Dave Formula, keyboard player with Magazine, performs at Manchester Academy 2 on 23 May 2026 during the Dave Formula & Noko tour.

Documentary live music photograph shows Dave Formula, keyboard player and composer best known for his work with the influential Manchester post-punk band Magazine, performing on stage at Manchester Academy 2 on 23 May 2026. Formula is pictured at the microphone, wearing a hat, dark jacket and red shirt, with stage lighting, keyboard equipment and performance hardware visible around him. The image captures a close, expressive concert moment during the Dave Formula & Noko tour, where Magazine material was performed by a full band rather than as a simple nostalgia appearance. Event listings for the tour described Magazine’s Dave Formula on keyboards and Noko on guitar presenting a set drawn from Magazine’s classic back catalogue, with Peter Petersen of French new wave band Affection Place on vocals, Tim Petersen on bass guitar and Dave’s son Max Formula on drums. The Manchester date gave the performance extra resonance because Formula was born in Manchester and Magazine were one of the city’s most important late 1970s post-punk groups. The photograph can illustrate features on post-punk, Magazine, Manchester music history, ageing musicians still performing, intergenerational touring bands, keyboard players, alternative rock, new wave, cult music audiences and the continuing afterlife of classic independent music. Formula’s distinctive keyboard work helped shape Magazine’s tense, dramatic sound, while his later associations with Visage and other projects connect the image to wider British new wave and synth-pop history. For stock image buyers, the value lies in the named performer, clear stage context, recognisable live music setting and precise date and venue. It is suited to editorial use around Magazine’s legacy, Manchester Academy concerts, post-punk revivals, older musicians on tour, family links in live performance and the enduring appeal of songs from one of Britain’s most distinctive art-rock and post-punk catalogues.