Charli XCX has been announced as the first headliner for Parklife 2025, with the huge Manchester festival dropping the first wave of its line-up.
She’ll be joined by Confidence Man, Interplanetary Criminal, and Salute, among loads of other names confirmed this morning.
Parklife had already dropped a very big hint that Charli XCX would be headlining next year, with posters appearing all over town in her signature ‘Brat’ green hue.
And today, for the first time ever, the massive music event has shared a preview of its line-up before the full line-up drops in January, with Charli XCX right at the top of the bill when the festival returns between 14 and 15 June.
She’s been announced hot of the back of a huge Brat summer season, with tracks from the album dominating dance floors and festivals and social media over the last 12 months.
ADVERTISEMENT
Charli XCX’s album celebrates a confident and hedonistic attitude and has resulted in Grammy Award nominations, remixes with the biggest names in music, and now a Parklife headline slot too.
Charli XCX has been announced as Parklife 2025 headliner. Credit: Harley WeirPosters teasing Charli XCX as a Parklife 2025 headliner appeared last week. Credit: The Manc Group
Also on the 2025 line-up announced today are Confidence Man, widely considered one of the most fun live bands on the planet and who were a clear favourite at Glastonbury last year.
ADVERTISEMENT
There’ll be plenty of local names on the bill too, like Interplanetary Criminal with his groundbreaking UK garage tracks, Salute with their blend of house and rave, and electronic spoken word artist Antony Szmierek.
Berlin trance duo DJ Heartstring, KI/KI, Girls Don’t Sync, Prospa, Chaos In The CBD, Sim0ne, Bakey, Jodie Harsh and Gina Breeze have also been announced.
Interplanetary Criminal will perform at Parklife 2024. Credit: Jody Hartley
The full Parklife 2025 line-up will be announced in January, with general sale tickets on sale on Friday 29 November from 10am.
ADVERTISEMENT
Weekend tickets will be £135 but prices will rise in January. Day tickets will be available once the full lineup is revealed in January for £89.50.
Parklife 2025 will take place between 14 and 15 June 2025 back in the fields of Heaton Park.
Olly Murs at Co-op Live, Manchester – tickets, times, setlist and more
Thomas Melia
The ‘Troublemaker’ himself Olly Murs is ready to cause some more chaos, and this time he’s returning to Manchester with throwback boyband, Blue.
X Factor and British star Olly Murs is embarking on his latest UK arena tour, which feels more like lads on tour with a helping hand from UK boyband, Blue.
Back in the late noughties, it was hard to escape the blazer-wearing, trilby-wearing popstar as he was dropping back-to-back bangers like ‘Heart Skips a Beat’ and doo-wop inspired ‘Dance With Me Tonight’.
Now, this cheeky chappy is embarking on the ’15 Years Of Hits – Live 2025′ tour, where he’ll be belting out all those classics as well as some more recent tunes too.
Olly Murs is coming to Co-op Live in Manchester this week.Credit: Marcos Moreno via Wikimedia Commons
Are there tickets left for Olly Murs’ Co-op Live gig?
There are just a few tickets left for Olly Murs at Co-op Live, so make sure you bag yours before your ‘Heart Skips a Beat’.
To see a range of tickets and prices in all sections of this impressive new entertainment venue, Co-op Live, tickets can be found HERE.
Plus, even if you miss out on the Co-op Live, we wouldn’t worry too much, because the British popstar is also coming to AO Arena later this month near the end of his tour with tickets HERE.
Olly Murs 2025 tour – ’15 Years Of Hits’ setlist
This Essex chap might have a solid setlist which he follows night in and night out, but he’s no stranger to being a bit ‘Unpredictable’ – I mean, he’s bringing a flamethrower on stage…
After being on our screens and airwaves for almost two decades, it’s no surprise that this setlist is lengthy, totalling at just over 20 songs, give or take the 80s medley weaved into the mix.
Who doesn’t love a bit of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ paired alongside Murs’ stacked setlist?
