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Sounds From The Other City is celebrating 20 years in Salford

Greater Manchester is about to be filled with even more live music.

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia - 4th February 2025

Salford’s well-established and much-loved new music festival, Sounds From The Other City, is returning to celebrate a landmark 20 years this May.

Festival season will soon be upon us and it’s safe to say Manchester knows how to do it best; with the Parklife full line-up dropping just last week, it’s now the turn of this popular emerging artist event.

Boasting two decades of experience, Sounds From The Other City (SFTOC) are pioneers when it comes to discovering new artists, giving everyone involved a chance to showcase their work to the masses.

As this esteemed festival is turning another year older and reaching its monumental 20th anniversary, what better way to kick off the celebrations than with over 100 of the freshest artists in the industry?

Although every act that has been selected is truly phenomenal, there are a few standouts that should hopefully pluck your interest…

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events at Sounds From The Other City
Good vibes and good times in Bexley Square.
live performances at Sounds From The Other City
Crowds gather for Sounds From The Other City 2024.
Credit: Breige Cobane

Ever heard of a triple threat? How about a quintuple threat? Du Blonde is a musician, composer, artist, animator and video director.

This English star has caught the attention of music lovers with their loud and proud punk/ rock instrumentals and their infectious personality to match – Salford is up next.

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Alternative singer and producer, Grove, knows how to put on a show and we have no doubt they’re set to deliver considering their recent roster of events.

Last year saw this outspoken vocalist at Burning Womxn – a feminist festival held in Paris that coincided with the 2024 Olympics – and even a Boiler Room show in partnership with fashion giants, Levi’s.

Halifax talent, The Orielles, teased they’re working on more of their indie-avant pop goodness and now they have just the stage to do it on as they’re set to play Sounds From The Other City too.

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Du Blonde is performing at Sounds From The Other City
Du Blonde is ready to wow the Salford crowd.
Grove is performing at this upcoming artist festival in Salford
Grove, who is set to play Sounds From The Other City 2025.
Credit: Rob McGee/Josh Cohen

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In case you needed any more convincing when it comes to how big these names go on to bed after being given the nod by SFTOC, you only have to look back at the acts that have played the festival in the past.

Some of the talents that have graced this festival in years gone by include Greater Manchester locals, The Ting Tings; the Mercury Prize-winning Sampha, rising alt-rock and indie outfit, Black Country, New Road, and many more.

Sounds From The Other City is coming to Salford on Sunday, 4 May 2025 and tickets are on sale from 7 February or right now if you’re a registered subscriber to SFTOC HERE.

In the meantime, you can also check out some of the names playing Castlefield Bowl this summer as part of the festival’s twinned event in Manchester city centre. They’ve already notched some big ones…

The Black Keys are coming back to Manchester for their Castlefield Bowl debut

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Image — Breige Cobane/Press Images (supplied)

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Lily Allen to play smash-hit new album in full on first tour in seven years

Danny Jones Danny Jones Lily Allen playing nwe album West End Girl in full UK tour Manchester gig tickets

Lily Allen has returned with one of the best comeback albums the British music scene has witnessed in decades, and it’s been received so well that she’s set to play the record IN FULL on a new tour – her first in more than seven years – and, yes, she’s coming to Manchester.

The noughties popstar and daughter of fellow musician and actor, Keith Allen, isn’t just having a renaissance, the 40-year-old singer-songwriter is now riding arguably one of the biggest waves of popularity in her career following the release of her fifth studio LP.

West End Girl, released earlier this month, has not only gone down a treat with die-hard Lily Allen listeners but has earned her plenty of new fans too, as well as winning over numerous critics.

Notching multiple five-star reviews, a shout for album of the year from Variety, and even being labelled “one for the history books” by the BBC, the demand to see her back on the road was ready and waiting, and now the genre-hopping Hammersmith heroine is giving the people what they want.

Without giving too much away for those who haven’t listened to it yet, the deeply honest and no-holds-barred material dives into her divorce from ex-husband, David Harbour, of Stranger Things and Thunderbolts* fame.

Leaving no stone unturned, it’s a deeply personal, scorched-earth kind of album that has resonated with a lot of people, it seems.

