Popstar Sophie Ellis-Bextor is switching on the lights at this year’s Blackpool Illuminations, it has been confirmed.
The Murder On The Dancefloor singer will perform on the Tower Festival Headland on Friday 1 September, before pulling the switch to trigger the magic Christmas lights switch on that thousands look forward to each year.
Her special appearance will mark the crescendo of a day full of events that will also include a Nickelodeon float parade, live entertainment, a light show, and fireworks.
Sharing the news online this afternoon, the Visit Blackpool tourist and marketing board tweeted: “Delighted to announce Sophie Ellis Bextor is this year’s Switch-On star, who will perform an exclusive set and turn on the iconic Blackpool Illuminations on Friday 1 September!”
Fans of the star have been quick to react, with one person replying: “I am literally soooo happpyyyy”
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Switch-On ⭐
Delighted to announce Sophie Ellis Bextor is this year’s Switch-On star, who will perform an exclusive set and turn on the iconic Blackpool Illuminations on Friday 1 September!
The performance from Sophie Ellis-Bextor comes fresh off the back of her recent Worthy Farm set at Glastonbury, which saw her take over a Sunday afternoon slot on the Pyramid Stage.
However, fans were left outraged when her Glastonbury set wasn’t shown during live coverage on BBC One or uploaded to iPlayer afterward.
As a result, it seems like the opportunity to see her in Blackpool has left followers more excited than ever at another chance to see the singer in action.
Sophie Ellis Bextor first shot to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience, before achieving success as a solo artist in the early noughties with the hit single Murder On The Dancefloor.
She has since released a total of seven UK albums. Her music is a mixture of mainstream pop, disco, nu-disco, and 1980s electronic influences, with Bextor being adopted in recent years as a favourite of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Why you should go to this hidden music festival in a garden centre
Thomas Melia
Manchester’s only direct-from-garden-centre music event, Green Island Festival, is returning with free tickets, big charity projects and more.
Now in its fifth year, Green Island Festival is back for 2025 and its set to be bigger and better than ever before, spread across three dates throughout the summer.
The lineup is as diverse as ever bringing in a range of acts from all over the globe such as Australia to local grassroots talents that deserve a turn in the spotlight.
I sat down with the event organisers for this one-of-a-kind music festival George and Stephan to find out why you should go to this hidden music festival in a garden centre.
What makes your festival different from any other?
George: Definitely the garden centre aspect. There’s an escapism element to it and we’re also doing pretty well at championing the grassroots scene, giving people a platform to showcase their music. We’re trying to not be super focused on one specific type of music or genre this feeds through to our lineups.
Stephan: We’ve been lucky being able to attract different age ranges from 18 and 19 all the way up to 50 and 60 year olds. The people are what make it what it is and they’ve stuck with us from day dot really, it’s one big community. Managing to get a very diverse lineup in place is important too.
Georgegetting the crowd hyped at Green Island Festival.Music festival in a Manchester garden centre? We’re in.
Who came up with the idea to host a festival in a garden centre?
Stephan: George. He walked past the garden centre and thought that’s the perfect place.
We didn’t know we didn’t know each other at first then George found my page (Me Gusta Collective) and I was fully up for it straight away, and since then we’ve been best friends. And, like, I’ve called him like, my best friend.
Manchester is known for its love of music, how did you guys fall in love with music and then eventually fall in love with festival organising?
George: It’s always come pretty naturally to both of us. Stephan’s done lots of work with Band on the Wall and I did various bits at Freight Island and Canvas when it was still open. Our favourite part is when we’re planning and scheming the flow of the festival and lineup.
Stephan: I guess our love of different types of music comes from our upbringings really. I listened to a lot of salsa and my dad used to throw events when I was a kid with family members so creating events has always been around me. I started my first night when I was 19 in Germany after I fell in love with house music and electronic music in Manchester so I feel like the path to creating events has always been laid out but it took me a while to make a living out of it.
Good vibes only at Green Festival Island 2025.Stephanperforming under his DJ alias Atiké.
Stephan, you’ve been a long time supporter of indie artists and local venues, working at band on the wall yourself. So how important is it for you to see local artists reflected in Green Island’s lineup?
