Matty Healy is once again poking the beehive and after being called a “slack-jawed f***wit’ by Noel Gallagher, The 1975 frontman delivered the perfect comedic response to his comments.
Healy was on stage in Dublin on Wednesday, 7 June, essentially warming up for himself after American singer Caroline Polachek had to pull out of the show, playing an hour of additional 1975 songs that didn’t make it onto the headline setlist.
A much more informal set than the main show — just Matty, a guitar, a keyboard his laptop and a little help from bandmate Jamie Squire — he spent lots of time chatting with the crowd and at one point, addressed the Manc music legend’s recent roasting.
The former Oasis songwriter and guitarist was sitting down with The Spin when the interviewer asked what he made of Matty Healy’s comments that he and brother Liam should “stop marding” and get back together — to which Noel said: “Oh, that slack-jawed f***wit… He needs to get over how shit his band is and split up.” Bit harsh but the 34-year-old seemed to take it in stride and had his own cold comeback.
Clearly enjoying having riled up the 56-year-old, Healy fired back by saying “The difference between me and Noel is I do a series of interviews to promote an album, whereas he does an album to promote a series of interviews”.
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As one person posted in the comments, “I’m not the biggest 1975 fan but he’s absolutely mugged him off here”, and a lot of people tended to agree.
Healy did assure the cheering crowd that he and the band all “love Noel Gallagher” and claimed that they even “asked Liam to open up for [them] but he was busy” — we would have paid good money to see that happen.
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Nevertheless, we’re certainly enjoying this hilarious little spat between the two and whatever you make of the two of them, they sure. Also, Matty’s right, the Gallagher bros should just get over it already and give the people what they want: an Oasis reunion. One day, we can always pray.
Parklife 2026 – stage times, line-up, tickets, travel, and everything else you need to know
Daisy Jackson
Parklife 2026 is heading back to the fields of Heaton Park in Manchester this month, for another huge instalment of the legendary local festival.
Tens of thousands of fans will be making their way to the park ready for the party of the year, which attracts the biggest names in dance, electronic, pop and house music.
With headline sets this year from Zara Larsson, Calvin Harris, Skepta and Sammy Virji, it’s shaping up to be another epic year.
Parklife is consistently one of the biggest events in the Manchester cultural calendar and has lined up plenty of new developments this year.
From brand-new stages to that fancy VIP area unveiled last year, plus all the travel, tickets, and other info you need to know is below.
When is Parklife 2026?
This year’s Parklife is taking place on Saturday 20 June and Sunday 21 June.
As a reminder, this is a non-camping festival, so you’ll need to navigate your way there and home again each day.
Gates will be open between 12pm and 11pm on Saturday, and 1pm and 11pm on Sunday.
Last entry will be strictly 5pm on both days.
Stage times
Parklife 2026 will bring huge names back to Heaton Park. Credit: Sam Neill
Parklife has shared its full list of stage times and splits ahead of the big weekend, with live updates dropping on the app over the weekend.
You can see the full list of stage times HERE, but I’ll round up the major headliners below too.
On Saturday, East End Dubs will headline the new Panorama Stage from 9.30pm, with Rossi. on stage beforehand from 8pm.
Sammy Virji will headline the main Valley Stage from 9.30pm, with Skepta performing between 8pm and 9pm.
As for Sunday, the Valley Stage will be headlined by Calvin Harris from 9.25pm, Zara Larsson from 7.40pm, and Rudim3ntal from 6pm.
The Panorma Stage will have KETTAMA on from 8pm and Chris Stussy from 9.30pm.
Tickets for Parklife 2026
Parklife tickets are £100.75 each for Saturday, and £105.85 each for Sunday, with tickets still on sale.
You can see the latest availability and grab your tickets for Saturday HERE or Sunday HERE.
Weekend tickets for both days are also still available at £161.75 – see those HERE.
VIP and Backstage tickets and upgrades
The new ‘Backstage’ VIP viewing area at Parklife 2025The new ‘Backstage’ VIP bar area at Parklife 2025
Last year, Parklife unveiled its new-look VIP and Backstage areas right in the heart of the festival site, with dedicated viewing areas overlooking The Valley stage.
