The UK’s largest indoor techno experience is coming to Warehouse Project (WHP)in Manchester this autumn.
Promising huge headline sets from techno giants 999999999, Reinier Zonneveld and Vladimir Dubyshkin, the giant techno event will run for 12 hours across four separate stages at Depot Mayfield.
Returning to the city this autumn for its third edition, XXL will take place on Saturday 7 October from 5pm to 5am and is being hosted by WHP in partnership with Teletech and Lo-Fi.
Further DJ sets at the all-day and night party will come from the likes of Kobosil, I Hate Models, DJ Heartstring, KI/KI, blk., Nina Kraviz, Paula Temple b2b SNTS, Shlømo b2b Sara Landry, Adrián Mills, Azyr, Basswell, Billy Does, blk., Charlie Sparks, Cloudy, CLTX, DJ Hyperdrive, Faster Horses, HØLEIGH, Krl Mx, LESSSS, Lucia Lu, Mac Declos, Malugi, Nico Moreno b2b DYEN, OGUZ and more.
Image: WHP
Image: WHP
The news follows the announcement from Warehouse Project about its opening season parties as it gears up to return to its home at Depot Mayfield this September.
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Kicking things off on 15 September will be a special show from Australian house music DJ Sonny Fodera with friends, followed by a return of ground-breaking Repercussion Festival which marks the official opening of the new season on 16 September.
The day and night party will run across the entire expanse of Depot Mayfield, covering eight unique stages, including the intimate Star & Garter pub and an immense street party on neighbouring Temperance Street.
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For the first time, Repercussion will also extend onto the deserted train lines that sit upon the rooftop of the Depot, with two brand new spaces being brought to life: a rooftop takeover celebrating 25 years of Rush Hour and a cinema specially programmed by i-D magazine.
Repercussion’s vast line-up showcases dance music in all its forms. Bicep will be debuting their brand-new Chroma (AV/DJ Set) show at the event.
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Moderat also return to Manchester for their first live show in the city since 2016, and Kerri Chandler brings his super rare Reel-To-Reel set-up to Manchester for the very first time. Also in town are Jon Hopkins, TSHA (Live), Biig Piig and many more.
The following week on Saturday 23 September, the Worry About Henry x Metropolis sees the largest Drum & Bass event ever at Warehouse Project break out across the entire Mayfield complex, with over 100 artists from across the DnB spectrum, including Hybrid Minds, Wilkinson, Hedex, Bou and many more.
On Friday 29th September, long-time electronic party crew Kaluki returns for a special birthday show and label showcase. Jamie Jones, Joseph Capriati, Hot Since 82, Solardo, Chris Stussyand more lead the proceedings for this season opener.
As we embrace the Autumn season, Saturday 30 September, sees the seminal ‘Welcome to the Warehouse’ show return for a six-stage takeover with various influential artists.
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This year, Welcome to the Warehouse features the likes of Honey Dijon, The Blessed Madonna, Mall Grab, Job Jobse, Sherelle, Saoirse, and more revealed below.
Sam Kandel, Co-Founder of Warehouse Project said: “Before last year’s WHP run ended, we had already started on our plans for 2023.
“Now we can’t wait to get back into Depot Mayfield, where we are making significant production changes for this year, all to be revealed when we kick off in September.”
How a cult classic game helped create the sound of Blossoms’ new album
Danny Jones
More specifically, their soundtracks, as in a recent chat with the Blossoms boys, we found out that their upcoming album was at least partly influenced by a beloved PlayStation 2 classic from 2006.
This is just more proof that you really can find inspiration in just about anything.
Yes, even if only in part, an old video game that many of you may have played back in the day is somehow connected to the latest and technically still yet to be announced release.
We’ve heard of groups such as The 1975 trying to make an album that sounds “as if John Hughes had directed a movie about our lives”, and Red Rum Club leaning further into the growing Western aesthetic with almost every outing, but we never thought we’d hear of a record born out of a love for Bully…
The lads actually touched on that whole ‘still TBC’ when we spoke to them at their studio in Stockport, joking not just about divorce but how they’re baffled by the whole ‘are they working on new music?’ speculation in the media. “Well, yeah, we’re a band – that’s what we do for a living”, as they put it.
But back to the point at hand: lead guitarist Dewhurt’s affection for Bully, a cult favourite PS2 title released by Rockstar Games – the same people behind Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Red Dead Redemption – and the score behind it, essentially served as a seed for the feel of their newest work.
