A new live-streamed clubbing series has been announced for Greater Manchester, which will beam our world-famous nightlife scene into living rooms across the globe.
MainRoom is the latest series from not-for-profit platform StreamGM, which comes from team behind lockdown favourite United We Stream.
Episodes will be broadcast live from dance floors, nightclubs, rooftops and basements around the city-region.
It’s all been created to capture Manchester’s legendary underground club culture and will shine a spotlight on the DJs and promoters operating in the city.
MainRoom events will take place monthly, over the course of three or four hours.
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Escape to Freight Island will host the first MainRoom event in July
The first event, She’s In Control, will be streamed from Escape to Freight Island on 24 July and will put women and people of marginalised genders front and centre.
Taking part in the She’s In Control livestream will be Jade Li, Edie, Danielle Moore from band Crazy P and Homoelectric resident, Gina Breeze.
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The collaboration will raise awareness and funds for Brighter Sound, a local organisation aiming to help underrepresented people develop careers in the industry.
StreamGM’s MainRoom series will be presented by Rebecca Swarray aka DJ Mix-Stress, who is the founder and curator of Manchester based events and arts collective, RebeccaNeverBecky and co-founder of queer DJ Collective, Queer Latifah.
Rebecca Swarray. Credit: Supplied
Episodes already lined up include collaborations with La Discotheque, Not Bad For A Girl, Mixing Mates, Black Gold Arts and Band on the Wall.
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Co-founder of StreamGM Laura Graham said: “Greater Manchester’s clubbing scene is historic, and renowned as THE destination city for a night out. This is partly due to the region’s vast clubbing tapestry, amazing super clubs, and major venues across the city, but also because Greater Manchester has always maintained a thriving, progressive and influential, grassroots clubbing scene, and it’s this scene we want to identify and explore.
“MainRoom will provide visibility for Manchester’s local clubbing culture, with a strong emphasis on inclusion, accessibility, empowerment, and most of all – fun times – for marginalised groups.
“We will collaborate directly with promoters and take amazing local talent and new clubbing concepts beyond the venue walls with our online audiences.
MainRoom’s first event posted. Credit: Supplied
“MainRoom will also give viewers a sense of the latest music, dance and fashion trends, straight from the club vibes and dancefloors.
“People all over the world will be able to use MainRoom to dip into Manchester’s epic clubbing scene, use our streams as soundtracks to house parties, or watch them to research future nights out in the city.
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“During United We Stream, our team were overwhelmed by messages from people for whom live streaming had given them access to events they would never normally be able to attend for myriad reasons, from disability and caring responsibilities to location or cost. MainRoom will open Mancunian clubbing to EVERYONE.”
MainRoom host Rebecca said: “MainRoom is a vital and exciting platform that will showcase exactly what the real creative essence of Manchester is.
“Platforming people on the ground, creating spaces and places for the under-presented and less visible is vital for cultural identity. This city has a melting pot of diverse talent, and I am honoured to be involved in MainRoom and look forward to speaking, showcasing, and interviewing some amazing people doing amazing things.”
StreamGM recently partnered with FAC51 The Hacienda for their landmark 40th Birthday party, and livestreamed their entire eight hour event, direct from the carpark of the Hacienda Apartments on Whitworth Street.
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The first live event is on July 24h at 9pm at She’s In Control – Freight Island.
Featured image: Supplied
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Oasis promoters drop biggest Knebworth hint yet after securing license around key date
Danny Jones
Not that we’re the type to get carried away, but we’ll confess that our curiosity, interest and general levels of anticipation have been piqued, as Oasis’ main promoters have recently renewed the license to host events at the infamous Knebworth.
My word, is this it? Like the reunion, is it ACTUALLY going to happen?…
We’re sure the raw, uncontrollable excitement will come should it be fully confirmed, but for now, all we know is that our colleagues in music media, SJM Concerts, have renewed the land in and around Knebworth Park and House for live entertainment once again.
Moreover, the company have also done so on a rather fitting date decades on from the original and legendary outdoor gigs.
As can be found on the planning application section of the North Hertfordshire Council website – the county in which the storied Britpop gigs took place – a fresh license to hold new events.
If/when the announcement happens, the already granted permission will allow for a capacity of up to 125,000 and a curfew of 3am.
