As part of the brand-new global music conference and festival called Beyond The Music, which finally lands this Wednesday, a whole host of live music sets will be taking place in the city this week and, the best part is: they’re all free.
Looking to strike a chord with shoppers, tourists and mere passers-by with a number of pop-ups, including a live music stage in Exchange Square, the main hub at Manchester Central and several local hotels, the city-wide event is completely free to attend and is happening this Thursday and Friday.
The series of special one-off Beyond The Music performances are being brought to the general public with the help of Manchester’s Accommodation Business Improvement District (BID), and the likes of local music collective, The Untold Orchestra, who’ll be headlining the main live stage.
The line-up will celebrate Manchester as the iconic music city that it is, home not only to the likes of Oasis, The Smiths, Blossoms and Aitch, but also world-renowned professional orchestras such as The Halle and BBC Philharmonic.
The live music stage is being programmed by Manc orchestra, The Untold Orchestra, a full seven-piece band who are focused on changing the reputation surrounding orchestras and who they are for.
Putting on shows celebrating everyone from Nina Simone, David Bowie and to Drake and local hip-hop acts, as well as hosting creative projects with different artists and communities across Manchester, collaboration is at the centre of what they do.
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Ahead of their busy season of winter shows, workshops and highly anticipated charity launch, The Untold Orchestra x Beyond The Music takeover highlights the original music and poetry of some of the orchestra’s members and collaborators in an afternoon demonstrating again, how much great music there is in Manchester.
Funmi SaysMali Hayes
A total of seven performances will take place on the live music stage in Exchange Square from 12 noon until 7pm on Friday, 13 October, kicking off with smaller ensembles before closing with a full band. The line-up is as follows:
12pm — Indie pop trio, Big Society
1pm — Solo loop cello, Polly Virr
2pm — R&B duo, Mali Hayes
3pm — Five spoken word poets: Esther Koch, Funmi Adeyo, Jack Coverdale & Reneé Stormz
4pm — Electronic pop and soul vocalist, Ellen Beth Abdi
5pm — Electronic pop and soul artist, Yemi Bolatiwa
6.15pm — The Untold Orchestra playing well-known hits, featuring Jenna G and Will Jacquet
Each performance will be around 40 minutes long and, as mentioned, the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District has also commissioned a ‘Dawn Chorus’, where a series of intimate classical performances will be carried out in the foyers of six Manchester hotels on Thursday.
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Hotel visitors staying at the Hyatt Regency, The Midland, Moxy, Yotel, Leonardo Hotel Manchester Central and the Kimpton Clocktower will be treated to a series of very special shows performed by students from our proud music studies institution, the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
Whether they know it or not, guests will be woken up by beautiful performances that will take place between 8-10am at the Hyatt Regency and Midland, and from 9-11am at all other venues. Not a bad way to start the morning.
As for anyone who’s interested in Beyond The Music Festival proper, the brand-new music series kicks off this Wednesday (11 October) and is set to be quite the collection of shows.
Boasting over 150 different up-and-coming artists from the Greater Manchester area and beyond, playing at 11 different independent venues around the city until Saturday, 14 October — we’re talking Castle Hotel, Band on the Wall, The Peer Hat and more — this new festival is going to make a splash.
You can still grab your tickets to enjoy the latest Manchester festival on top of the free live music sets down below:
DJ at centre of Parklife cancellations speaks out over ‘unsafe’ crowds
Daisy Jackson
A rising DJ whose set was cancelled due to ‘safety concerns’ at Parklife festival has now spoken out on his side of events.
Josh Baker is a popular Manchester-born DJ who was set to perform on the brand-new Matinee stage on the Sunday night of the local music festival.
He had the second-highest billing of the day, followed by Chris Stussy as headliner of that particular stage.
But despite being booked onto one of the festival’s smaller stages, Josh Baker’s popularity quickly saw the space becoming overcrowded.
Videos shared on TikTok show fans clambering over the safety barriers that Parklife security had installed as a queue system, desperate to get inside for Josh’s set.
The young talent has now spoken out again about the incident, saying he could see from his vantage point it ‘quickly became unsafe’.
Josh Baker said that ‘the organisers made the right call’ despite the show ‘meaning a lot’ to him.
He detailed that he has been going to Parklife since the age of 16, and playing such a big slot in the festival ‘felt like a proper full-circle moment’.