Stephan: It’s so important to us. We’ve got the marquee stage which is all about local acts and our bandstand stage too. There’s High Hoops [A Manchester-based Queer club night], which has been going for years now, and same goes to Eves’Drop Collective [A group of female DJs from across the UK] that have been doing bits for such a long time, and Ruf Dug who is a no brainer for the lineup.
George: When it comes to headliners there’s only a handful per day and the rest of Green Island [Festival] is pretty much grassroots music. Paying a fortune for each act isn’t the only way to bring a lot of people together and sell a lot tickets, people are interested in grassroots more than ever.
Tickets are quite reasonably priced, too, with children and under 13’s getting free entry, what made you decide to offer this?
Stephan: We want to make this festival available for families so you would have to pay for every kid to get in, it ends up being so expensive.
George: We worked pretty hard on finding the perfect price point for the festival so it can operate but not break the bank because it’s pretty crazy how expensive tickets are getting now.
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Children and under 13’s can get into Green Island Festival for free.The wonderful Green Island Festival team.
What made you choose a lineup that spans lots of different sounds, rather than sticking to a few main genres?
Stephan: We come from a background of music purists who listened to lots of records to a lot of records. I was listening to African bands who are fully authentic much like grassroots music it’s raw. , raw, it’s fresh. We’ve been able to come up with a lineup that fuses African music, Latin music, sounds from the Middle East with ska, house, drum and bass, even jazz. We know exactly what we want to hear.
George: It’s the appreciation of music across the spectrum, there’s so many different facets to it, and we programme a solid lineup that incorporates all of them. We love a challenge and we love feeding the energy throughout the day, leading to the last little crescendo at the end.
You also give attendees the option to donate £1 to Eat Well MCR with every ticket bought, how important is this charity to the pair of you?
George: We know Kathleen [Co-founder of Eat Well MCR] quite well, she’s always been a huge supporter of us so we do what we can to support whatever she’s got going on. We managed to raise quite a bit of money for them last year. Also, when you’re buying food from our vendors you can add a donation for this initiative which last year 90% of everybody that ordered food added on £1 or more which was very nice to see.
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We also work with Play It Green where we have a levy on our ticket and 50% goes to them so they can plant trees around the world. We want to make our festival more sustainable in the long term and eventually be net zero.
Stephan I know you also have a DJ alias, Atiké, how excited are you to play the festival alongside all acts?
Stephan: I can’t wait, I’m doing a b2b set with Little O who is amazing. I met her on Bandcamp, now we’re playing together. I went all over Dublin to see her and because I grew up in Ireland it’s quite nice to kind of reconnect with that side of me. I asked her if she fancied doing a b2b set with me and she was all for it. We bounce off each other so well.
If you could describe green album festival in three words, what would you choose? George: Inclusive, friendly, vibrant. Stephan: Sunshine, diversity and friendship.
Tickets for ‘Green Island Festival 2025’ range from full price to low-income and neighbours tickets at just £12.50 and entry for children under 13 completely FREE – Get ready to grab your tickets for Green Island 2025 HERE.
Featured Images – Publicity Pictures (via Supplied)
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Chris Brown tour WILL go ahead after singer released on £5m bail
Daisy Jackson
Chris Brown’s tour looks set to go ahead after the R&B star was released on bail today.
The singer is set to play four nights at the Co-op Live in Manchester as part of his Breezy Bowl XX tour.
But the tour was thrown into doubt when Chris Brown was arrested at the luxury The Lowry hotel just weeks before his first live dates.
He was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm on Thursday 15 May and remanded into custody.
Today, it’s been announced that the ‘Forever’ star will be freed from prison in time for his world tour – but he must pay a £5 million security fee to the court.
The 36-year-old will be able to continue with his tour as part of his bail conditions, Judge Tony Baumgartner told the court.
He’s currently facing a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, relating to a bottle attack at a London nightclub two years ago against music producer Abe Diaw at Tape nightclub.
Abe Diaw has alleged that Brown ‘smashed him over the head with a bottle’ in the attack on him, at around 3am at Tape nightclub.
Chris Brown has 10 UK tour dates in the pipeline as part of his ‘Breezy Bowl XX tour’, which includes four at the Co-op Live on 15, 16, 24 June, and 3 July 2025.
The Manc -
14th August 2023 
