The first headliners of next year’s Lytham Festival have been announced this morning, with Justin Timberlake and Alanis Morissette both heading up north.
The massive live music event will return to the Lytham St Anne’s seafront – just a stone’s throw from Blackpool – in July 2025.
The outdoor gig series has attracted massive names over the years, from Kylie to The Strokes to Shania Twain to Rod Stewart to Lionel Richie.
And next year looks set to be no different, with Lytham Festival today announcing the line-up for three nights of its five-night festival.
As well as Alanis Morissette and Justin Timberlake, there’ll be a joint headline performance from Simple Minds at Texas at the TK Maxx presents Lytham Festival 2025.
ADVERTISEMENT
Details of the two remaining headliners will be revealed soon, with the festival taking place between 2 and 6 July.
The iconic and influential Alanis Morisette will be headlining on Friday 4 July, performing her hits like Ironic, You Oughta Know, Hand in My Pocket and Thank U.
ADVERTISEMENT
Justin Timberlake has been announced as a headliner of Lytham Festival 2025. Credit: SuppliedAlanis Morisette will also headline Lytham Festival 2025. Credit: Supplied
The seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician performed a sold-out world tour back in 2021, celebrating 25 years of her landmark album Jagged Little Pill.
On Saturday 5 July the Lytham Festival stage will be graced by Justin Timberlake, as he brings his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour to Lytham Green.
The former NSYNC star has won 10 Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, and even earned an Oscar nomination, with six studio albums and 54 million album sales under his belt.
ADVERTISEMENT
The closing night will be headlined by global rock icons and Scottish legends Simple Minds and Texas.
One of the most successful bands to ever come from the UK, Simple Minds have sold more than 60 million records worldwide and enjoyed number one singles on both sides of the Atlantic.
Simple MindsTexasSimple Minds and Texas have announced a joint headline show at Lytham Festival 2025. Credit: Supplied
And Texas have a four-decade-long career with 10 studio albums, five compilation albums and 45 singles, including their iconic debut I Don’t Want A Lover.
Details of who will be headlining on Wednesday July 2 and Thursday July 3 along with all support acts and special guests will be announced soon.
Lytham Festival co-founder Peter Taylor said: “It’s that time of year again and what a line up we have planned. Everyone we are announcing today is an absolute music icon and we can’t wait to welcome them to Lytham.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Alanis Morissette is quite simply a cultural phenomenon and an artist with incredible integrity and acclaim who is celebrated globally. To then have the huge superstar that is Justin Timberlake headlining the following night is a booking we are very excited about and one we are confident will be a huge hit.
“Then we have a brilliant double headlining set with two amazing Scottish artists, in the form of Simple Minds and Texas, to close the festival. These are two bands that I know will be very popular with our Lytham audience.
“And we’ve not finished there. Watch this space as we still have our Wednesday and Thursday headliners plus a lot of special guests to announce in the coming weeks. It’s only September but already Lytham Festival 2025 is shaping up to be another incredible week of live music.”
Individual tickets for Friday to Sunday go on sale at 8am Friday from lythamfestival.com
Harry Styles announced as latest performer at the 2026 BRIT Awards
Danny Jones
Yes, in what is set to be his Co-op Live debut (yes, the venue he’s literally invested in), Harry Styles has been confirmed as the latest blockbuster performer at this year’s BRITs.
The lineup for the 2026 BRIT Awards was already pretty stacked, but this just takes the cake.
Not long after FINALLY announcing his fourth album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally and releasing the new lead single, ‘Aperture’, the Cheshire-born singer-songwriter is coming to the Co-op Live arena for the very first time as part of the ceremony’s live music lineup.
Absolute scenes. Screaming, crying, throwing up.
we've got news… Harry's coming home 💋🪩@Harry_Styles will be making his live TV performance debut of music from his new album 'Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.' at The BRIT Awards 2026
Watch the performance live Saturday 28th February on ITV1 & ITVX in the UK and on… pic.twitter.com/Aax3lV03xM
The 31-year-old former One Direction member turned solo artist and global megastar recently revealed a raft of live shows this coming May (and there’s been plenty of discussion surrounding ticket prices), but he’s sadly overlooked Manchester for now.
