Highest Point festival has just added a raft of new artists to its line-up for its 2023 festival in the grounds of Williamson Park.
Joining already-announced headliners Bastille, Anne-Marie and Hacieenda Classical will be the likes of Sub Focus, Sigma, Friendly Fires and Freya Ridings.
Half of the Highest Point tickets have already sold even before the Lancashire music event dropped the full line-up for its weekend of music, food and activities.
Set to take place between 11 and 13 May, the festival will bring together more than 100 artists and some of the biggest names from pop, indie, funk and soul.
Joining the line-up this week was Lost Without You singer Freya Ridings, just in time to debut her new album Blood Orange.
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Dance floor icon and Coronation Street legend Craig Charles is also joining the Highest Point bill with his Funk and Soul night, headlining The Woods stage.
Also added to the festival’s list of artists are indie band Friendly Fires, British drum and bass DJ duo Sigma, drum and bass legend Sub Focus, DJ Mag Breakthrough winners Girls Don’t Sync alongside the legend that is Skream, plus Manchester-based indie band, The Lottery Winners, known for their top 40 hits Young Love and Hawaii.
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Hacienda Classical will open the festival on the Thursday night, with their first live performance since their sold out performance in 2018.
Bastille will also be taking to the main stage performing their hit singles like Pompeii and Happier on the Friday night.
Saturday night will be headlined by ten-time BRIT-Award nominee Anne-Marie, known for her chart-topping singles CiaoAdios and 2002.
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Highest Point Festival. Credit: Robin Zahler
Other acts joining the festival line-up include Radio 1’s Danny Howard & Charlie Tee, DJ Paulette, Gok Wan, House Gospel Choir, Elvis Fronted Nirvana, Toploader, General Levy and The Cuban Brothers with Guilty Pleasures taking over The Woods on the Saturday. Chris Hawkins (6 Music) will be hosting The Dell Inn, a pub in the woods, in collaboration with Manchester Union Brewery.
The Dell Inn, soon to be everyone’s favourite festival pub, will be the home of comedy, poetry slams and acoustic sets across the weekend, as well as opening its door, or branches, to some well-known stars. This is one of the many changes the festival has made this year as part of its ambitions to become bigger and better, as well as Bushrocker Hi-fi roots reggae takeover at the Waterfall and a new look to the much-loved Sundial stage.
Highest Point spans across six stages in the beautiful 54-acre grounds of Williamson Park, with music running alongside a premier regional street food and craft beer offering.
Festival Director, Jamie Scahill, said: “We are always looking for new ways to make Highest Point bigger and better every year so there will definitely be a few changes this year. The team behind the festival are working really hard to make this year the best one yet with new and exciting experiences added to the festival, as well as a much more diverse lineup of acts.”
Tickets for Highest Point festival are available via Skiddle’s website, costing £145 per adult. Day tickets are also available from £39.50 per adult for Thursday, and Friday and Saturday tickets each costing £69.50 per adult.
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HIGHEST POINT 2023 LINEUP
Hacienda Classical / Bastille / Anne-Marie Arielle Free / A Little Sound / Charlie Tee / Chris Hawkins / Craig Charles / Cuban Brothers / Danny Howard / DJ Paulette / Elvana / Freya Ridings / Friendly Fires / General Levy / Girls Don’t Sync / Goddard / Gok Wan / Guilty Pleasures / House Gospel Choir / K-Klass / Lottery Winners / Skream / Sigma (DJ set) / Sub Focus (DJ set) / Toploader / Turno / AMA / Beth / Bklava / Buckrocker Hi-Fi / Eldon / Emily Makis / Funkademia / Ki Creighton / Matt Thiss / Matrefakt / Mike Garry / Murphys Law / Nathan X / Nico Balducci / Phoebe Hall / Pirate Copy / Sam Redmore with many more…
Manc music legends James announced MASSIVE hometown show
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester music legends James have just revealed a massive hometown show here in the city centre as part of a landmark domestic arena tour.
Daisy bucket hats at the ready.
James is arguably the epitome of what it is to be the understated, underdog British band; they’ve gone about the business of making quality music somewhat quietly for several decades now, but they’ve had a fresh wave of interest over the past year or so
Having opened up for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback shows, not to mention playing multiple big festival slots in recent months alone, they’ve now announced a huge run of UK arena shows – and nowhere does a James crowd quite like us Mancs.