We’re not going to say any more than that; just strap in, give it a go and thank us later. You can see the full list of her newly announced domestic tour dates, where she’ll be playing West End Girl in its entirety, down below.

Lily Allen UK live tour shows, including multiple Northern dates

March 2026

  • 2/3         Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
  • 3/3          Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
  • 5/3          Birmingham Symphony Hall
  • 7/3          Sheffield City Hall
  • 8/3          Newcastle City Hall
  • 10/3        Manchester Aviva Studios, The Hall
  • 11/3         Manchester Aviva Studios, The Hall
  • 14/3         Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
  • 15/3         Cambridge Corn Exchange
  • 17/3        Bristol Beacon
  • 18/3        Cardiff New Theatre
  • 20/3        London Palladium
  • 21/3        London Palladium

Here’s a little taste of just one of the tracks from the acclaimed new album, which is already being heralded as her best to date.

So many great tracks on this album.

Honestly, there’s plenty more where that came from…

If you’re looking to hear the explosive 14-track diatribe from start to finish in person, she’ll be playing not just one but two nights at the Factory International’s Aviva Studios.

Tickets for all Lily Allen live tour dates, including her Manchester shows next spring, go live on Friday, 7 November from 10am – and given the reaction to the album itself, you can bank on them selling out fast.

You can get ready to grab yours right HERE.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Charlie Denis/press shots (supplied)

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Fast-rising alt-rock cult favourites Keo announce Manchester gig on new UK tour

Danny Jones Danny Jones Keo O2 Manchester Ritz gig tickets

Up-and-coming alternative rock band Keo have just announced a new UK tour and “most ambitious chapter yet” in terms of live performances, including a Manchester gig that we CANNOT wait for.

Combining the likes of post-grunge, garage rock and more, Keo are one of the most exciting and fast-emerging new acts in the space right now, having seen their recent run of half a dozen domestic shows sell out completely.

Pulling influences from artists of The Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden, as well as most notably fellow contemporaries and former tour partner, Wunderhorse, they’re well-positioned at the front of the guitar-driven revival and are bound for big things. We’re by no means the only ones banking on it either…

Having been described as “already that band” by Dork and delivering “a sound that has given UK guitar its biggest kick up the fretboard in years” by Rolling Stone, you can bet tickets for these shows will be snapped up in seconds, too.

Set to play their biggest Manchester venue to date, Keo will be playing the O2 Ritz on Whitworth Street next spring, and let us tell you, that sprung floor is not ready…

Co-fronted by two brothers, Finn and Conor Keogh (originally from Devon before ultimately getting their music careers underway in the capital), the now London-based group make quite a racket for just the four of them.

That being said, they also do quiet moments well, too, as seen in several of the ‘calm before the storm’ breakouts in songs like ‘Thorn’, ‘Fly’, ‘Crow’ and many more.

If you like anything close to grunge or even just shoegazey riffs, trust us, they’ll be right up your street.

One of the most exciting parts about this lot is how feverishly their fans have packed out their audiences all over the country, somehow learning every single word to every song before most of the material had even been released on any kind of platform. They’ve led with their live reputation – and it shows.

Case and point – the crowd at The Key Club in Leeds, where our mates over at The Hoot got to witness them up close and personal as the entire room erupted in a chorus of screams about a girl called Amber:

“To be playing venues like these with only five songs out still feels surreal”, says lead singer Finn Keogh. “We always imagined we’d reach this level after years of supporting other bands, but somehow we’ve skipped that step.

“It’s mad, come March, our biggest indoor shows will have been our own. Electric Ballroom [in London] is a special one for me personally; I’ve seen some life-changing gigs there. To be on that stage this time around is going to feel unreal.”

Listing a total of 16 live show dates up and down the country throughout March and April of 2026, it’s fair to say we Mancs are excited to see them playing their biggest room in our city to date, having absolutely smashed Gorilla this past October.

Tickets for Keo at the O2 Ritz in Manchester go on sale next Wednesday, 5 November at 10am; you can get ready to grab yours right HERE.

The debut release from Keo has delighted fans and critics alike, and their Manchester gig is sure to be a stormer.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Hermione Sylvester (supplied)

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