Lineup revealed for new inner city warehouse festival Summer of Love
Taking place this August, Summer of Love is Manchester’s newest festival to hit the scene - and is one of the first in the world to accept payments in bitcoin.
The people behind Manchester label and esteemed party makers, Animal Crossing, have been teasing us with their latest venture for the past week. But today they’ve revealed the lineup for their new festival Summer of Love – and what a weekend it’s set to be.
Known for putting on parties in the most obscure places, the Animal Crossing team are quite the creative bunch when choosing their location. They’ve hosted in lofts, rooftops, railways arches and even a disused car showroom. So, don’t expect Summer of Love to be any different.
This time around, they’ll make use of an abandoned warehouse in a secret location within the centre of Manchester. They’re remaining tight-lipped on its whereabouts. But what we do know is that Manchester’s newest festival is set to deliver the best talent in underground music in real Animal Crossing style.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQTJ8PGBlVB/
On 21-22 August, a full 12 hours programme of music, arts and mindfulness will run from 11am until 11pm with stages hosted by a wide variety of people, with plenty of minimal house and techno on the agenda, and a particular focus on that Romanian style of deep groove.
The likes of Romanian pair Raresh and Praslea – a.k.a. Praslesh – are confirmed to play, alongside Apollonia’s Dyed Soundorom across the weekend. Plus, there’ll be a world exclusive b2b from Traumer and fellow Apollonia member Shonky to complete the headliners bill.
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Saturday will see a takeover from Wales’ Gottwood Festival who will look after proceedings at the ‘Love Factory’ stage by welcoming fellow Romanian DJs SIT, Priku, Sepp and Nu Zau to the occasion, whilst Turkish selector Onur Ozer will headline ‘The Second Stage’.
On the Sunday, the ARPIAR trio of Raresh, Petre Insperecsi and Rhadoo will welcome a fourth member, Dreamrec, who will provide some unreal visuals to accompany the set, to create the ultimate 360-degree experience.
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Manchester’s own Josh Baker and French selector Charlotte will set the pace at ‘The Second Stage’ on Sunday.
If you have the stamina, after parties will be running at The Loft until 5am too.
But it’s not just music.
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As passionate mental health advocates, Animal Crossing spent much of their time in lockdown raising money for Mind Manchester with a fundraising livestream. Now, a dedicated wellness area will be constructed at the festival, hosted by Mind Manchester themselves and complete with yoga classes from Blok.
Some of Manchester’s best independent food vendors will also be on hand to line your stomachs. A selection of hand-picked pop-ups curated by Eat MCR will give you the chance to grab a giant pizza slice from Nell’s Pizza, some fully-loaded fries from FryBy or some lighter options courtesy of The Green Lab, plus more.
The festival’s record fair, featuring local outlets Basement Wax, Vinyl Pimp, Wax Material, will be there if you fancy some crate digging. But more importantly, Summer Of Love will be one of the first festivals in the world to accept bitcoin as payment.
And finally, a dedicated art corner hosted by Smolensky Gallery will invite a load of the city’s painters, designers, photographers and graffiti artists to come together and create some live art. Meanwhile, the man behind Animal Crossing’s iconic illustrations, Matthew Alker, will host a deep dive into what goes into creating this visual feast for the eyes.
Phew.
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The two days are set to be absolutely packed with music, art and culture making this one hell of a weekend not to be missed.
The announcement comes at a good time following Boris Johnson’s bombshell lockdown announcement. Let’s hope this restores some hope of a festival summer actually going ahead this year!
Summer of Love organisers said: “This is our moment to reunite, rejoice and celebrate the reopening of the world we love and have missed so dearly.
“The Summer of Love Festival represents our freedom, our connection, our artistic expression in an environment that has been created bespoke for the two-day music, arts and mindful experience. There is always a positive, always a light to shine brighter. It’s all about the love.
“We can’t wait to see you in August, let’s dance like we mean it.”