However, anyone who already secured a seat at the first-ever BRITs here in Manchester will no doubt be doing cartwheels now following the announcement.
As if that wasn’t a mega enough name, he will be joining the likes of the wonderful, already award-winning and fellow multi-time nominee, Olivia Dean.
As quite literally two of the biggest musicians on the planet right now, we couldn’t pick a better roster if we dreamed it up ourselves.
Speaking of Ms Dean, she is also one of several acts confirmed to be playing a series of intimate acts across the country – and her’s is right here in Manchester.
You can see the full lineup of gigs HERE – all we’ll say is that there’s some seriously big hitters playing very small capacity venues on this list.
What a great few weeks for music, eh?
Taking place on Sunday, 28 February, public tickets for the show unfortunately sold out some time ago for what will also be his first-ever live musical TV performance.
Perhaps his booking is at least partly why we haven’t got a standalone Harry Styles Manchester gig on the ‘Together, Together’ tour, but we’re still keeping everything crossed that he’ll announce a second leg of shows here in the UK.
You’d think he’d fancy properly headlining the gaff he helped pay for, or maybe a return to the Etihad Stadium across the way, right?
Find the complete shortlist of nominees, as well as the rest of the live music lineup for the 2026 BRITs ceremony here in Manchester, down below; and if you see on screen trying to clutch at Harry’s ankles, we’re sure you’ll understand…
Featured Images — Leticia Moraes (via Flickr)/Press shots (supplied)
Audio
Sounds From The Other City releases 2026 lineup with 100+ acts playing on 17 stages across Salford
Emily Sergeant
More than 100 exciting artists are set to perform on 17 stages dotted across Salford this spring.
In case you hadn’t heard, 2026 is the year Salford is celebrating 100 years since it was first declared its own city, and to celebrate such a monumental occasion, the popular Sounds From The Other City (SFTOC) festival has now released its full lineup ahead of its return on the early May Bank Holiday weekend.
Salford’s long-running independent festival of new music is known for its genre-spanning showcase of new artists from across the UK and beyond.
This year’s festival is curated by some of the most exciting promoters, record labels, radio stations, magazines, and tastemakers in the North.
Music lovers will get the chance to see artists in a wide range of independent venues and unconventional spaces across the city – with 17 stages around Chapel Street and The Crescent, from pubs and churches, to concert halls and galleries.
Artists announced today include the uncategorisable masked provocateur Lynks, South African ‘future ghetto funk’ trailblazer Moonchild Sanelly, Manchester-based artist jasmine.4.t, who has recently been named BBC 6 Music Artist of the Year 2025.
Other artists to look out for include Grey Lantern, FaT OuT, ambient pop artist Pollyfromthedirt, genre-straddling South London six-piece, Blue Bendy, South London trio ashnymph, and Manchester quartet Pyncher.
The Sounds From The Other City festival has released its 2026 lineup / Credit: Breige Cobane (Supplied)
One of the undeniable highlights of the lineup is that the spiritual home of the festival, Islington Mill, will be programmed day and night by the legendary Band on the Wall, multi-award-winning Reform Radio, Manchester’s infamous queer day-rave BENT, and the LGBTQ+ POC collective Swagga, with performances from Sorvina, Renee Stormz, and Chimpo.
“This year, we’re shining a spotlight on Salford’s independent venues and the selectors in the North who shape our programme,” commented Emma Thompson, Co-Director of From The Other, as the lineup was announced this week.
“Giving these organisations the space to showcase the artists they champion is vital, not just for discovering emerging talent, but to recognise how important these spaces are for our scene.”
Sounds From The Other City 2026 takes place on Sunday 3 May, and tickets go on sale this week – with Early Bird ticket access available to mailing list subscribers from tomorrow (Thursday 29 January) and the remaining tickets going on general sale from Friday 30 January.
Prices remain unchanged from 2025 with tiers at £30/35/40/45, and you can get tickets when they go live here.
Daisy Jackson -
23rd September 2024 