He added that he’s been looking into doing free follow-up shows, but has been unable to find a venue that would hold ‘anywhere near the amount of people who were trying to get in to see me play’.
Josh wrote on Instagram: “I’m honestly so sorry to everyone who didn’t get to see the set. It was completely out of my hands, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. Just know I’ve felt every bit of frustration with you.”
He then said he’s planning ‘something ridiculous’ for his Creamfields appearance to make it up to fans.
Josh Baker said in his full statement on Parklife: “I’ve taken a few days to process what happened at Parklife last weekend, and I wanted to share a few words.
“This one was always going to mean a lot. Growing up in Manchester, I’ve been going to Parklife since I was 16, so to be booked for such a big slot felt like a proper full-circle moment. But just as I stepped on stage, the music had to be cut. When I came on there were too many people trying to get into the arena and it quickly became unsafe, and therefore the stage had to be closed for the rest of the day.
“It’s gutting, but I want to be clear – the organisers made the right call. Safety has to come before everything. After seeing a few of the videos from the crowd, I’m just relieved the situation did not escalate and everyone remained safe.
“Still, it’s hard to explain how much it hurt not being able to play. I know so many of you were excited for that set and it honestly blew me away seeing that many people turning up.
“Over the last few days, I’ve been trying to figure out how to make it right. I looked into doing a free follow-up show in Manchester, but the reality is, there are no suitable or possible venues which would hold anywhere near the amount of people who were trying to get in to see me play.
“The last thing I’d want is to announce something and end up disappointing even more people who couldn’t get tickets. After a lot of conversations and digging behind the scenes, we’ve had to accept that there’s no realistic way to do something that feels fair right now.
“I’m honestly so sorry to everyone who didn’t get to see the set. It was completely out of my hands, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. Just know I’ve felt every bit of frustration with you.
“I really hope to see loads of you at Creamfields because I’m already planning something ridiculous to try and make this up to you in some way.”
Legendary funk and soul act Kool and the Gang are finally coming back to Manchester
Danny Jones
In case you hadn’t heard already, iconic funk, soul, and R’n’B artist Kool and the Gang are finally coming back to Manchester after far too long away from our musical city for a massive arena gig later this year.
Coming back to 0161 ‘For One Night Only’, the award-winning US supergroup and industry giants are set to make their first appearance here in over 15 years.
With a rich back catalogue and a career spanning six decades, not to mention multiple genres including funk, soul, disco, jazz (how they first began as an ensemble) and more, it’s only fitting they be given the top billing at the one and only AO Arena.
After Manc fans have had to wait for long, this is sure to be a night of ‘Summertime Madness’.
Though they need no real introduction if you know your music history, specifically African-American and Black music culture, Kool and the Gang are arguably one of the most influential acts to ever make it.
Having performed together longer than other R’n’B outfit on the planet, stood as one of the most sampled artists of all time and released a staggering 34 studio albums to date, they’re nothing short of foundational.
While, sadly, there is only founding member Robert ‘Kool’ Bell left from the original lineup formed back in 1964, the various iterations of the surviving live band have captured that same effortless cool, charisma, and effortless control of a crowd on the road that made the OG Gang such a toue de force.
As well as touring with everyone from Elton John and the Dave Matthews Band to The Roots and even a 50-city tour alongside equally legendary rock group, Van Halen, they have no shortage of accolades to their name.
How does two Grammys, seven American Music Awards (AMAs), a BET Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award; a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a place in the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; 25 Top Ten R&B hits, nine top ten hits in the pop charts, as well as 31 gold and platinum albums, strike you?
— Melodies & Masterpieces (@SVG__Collection) May 27, 2025
Best known for beloved tracks like ‘Celebration’, ‘Get Down On It’, ‘Cherish’ and ‘Jungle Boogie’, just to name a very small few (again, their discography is huge), you’ve most likely heard their songs or at least one of their serially sampled beats more times than its possible to count.
Yep, if there’s anyone that deserves the ‘icon’ moniker, it’s these lot.
Kool and the Gang come to the AO Arena in Manchester next month on Friday, 11 July and will have fellow British soul counterparts, The Real Thing, who looked to mirror their success throughout the ’70s, along for the ride.
General admission tickets are already on sale as we speak – you can grab yours HERE.
Danny Jones -
10th October 2023 