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Those who register online will gain access to pre-sale tickets at 10am on Thursday 24 June, before general sale begins at 10am on Friday 25 June.
All that’s left to do is book the Monday off work, of course.
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Fans are preparing to pay tribute to Mani from The Stone Roses ahead of his funeral service
Danny Jones
Stone Roses fans and Greater Manchester locals alike are getting ready to pay their respects to the late, great, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, following his tragic passing last month.
As well as details surrounding his funeral being announced earlier this week, the iconic Manc musician’s cause of death has also finally been revealed.
While Hatton’s service featured a high-profile cortège which started all the way from his hometown of Hyde, past multiple landmarks and ending at the Etihad Stadium, those local to Mani’s family home on the edge of Stockport are also being welcomed to help send him off.
It's the funeral of Mani of the Stone Roses on the 22nd. He lived locally. This poster is asking people to line the route of his funeral cortege to "show that he truly was adored". pic.twitter.com/X0DYHl10Hp
He had been struggling with emphysema for some time; he was declared dead at his home in the suburb of Heaton Moor, and is said to have died peacefully in his sleep.
As you can see from the posters put in various places around the area, residents wishing to pay their own tributes to Mani before his private funeral service at Manchester Cathedral are encouraged to line the long street leading down from St Paul’s and Heaton Moor United Church as he heads towards the city.
Departing Parsonage Road from 10am on Monday, 22 December, before turning right onto Heaton Moor Rd, then Wellington and eventually on to the Cathedral, you can expect plenty of people to show up.
One of those people will be his former bandmate and another influential guitarist, John Squire, who is one of many famous musical names to have honoured him in their own way over the last few weeks.
Other members of The Stone Roses, as well as Primal Scream (who he joined in 1996), are expected to join the close family and friends at the service itself.
Nevertheless, we have no doubt that plenty will be observing the funeral in their own way.
So, for those of you also looking to honour him, you know what to do; and to quote the poster itself, “together we can show this local legend and his family that he was truly adored.”
Boyzone to reunite for exclusive New Year’s Eve special on the BBC
Danny Jones
2025 has very much been the year of the comeback – be it Oasis, Britpop fashion in general, or short bobs and pixie cuts – so it’s only fitting that we round off the calendar with one last reunion, as throwback boyband Boyzone are set to feature on a TV special on the BBC this New Year’s Eve.
Turns out ‘All That I Need’ to make a year memorable is a load of 1990s nostalgia.
Now, obviously, despite plenty of other music names enjoying a second renaissance over the past 12 months or so, nothing is ever going to be quite as big as the Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour.
However, if you asked us to guess which group from the era were also going to reunite this year back in January, there’s not a chance we would’ve said Boyzone.
Boyzone are telling us about coming back together for one final run in their most unforgettable concerts yet 🎤
After news first began circulating earlier this week, it has now been confirmed that musician turned presenter Ronan Keating will be getting back together with two of his former bandmates.
Joining the 48-year-old for ‘Ronan & Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party’, ex-Boyzone members Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch are part of an exciting live music lineup.
Other names include actor and singer, Shona McGarty, who recently starred on season 25 of I’m A Celeb, as well as fellow 90s pop artist Louise Redknapp and singer-songwriter Calum Scott.
The exclusive reunion comes after the success of the recently aired Boyzone: No Matter What documentary show.
Spread across three parts on Sky, the docuseries (named after their hit song from 1998) looks back on the career and journey up the charts back in their heyday, all the way up to the present. After seemingly striking a chord with fans and the lads themselves, it looks like they’re not done after all…
Yes, not only is the festive TV special going to see three of the original members performing alongside each other again, but
Here’s hoping that turns into a springboard for something even bigger, and we get a Manchester arena show sometime soon.
As for the programme itself, ‘Ronan & Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party’ will be broadcast on BBC One and made available on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday, 31 December 2025.
Hannah Starkie -
23rd June 2021 