Troublemaker
Right Place Right Time
Please Don’t Let Me Go
Thinking of Me
Oh My Goodness
Heart Skips a Beat
Kiss Me
Army of Two
Hand on Heart
Up
Die of a Broken Heart / I Found Her / Dancing on Cars / I Hate You When You’re Drunk (Marry Me Medley)
Seasons
You Don’t Know Love
I’m Your Man / Never Gonna Give You Up / Livin’ On a Prayer / Beat It / Careless Whisper / I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) / I’m So Excited (80s Medley)
Dear Darlin’
Years & Years
Never Been Better
Wrapped Up
Save Me
Dance With Me Tonight
What are the stage times for Olly Murs in Manchester?
Olly Murs sporting his usual blazer and top-hat style back in 2013.
Co-op Live has a strict curfew of 11pm, meaning concertgoers can be ‘Wrapped Up’ in the Essex popstar’s hits without having to worry about getting home too late. It’s a school night after all!
Doors for Olly Murs’ ‘15 Years Of Hits – Live 2025’ are scheduled for 6:30pm, with a kick-off time of 7:30pm and support from 2000s UK boyband, Blue.
The BRIT Award winners, Eurovision-performing and one-time chart toppers, are back together once again and about to take us back to pop school as we re-learn the words to boyband textbook classics, including ‘All Rise’, Best in Me’, ‘Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word’ and more.
How to get to Co-op Live
Tram
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, fortunately, it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre; they run until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live. You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.
ADVERTISEMENT
Getting there by car and parking
If you’re driving, there are limited parking spaces available at the venue but these must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are also designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide come event day – though estimates will obviously vary:
Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes through the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Featured Images — Mark Hayman/ Edward Cooke/Marcos Moreno(supplied)
Audio
A music festival is coming to a Manchester skate park
Danny Jones
With the sun starting to shine more consistently and the music festival season well and truly on its way, we’ll admit we weren’t expecting to see an event taking place on a Manchester skate park, of all places.
Projekts Skatepark, the long-standing skating hub and cultural hotspot located under Macunian Way, is set to host the fourth edition of the unapologetically named ‘Metlchester’.
Starting out life as little more than a small Oldham Street takeover, the city centre festival is returning for this year, bringing plenty of alternative music, skate vibes, bevs and more.
You can see the lineup confirmed so far down below:
The 2025 edition of the festival, a.k.a. ‘Metlchester Vol. 4’, is taking place later this month.
Projekts has been catering to local boarders for the past two decades, and along with their on-site cafe and bar, the space has been put to use for several other special events – case and point, Meltchester Festival, which first started back in 2022.
Bringing a healthy dose of garage rock, post-punk and psych music to NQ from the outset, now it’s expanded, you can expect even more variety when it comes to genre this time around, as well as a well-stocked in-house bar and street food stalls.
Oh yeah, and of course there’ll be the usual merch and skate shop for you to browse.
As for the aforementioned tunes, while last year’s festival was headlined by Night Beats and Frankie & The Witch Fingers, topping the bill this year are Snapped Ankles, along with a mix of grassroots artists, including local duo, Slap Rash, who recently featured as one of our Manc artists of the month for April.
Projekts opened back in 2004Slap RashCredit: Supplied
Set in collaboration with Sour Grapes Records, an equally longstanding regional promoter with hundreds of successful events to their name, they make up part of the Greater Manchester Music Commission.
Serving up an exciting springtime event full of energy, from the skate culture to the performances themselves, this is the perfect appetiser ahead of a busy summer schedule as we approach festival season.
They also happen to be the event coordinators for local music venue Big Hands, where not only are current Sicilian traders Rizzo’s are based (also set to join the festival for the day) but where this year’s after party will be held, which is free for ticket holders, by the way.
Set to kick off from 12 noon on 17 May, with a pro skater session running until 2pm before the tunage, Metlchester sounds like a belter.
Daisy Jackson -
26th November 2024 
