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Stunning North West festival Highest Point adds more acts to huge line-up

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Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 9th February 2023

Highest Point festival has just added a raft of new artists to its line-up for its 2023 festival in the grounds of Williamson Park.

Joining already-announced headliners Bastille, Anne-Marie and Hacieenda Classical will be the likes of Sub Focus, Sigma, Friendly Fires and Freya Ridings.

Half of the Highest Point tickets have already sold even before the Lancashire music event dropped the full line-up for its weekend of music, food and activities.

Set to take place between 11 and 13 May, the festival will bring together more than 100 artists and some of the biggest names from pop, indie, funk and soul.

Joining the line-up this week was Lost Without You singer Freya Ridings, just in time to debut her new album Blood Orange.

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Dance floor icon and Coronation Street legend Craig Charles is also joining the Highest Point bill with his Funk and Soul night, headlining The Woods stage.

Anne-Marie. Credit: Publicity picture
Bastille. Credit: Sarah-Louise Bennett
Freya Ridings. Credit: Publicity picture

Also added to the festival’s list of artists are indie band Friendly Fires, British drum and bass DJ duo Sigma, drum and bass legend Sub Focus, DJ Mag Breakthrough winners Girls Don’t Sync alongside the legend that is Skream, plus Manchester-based indie band, The Lottery Winners, known for their top 40 hits Young Love and Hawaii.

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Hacienda Classical will open the festival on the Thursday night, with their first live performance since their sold out performance in 2018.

Bastille will also be taking to the main stage performing their hit singles like Pompeii and Happier on the Friday night.

Saturday night will be headlined by ten-time BRIT-Award nominee Anne-Marie, known for her chart-topping singles Ciao Adios and 2002.

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Highest Point Festival
Highest Point Festival. Credit: Robin Zahler

Other acts joining the festival line-up include Radio 1’s Danny Howard & Charlie Tee, DJ Paulette, Gok Wan, House Gospel Choir, Elvis Fronted Nirvana, Toploader, General Levy and The Cuban Brothers with Guilty Pleasures taking over The Woods on the Saturday. Chris Hawkins (6 Music) will be hosting The Dell Inn, a pub in the woods, in collaboration with Manchester Union Brewery.

The Dell Inn, soon to be everyone’s favourite festival pub, will be the home of comedy, poetry slams and acoustic sets across the weekend, as well as opening its door, or branches, to some well-known stars. This is one of the many changes the festival has made this year as part of its ambitions to become bigger and better, as well as Bushrocker Hi-fi roots reggae takeover at the Waterfall and a new look to the much-loved Sundial stage.

Highest Point spans across six stages in the beautiful 54-acre grounds of Williamson Park, with music running alongside a premier regional street food and craft beer offering.

Festival Director, Jamie Scahill, said: “We are always looking for new ways to make Highest Point bigger and better every year so there will definitely be a few changes this year. The team behind the festival are working really hard to make this year the best one yet with new and exciting experiences added to the festival, as well as a much more diverse lineup of acts.”

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Tickets for Highest Point festival are available via Skiddle’s website, costing £145 per adult. Day tickets are also available from £39.50 per adult for Thursday, and Friday and Saturday tickets each costing £69.50 per adult.

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HIGHEST POINT 2023 LINEUP

Hacienda Classical / Bastille / Anne-Marie
Arielle Free / A Little Sound / Charlie Tee / Chris Hawkins / Craig Charles / Cuban Brothers / Danny Howard / DJ Paulette / Elvana / Freya Ridings / Friendly Fires / General Levy / Girls Don’t Sync / Goddard / Gok Wan / Guilty Pleasures / House Gospel Choir / K-Klass / Lottery Winners / Skream / Sigma (DJ set) / Sub Focus (DJ set) / Toploader / Turno / AMA / Beth / Bklava / Buckrocker Hi-Fi / Eldon / Emily Makis / Funkademia / Ki Creighton / Matt Thiss / Matrefakt / Mike Garry / Murphys Law / Nathan X / Nico Balducci / Phoebe Hall / Pirate Copy / Sam Redmore with many more…

To buy tickets for Highest Point 2023, visit: skiddle.com/festivals/highest-point-festival

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The Strokes at Co-op Live, Manchester – actually very hard to explain

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The Strokes at Co-op Live in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group

Manchester has waited a long, long time for this – The Strokes back on stage in our city.

