Peter Kay announces new dates for sell-out tour

Peter Kay has added some extra dates to his comeback sell-out stand up tour, his first in 12 years, which has proved so popular it caused ticket sites to crash.

The comedian has boosted the number of Peter Kay Live shows available with two new dates in Birmingham, four in London and six in Manchester, and later tweeted to say that further London and Manchester dates had been added.

Read more: Peter Kay unprecedented demand causes ticket sites to crash

Kay, 49, tweeted: “Extra dates added to Peter Kay’s arena tour!” and confirmed two more shows had been added to his London residency at the O2 Arena.

He is the first artist in the world to perform a monthly residency at the venue, which he announced on Wednesday on Zoe Ball's Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

Earlier in the week, Kay had announced in an ad break for ITV's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! that he would be going on tour, sparking a ticket-buying frenzy from fans keen to see him back on stage.

Many reported seeing messages on the Ticketmaster website telling them there were more than 200,000 people ahead of them in the virtual line.

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The website tweeted: “As expected, Peter Kay is super popular this morning. To make it as fair as possible, we have put everyone in a queue. Be patient and don’t refresh or you’ll lose your place.”

Kay last went on tour in 2011 and had been due to head back out on the road in 2018, but in December 2017 he cancelled all of his work commitments due to "unforeseen family circumstances" and has only appeared publicly a handful of times in support of charities since then.

He had tried to make a return to touring with his show Dance For Life scheduled for 2020, but was forced to cancel again, this time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Phoenix Nights star said at the time: “Obviously this is disappointing news but well and truly justified given the circumstances.

“We'll get through this, together and then we'll all have a great big dance for life. Stay safe and look after yourselves and the people around you.”

Watch: Peter Kay announces first live stand up tour in 12 years