The return of Homobloc is on the horizon and some big names have been added to the 2024 lineup, not least of all, LGBTQ+ icon, Christine and the Queens.
Presented by Homoelectric and nestled in amongst the action of The Warehouse Project’s jam-packed annual programming, Homobloc is one of the most highly-anticipated events on the Manc music and cultural calendar – and it’s no wonder.
Since the likes of The Blessed Madonna, Confidence Man, Horse Meat Disco and salute; Honey Dijon, Hot Chip, Self Esteem and many more have all played the cult-favourite club night over the past few years, it’s gaining a real reputation.
With that being said, the pressure is on every year to improve upon or at least match the lineup from the year before and we can confirm the team behind Homobloc has secured another stellar selection of artists for 2024.
Topping the bill, you can’t go wrong with the ever-creative, critically acclaimed and immaculately cool Christine and the Queens will lead the Homobloc proceedings. Make no mistake, it’s a big deal having a name of this size headlining.
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He will be joined by London-born hyperpop icon Shygirl, who presents her latest Club Shy project: Swedish singer and record producer COBRAH, making her Manchester debut alongside the rhythm-shifting sounds of Olof Dreijer of The Knife.
In addition, they will be joined by the likes of Moonchild Sanelly following an amazing performance at this year’s Glastonbury, as well as queer Manchester rapper OneDa, Chinese producer and artist Alice Longyu Gao, not to mention a special collab between Pxssy Palace and US rapper Mykki Blanco.
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Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg: there will be several other DJ sets throughout the venue and beyond, including Job Jobse b2b Saoirse, 2manydjs b2b Confidence Man, Tiga; HorsegiirL, HAAi, Chloé Caillet and Horse Meat Disco, with live sets from I.Jordan, Christeene, LSDXOXO and more.
Spanning the full breadth of Depot Mayfield‘s main stages (Depot, Concourse, Archive) and more such as the beloved Plant Room, the historic Star and Garter Pub and the Loft – a unique rooftop space set to be taken over by Studio 54 icon Nicky Siano – there will be a whole host of genres on display.
And last but not least, completing what will be arguably the most dynamic and boundary-pushing Homobloc yet, the 2024 lineup will also feature curation and performance art by LGBTQ+ collectives Ghetto Fabulous, Make Me Feel, House of Spice, Sue Veneers and many more.
Homobloc’s Creative Director Sophie Bee said of its return this winter: “It’s been a wild ride since the party started in 2019. The festival production has evolved so much and we’ve gone from half of Manchester plus the kitchen sink on stage, to choreographed pieces with global touring artists.
“Our research and development design team based at Islington Mill has been a place for experimentation allowing space for people’s imagination to flourish. It’s an honour to work on a collaborative, loving, fun spectacle, with such innovative producers from mixed art forms.
“This year there are some really beautiful production moments that we can’t wait to share with all our family, friends and community.”
Homobloc 2024 returns to Depot Mayfield on Saturday, 9 November and, in true all-day and all-nighter fashion, is set to run from 2pm-4am, so you best be prepared to party. Pre-sale goes live at 10am this Thursday, 15 August, and general admission tickets at the same time on Friday, 16 August.
Featured Images — Tom Hancock (Tower Hamlets Council via Flickr)/WHP (Supplied)
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Posters around Manchester city centre spark serious rumours Charli XCX is set to headline Parklife 2025
Danny Jones
Some pretty big, green posters are popping up around town and, not to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like they’re hinting at Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025…
Feel free to lose your bratting minds.
A number of tall, let’s call it ‘apple’ green posters have been sighted in various places across Manchester city centre this Friday, 22 November and the last time we saw this slightly low-resolution, plain black Arial font and colour combo we got a reworked version of Charli XCX’s brat album.
Listen, all we can tell you is that this is almost exactly the same marketing and the letters on the poster simply read, “PL25”. Come on… you do the math(s).