I’ve been a fan of the band for as long as I can remember, but have never managed to catch them live, partly because they’ve left it TWENTY YEARS between shows here.

But back they are, with an enormous gig at the Co-op Live on their Reality Awaits tour.

The Strokes are known as one of the most solid indie bands of the 2000s, going triple platinum with their debut album Is This It and releasing massive anthems like Last Nite, Reptilia, and Someday.

They’re also known as a bit of an unpredictable live act – some will say they’re one of the best on the circuit, others will say they’re disappointing, and it really can depend on the night.

What they’re not known for is their audience interaction, so when frontman Julian Casablancas tries to have a bit of a chat with the audience, we all sort of stare blankly back at him. He’s speaking to us? What do we do?

“Wow, tough crowd,” he says, which is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone describe a Manchester audience as tough.

Then he turns back to drummer Fabrizio Moretti and says: “This is f*cking hideous, let’s play some songs.”

The setlist seems to get a shake-up every couple of shows, which is a nice surprise for us – and apparently also Julian, who regularly pops over to ask his bandmates what’s up next.

It doesn’t really matter that he’s not done his homework, because the second that drum kicks in, along with the impeccable guitar work of Schiltz, Fraiture and Hammond Jr., he snaps into action.

It’s impressive that their songs still have such singalong quality when Casablancas enunciates like a man with a dislocated jaw. For certain songs he’s so incoherent that if you weren’t a fan you’d walk in this room and wonder what the f*ck was going on.

But then, that’s sort of why us The Strokes fans love them so much. There’s a calamitous beauty to the work they put out and it’s so fun to belt out some words, even if they’re not the right ones.

I was hoping that seeing it live would sell that divisive new album, Reality Awaits, to me, but it didn’t. It’s too autotuney, too languid, and too often the victim of everyone’s toilet breaks.

Their earlier tracks still land best in a live setting, especially Reptilia, an absolute juggernaut in their back catalogue.

Rollercoaster set and tricky crowd interactions aside, we all had a great time – I’m just not sure I could say the same about Julian Casablancas.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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Sam Fender describes his own ticket prices as ‘b*llocks’ and demands change for fans

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Sam Fender describes his own ticket prices as 'b*llocks' and demands change for fans

Sam Fender has kicked off about ticket prices for his own tour, ahead of his huge stadium summer next year.

The Geordie star announced his Proper Massive stadium tour last week, which will visit some of the UK’s biggest venues including The O2 in London, Etihad Stadium in Manchester, and St James’ Park in his home city of Newcastle.

But after ticket prices for the tour were announced, Sam Fender surprised us all by joining in with a moan about how expensive they were.

He described the ticketing strategy for his tour as ‘b*llocks’ and said he was ‘not happy’ with ticket prices.

And proving just how much sway an artist can have on ticket prices, Sam Fender then demanded that things be redone.

Sam first appeared in the comments on Gavin Davis’ Instagram account, which frequently shares tour leaks and ticket prices.

There, he wrote: “I’m not happy with these prices, they’re getting changed. It got inflated well more than I’d had in mind, it should only be inflated in relation to the cost of putting the show on.

“The standing will not be split as well, I had no idea about it. I have no idea how this was normalised in gigs.

“It’s bollocks and it won’t be happening on this tour.”

Then later, on his own Instagram stories, Sam Fender posted: “I’ve managed to get Front Standing tickets removed from the UK stadium tour. Whoever buys a standing ticket gets as much chance as anyone to be at the front.

“No more £120 standing tickets either.

“Costs are astronomical compared to two years ago, I can’t control the venue and ticketing fees, that’s a sad reality of today’s industry.

“This is gonna be the biggest and best show we’ve ever put on. Can’t wait to see everyone on the road next summer!”

The ticket prices for the Proper Massive tour are now confirmed by Sam Fender himself as being £85 for GA standing, and £55/£75/£95 for seats.

You can get tickets when they go on sale HERE.

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Featured image: Publicity picture

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