As he explained above, before being expanded on by frontman and primary lyricist Tom Odgen, they were fortunate enough to be in possession of the details for one half of a duo they both admire: Young Gun Silver Fox, a.k.a. British artist Andy Platts and US multi-talented instrumentalist, Shawn Lee.
Lee also just so happens to be the composer of the original Bully video game soundtrack.
Ultimately, this all came about because Josh contacted him over email simply to praise the game’s music (sure, when he was a teenager, we promise), and only took them until the last year or so to put two and two together. Small world, eh?
Oh, the nostalgia.
It has since occurred to us that we’ve come across him before, too.
For us, it was when playing the first Tales From The Borderlands (a spin-off of the popular action role-playing looter-shooter series that has since been turned into a Hollywood movie), which features his song ‘Kiss The Sky’ and ALSO enjoyed in our late teens.
It still continues to baffle us how things can come full circle like this.
As it turns out, his music appears in various pieces of pop culture, and with Tom professing his love for the funky, bass-forward 80s vibes of Lee and his partner Platts’ stuff, he was then roped in as part of the production team on the hypotheticalBlossoms LP number six. Not that we know anything about that…
What has now come out of all this is the previously alluded to lead single entitled ‘Joke About Divorce’, the music video for which dropped last month.
‘Joke About Divorce’ our new single is out now! We love this record, we recorded it live to tape at Tilehouse Studios with Shawn Lee producing. The second we got the mix back it felt like an instant Blossoms classic (if we do say so ourselves)!
We’re still not sure whether or not this is just the first finished song from the project, the opener or indeed even a title track; all we know is it’s another catchy creation from the Stopfordians.
But yeah, in a roundabout way, somehow that ‘problematic’ game that our parents and teachers complained about when we were kids, either by sheer chance, serendipity or perhaps the divine will of the audio gods, appears to have served as a kind of sonic sapling for a fresh era of the local outfit.
Sadly, we have very little else to offer you in terms of information regarding the ‘as yet confirmed’ next studio release from the Blossoms, but we can tell you we’re very much looking forward to hearing what comes next – especially live.
In case you missed it, they’re headlining this year’s edition of NBHD Weekender music festival at the end of the month; you can see the rest of the lineup down below.
Featured Images — Rockstar Games/Audio North/Press shot (via Go! Entertainment)
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After All 2026 – the affordable grassroots music festival happening in Northern Quarter
Danny Jones
Grassroots music event After All Festival is returning to Manchester this weekend, with rising local artists and affordable tickets.
Now well over half a decade since it was founded, All All Fest takes place in the heart of the Northern Quarter, and this year they’re proving that their slow and steady approach to backing the best new up-and-coming bands at core intimate venues is more important than ever.
With plenty of previous acts having impressed in recent years, we’re looking forward to seeing how 2026 stacks up in comparison to its predecessors.
Increasingly prolific native group Dirty Laces are set to headline the whole thing, Manilla Times are locked in, and Bolton’s very own James Holt also stands out on the lineup, just to highlight a few.
As the festival continues to grow in size and popularity, they have obviously had to scale things up even further this year.
That being said, beloved live music spot and Manc institution, Band on the Wall, is among the chosen arts spaces for this latest iteration.
BoW will be offering up their 500-capacity main room to the organisers for the very first time, serving as the de facto main stage of After All Fest 2026.
Joining them will be the Rose and Monkey next door, as well as cult favourite pub, Gullivers on Oldham Street, who have a long history of supporting local musicians and the arts in general.
And would you look at that, now you’ve got all the stage splits and set times, too.
Labelled by Dead Records’ Rob Fiddaman as “one of the UK’s most exciting new music festivals”, homegrown DJing legend Dave Sweetmore has also described it as “unique in so many ways”, hailing it as a “brilliant event with a great atmosphere to discover new music.”
Having been ourselves on multiple occasions since its inception in 2019 – both as Audio North off-duty and as punters before then – we can’t recommend it highly enough.
The latest edition takes place at 12 noon onwards this Saturday until 2am on Sunday, 17 May, and while the cheapest early bird tickets (£16.50) are long gone, general admission tickets are still available, with prices starting from just £20. Grab yours HERE before they sell out.
It’s not the only live music event worth being a part of this month…
Georgina Pellant -
27th June 2023 