Details have been announced for our 2026 UK arena tour, and we’re delighted to be joined by very special guests @dovesmusicblog with tickets going on general sale this Friday at 9:30am. Access the ticket pre-sale on Wednesday via our official store: https://t.co/DwpGrAUESZ NBL x pic.twitter.com/A4CWVpCooL
Announced as part of the celebrations around their Nothing But Love ‘best of’ LP, which pulls tracks from James’ whopping 18 studio albums, the new run of UK arena shows in 2026 follows on from numerous noteworthy shows this calendar year.
In addition to the aforementioned outdoor gigs, like their stunning sold-out night at The Piece Hall in Halifax – not too far from frontman Tim Booth’s hometown in Yorkshire – the indie veterans also celebrated a huge landmark in 2025.
Surpassing the milestone of 40 years as a band, with a lineup that’s remained largely intact and only really grown in terms of live session players and touring bandmates.
The new “definitive” greatest hits record also includes two brand-new songs in ‘Wake Up Superman’ and ‘Hallelujah Anyhow’, both of which are produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with the band on their long-awaited number one album Yummy in 2024 – a feat loooong overdue if you ask us.
As evidenced by the sheer amount of new material they continue to put out and the almost non-stop touring, they remain one of the most prolific artists in the country. FACT.
You can see the rest of James’ upcoming tour dates, including a healthy number of Northern stops in the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and more.
James UK arena tour dates 2026
Fri 2 Birmingham Utilita Arena
Sat 4 Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
Tues 7 Aberdeen P&J Live
Wed 8 Glasgow OVO Hydro
Fri 10 Newcastle Utilita Arena
Sat 11 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Mon 13 Cardiff Utilita Arena
Tues 14 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 17 London The O2
Sat 18 Manchester Co-op Live
With James returning to Manchester for their Co-op Live arena debut next April, along with a sensational support slot from fellow local legends, Doves (I know, how lucky are you lot?!), you can bank on this one selling out quickly.
General admission goes on sale this Friday, 10 October at 9:30am, so you’d better be ready to grab yours in a flash.
You can find the ticket link HERE, and we’ll see you in the crowd for a good ol’ singalong.
Featured Images — Ehud Lazin/Press shots (supplied)
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Electronic icons Kraftwerk announce first Manchester gig since 2017
Danny Jones
Pioneering German band Kraftwerk have announced their first UK tour since 2017, with fans having to wait almost a decade for another Manchester gig.
Thankfully, they’ll be heading back down the Autobahn and across the channel for a return to our shores soon enough with a long-awaited list of British and Irish live dates.
Kraftwerk remains one of the most groundbreaking groups in the electronic scene to this day, having paved the way for generations of new artists to keep experimenting with the genre in the 50+ years since their formation.
Heading back to Manchester early next year, die-hards will no doubt snap these tickets faster than you can say ‘Das Model’.
For anyone unaware of these veritable legends of electronica and the world of alternative/Euro-synth pop, Kraftwerk formed all the way back in 1970 and went on to shape the modern music industry, bridging the gap between music and the digital age.
Best known for tracks like ‘Computer Love’, ‘The Robots’, ‘Pocket Calculator’ and the aforementioned on named after the national motorway network, they spearheaded futurism in the musical landscape from the outset.
It seems only fitting, therefore, that their upcoming highly anticipated return to the UK comes as part of their ‘Multimedia’ tour.
While they have played a number of live shows all over the globe this year, including an extensive run in the US, next spring will be our domestic visit from Kraftwerk in nine long years.
Credit: Press shot (supplied)
You can see the full list of UK and Ireland tour dates – including a handful of Northern gigs – down below:
Spanning a total of 15 UK dates, as you can see, there will also be tickets to see Kraftwerk nearby in the likes of Liverpool and with our mates over in Sheffield.
Kraftwerk legend Ralf Hütter famously played a set inside our city’s velodrome at the National Cycling Centre for Manchester International Festival (MIF) back in 2009, and has collaborated with the event on multiple ocassions.
In fact, that very performance was seen as a turning point for MIF, so the Manc Kraftwerk connection speaks for itself; O2 members can obviously get pre-sale, but general admission tickets go live from 9am this Friday, 10 October.
Daisy Jackson -
9th February 2023 
