at Manchester's AO Arena tonight as he embarked on his big comeback.

Beginning his huge 110-day tour, he walked out to a sell-out crowd who chanted his name and applauded him - prompting the star to wipe away a few tears.

He told the audience: "'Aw you’ll have me in bits. Lovely Manchester you made me cry. I can’t believe I cried, where did it come from all that emotion?"

Peter's tour, namely, Better Late Than Never, sent his fans into meltdown when he made the welcome announcement last month.

Peter Kay was emotional as he returned to the stage this evening (MEN Media)

What made it even more special though was the fact that Peter decided to keep the tickets at the lowest possible price, charging only £35 per ticket - the same fee he charged for his last tour back in 2010.

Despite Peter's kind gesture towards fans amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, ticket touts were clearly not as compassionate.

Taking to Twitter just hours before his opening gig in Manchester, dozens of greedy ticket-sellers were flogging the hard-to-get tickets with several selling for £155 per person.

He broke down in tears on stage (Triangle News)
He was cheered on by the audience (Triangle News)

Peter's 22-date tour is scheduled to take place between December 2022 and August 2023, although some months have just one or two dates. All of them are scheduled on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and at first, it appeared that there were no venues in the south of England that have been picked to host his performances.

However, following his shock tour announcement, the comedian announced a London residency at the O2 Arena.

Peter's last live stand-up tour in 2010 holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest-selling comedy tour of all time, in which 1.2 million people came to watch him perform.

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