Spotting at least two of the posters for ourselves around both Newton and Thomas Street in and around the Northern Quarter, plenty of people have been double-taking at the simple but bold and undeniably eye-catching portrait posters.
Trust us, we weren’t the only ones stopping to take a picture and frantically send them to half of our phonebook either.
Charli herself hasn’t given us any other clues on social media thus far – to be fair, this one feels fairly obvious to us – but it’s well worth keeping your eyes peeled on her stories as she did plenty of teasing before dropping Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.
Still can’t get over that actually being the title, by the way.
It’s also worth noting that Parklife themselves recently confirmed that festival fans can expect to find out their headliners and the full 2025 lineup very soon. Check out that colour…
Oh, who are we kidding? That’s not apple green it’s straight-up BRAT green, b*tch. We’re fully getting carried away and you’ll just have to deal with it.
Even if it somehow turns out she’s not headlining it’s certainly looking like she’s going to be there and it wouldn’t be the first time.
Better yet, fans of the pop sensation won’t have to wait too long to see her right here in Greater Manchester because Charli is bringing her already smash-hit tour to Co-op Live next Wednesday, 27 November and in case you couldn’t tell by all the shouting in capitals, we’re very excited.
Roll on ‘PL25’. Other than Charli XCX, who else would you like to see as your Parklife headliners next summer?
Bez and Shaun Ryder are starring in a new gangster movie – nope, not kidding
Danny Jones
No, you didn’t misread the headline and you’re not on acid: Manchester music legends Bez and Shaun Ryder are set to feature in a brand-new gangster film.
Yes, the ones from the Happy Mondays – why are you having such trouble processing this?
Seriously though, we did a little double-take ourselves when we came across this news, but the familiar Manc faces look to be among the ensemble of a brand-new gangster movie by Irish writer, actor, producer and filmmaker, Ciaron Davies.
And this is just a little leak or rumour that may have been blown out of proportion: you can take it from the horse’s mouth as Happy Mondays frontman, Ryder, recently shared the news on social media.
As you can see, the new film is called Geezers and is billed as a “British crime caper” written and directed by Davies, featuring Shaun as hard-man Robbie and Bez as ‘Monk’. If you saw Ryder shaking off that snake biting his hand like it was nothing then you already know he’s hard as nails.
Although it’s not strictly listed as a comedy per se, ‘caper’ would suggest plenty of humour and light-heartedness, so we’re thinking more like The Gentleman, Italian Job, or maybe even Four Lions, rather than a serious crime thriller.
Now, while we’ve seen both of the Salfordians on screen before not only in the likes of music videos, interviews, panel shows and even as two of the funniest guests to ever go on Celebrity Gogglebox, this latest venture will serve as their respective acting debuts.
According to the IMDb page, the synopsis of the film is as follows: “Crime caper about a stolen bag of money. Caught in the crossfire are ‘The Geezers’ a bunch of wannabe criminals who have bitten off more than they can chew. With 24 hours to grab the cash, London may just go up in smoke tonight.”
Shame it’s not set on the mean streets of Manchester, or better yet Salford, but you’ve still very much caught our interest.
You can see the first promotional poster for the film down below.
As for Davies, he has been involved with a number of small-budget TV film projects, as well as appearing in shorts and even video games, so it’s fair to say that getting 62-year-old Ryder and his ever-energetic hype man, 60, involved is quite the coup for his movie-making career.
Although the film has no release date just yet, we know that filming locations having included parts of Warrington and Pinewood Studios, will be produced by Loose Gripp Films and distributed by publishers High Fliers.
Given the high-octane nature of Geezers and its genre, the feature will involve lots of action, stunts, violence and even martial arts – though how much kung-fu these two will have learned for the project remains to be seen…
All we know is that the film is supposedly “coming soon” and if you don’t want to see Bez and Shaun Ryder doing their best impression of a Guy Ritchie gangster movie then you’re lying to yourself. Praying for a Rowetta cameo to put the cherry on top.
Danny Jones -
13th August 2024 