A VIP ticket also gets you fast-track entry to the festival, posher loos, a VIP cocktail bar, a separate street food market, and even access to a hair and makeup salon.
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If you really go all out on the Backstage ticket, that gets you an even posher VIP zone to hang out in, backstage toilets, covered seating areas, a pamper station, and a premium backstage bar.
You can upgrade to VIP for £46.05 on Saturday HERE, or Sunday HERE, or make your whole weekend VIP for £62.85 HERE.
Travel pass and how to get to Parklife
Parklife takes place up at Heaton Park, and while a lot of festival-goers do choose to walk home after the music stops, there are a lot of public transport and dedicated services to help you get home safe too.
The Parklife Travel Pass offers the best flexibility and the quickest ways to get to the festival as it covers any bus or tram service, including the direct Parklife Shuttle Bus.
The Travel Pass costs £8 for one day, or £14.95 for the weekend, and you can purchase it on the Bee Network app.
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Trams will operate every seven minutes between Victoria and Heaton Park – use the Heaton Park stop for entry to the festival, but bear in mind this stop will close from 9pm so you’ll need to use Bowker Vale to get home after this time.
The Parklife Shuttle Bus runs throughout the day, departing from Minshull Street to right outside the festival site. The first bus will leave at 10.30am on Saturday and 11.30am on Sunday, while the last buses will go at 4.30pm on both days. For return, departures are from outside the Woodthorpe pub by the West Gate to Shudehill, starting from 6.30pm and continuing until everyone is off the festival site.
Official car parking is available through the Parklife app, for spaces in the Sheepfoot Lane car park. Bear in mind there’ll be a number of road closures which may cause delays leaving the car park.
There is no longer an official pick-up point, with Sainbury’s no longer in use for pick-up and drop-off. Instead, those being collected from the festival should organise an area at least 1km away from the park.
Weather forecast
It’s looking like pretty great weather for Parklife 2026 so far (which is a relief because the last few years have been wet).
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According to the Met Office, Manchester will remain rain-free throughout both days of Parklife.
On Saturday, you can expect some cloud and lots of sunshine, with highs of 22º and lows of 14º.
Sunday will be much warmer, reaching 26º and getting as low as 17º.
The Hangar stage is so 2025 – this year, Parklife will be debuting a brand-new Panorama Stage, with a whopping curved 100m LED screen.
The festival’s new arrival will also have on-stage and behind-booth access, plus multi-tiered dance platforms right across the surrounding festival site.
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Parklife has shared new CGIs and a video of how the stage will look and this looks like it’s about to push the festival to a new level.
Banned items, lockers, and more
The list of banned items for Parklife 2026 is long, and includes the obvious (no drugs, no weapons, no glass) and the less obvious (no bikes, dogs, or hover-boards).
You are allowed to take an umbrella but it must be a compact one, can take sun cream but it needs to be in a 200ml or less original container, and you can take in an empty plastic bottle up to 500ml which you can refill at water points around the festival site.
Make sure you check the full list of banned items HERE so you don’t get caught out.
There are also lockers on site this year that you can pre-book, which you can access throughout the day for peace of mind while you party.
Inspiring new 360° immersive David Bowie experience to open in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Music lovers will get a glimpse inside the mind of a creative genius when a new immersive experience opens later this year.
Factory International has this week announced its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season, and by far one of the stand-outs on the list has to be the return of Lightroom for a new 360° experience called David Bowie: You’re Not Alone – which is set to immerse audiences in the iconic performances and creative mind of one of the world’s most visionary and influential artists.
Bringing together a wealth of visual material from a wide range of sources, the experience combines rare performance footage, photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes, and audio recordings from the late Bowie himself.
You’re Not Alone will showcase some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mix of iconic, rarely seen, and even never-before-exhibited material.
Selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, you can expect to see everything from Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs, through to Heroes, Black Star, and more.
Each track has been newly reconfigured by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer, Gareth Fry, to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system.
The 360° experience is set to be both a multimedia spectacle and an intimate self-portrait in one, giving audiences a unique insight into Bowie’s perspective on the subjects that were most important to him, like theatricality, spirituality, songwriting, and the transformative power of creativity.
Danny Jones -
9th June 2023 