We know the original Knebworth shows were beyond iconic, but let’s say this would be nailed on to be nothing short of absolutely box office.
Besides having also helped promote Oasis’ colossal Live ’25 reunion tour last summer, it’s also worth noting that they secured said license just over a week before the 30th anniversary of the pair of nights back in 1996: 10-11 August, to be specific.
The licence is said to have come into effect this past Saturday (1 Aug) and is believed to be indefinite.
What added even more fuel to the fire of these well-established rumours over the past year was when Baroness Sharon Taylor of Stevenage told the House of Lords the band would be playing FIVE whole nights at Knebworth in the future, before later clarifying that she was speaking in “hypothetical terms.”
All that being said, it’s fair to say we’ll be keeping a very keen eye on socials over the next few days, in particular, just in case.
The Manc has reached out to SJM for an official comment (surprise, surprise), but we are yet to receive a response regarding the matter.
Your silence speaks volumes, just saying.
This coming Monday, 10 August 2026, will mark the official 30th anniversary of Oasis at Knebworth 1996, and with the likes of ‘Wonderwall’ seeing a chart resurgence as the go-to England anthem at this year’s World Cup, we’re choosing to be optimistic. What about you?
Blossoms deliver most rock and roll performance in years as Declan McKenna joins them on stage
Danny Jones
Last night, we were fortunate enough to be there in the flesh not only to see Blossoms play a special anniversary show in Manchester, but to witness Declan McKenna join them on stage.
A tiny part of us was wondering if we’d see Rick Astley roll out into the venue, but let’s just say we’ll absolutely take this.
Celebrating a decade to the day since the release of the self-titled debut LP – yes, we feel old, too – Blossoms announced the one-off intimate show at The Deaf Institute, a venue they hadn’t played in 12 whole years (good lord…), and it served as much more than a night of nostalgia.
But we’ll admit, the highlight was almost certainly seeing the ‘Brazil’ and ‘British Bombs’ singer join Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst, Myles Kellock and Joe Donovan on stage for their smallest gig since god knows when.
We’ve gotten somewhat used to seeing the Enfield-born solo artist popping up at random venues across the country and even performing DJ sets at local pubs.
If you haven’t seen that Kylie Minogue clip before, you really need to…
However, we don’t think anyone in the crowd was expecting this cameo, let alone hearing them perform a co-written track off the new record live in front of the audience for the very first time.
As if all of this wasn’t already a bit bonkers and left-field, the song in question, entitled ‘Additional Driver’, was self-admittedly so surprising in SO many ways that Tom felt he needed to explain the full story behind it and why Declan shouted “shoulda got the 192” before they started playing.
Yes, in some kind of Greater Mancunian fever dream, we’ve finally got artists writing lyrics about the region’s most infamous bus route that we’re sure most, if not all of you, can relate to.
But it wasn’t just this moment that had us debating in our heads, ‘are they the best Manc or maybe in Northern band full stop going right now?’, it was seeing them slip so seamlessly back into the more straight-down-the-line indie rock from their first chapter of studio material that did it.
Everyone knows and loves the biggest bangers from that inaugural outing: ‘Getaway’, ‘Charlemagne’, ‘At Most a Kiss’, ‘Honey Sweet’, etc.; but it’s hard to forget just how quintessentially rock and roll tunes like ‘Blow Rose’, ‘Cut Me and I’ll Bleed’, ‘Texia’ and even some of the other deep cuts/early releases are.
Don’t get us wrong, we love how much the dressing up (musically and quite literally) they’ve done over the years as their production, creativity and experimentation has increased, but it’s always hard to beat that feeling you get when finding an artist’s first album – especially one as good as Blossoms‘.
In fairness, listening back to ‘Deep Grass’ all these years later, we’ll still remember how spacey, psychedelic and downright different that intro felt back in the day; it now feels like a fitting end to that maiden outing and the perfect jumping-off point for what has been a real sonic exploration ever since.
For a lad born in SK2 and lucky enough to have seen these lads right from the start, stuff like this will never not feel surreal to me.
Long live ‘Blossoms from Stockport‘, and roll on Songs From The Wedding Cake this October.
Daisy Jackson -
30th May 2022 
