Thankfully, our Manchester New Year celebrations are shaping up to be a damn sight better than last year’s locked-down version.
Now that more and more New Year events are getting announced, it’s looking like we’re going to be stuck for choice – and we would not have it any other way right now.
As always, The Warehouse Project comes through strong with their New Year agenda – and they’ve just dropped another cracking set of shows to celebrate the end of another tough year getting back to ‘normal’.
In a first for the city, four of Manchester’s biggest music brands will come together to round off what has been an unforgettable return to live music and events this year on New Year’s Day, whilst the New Year’s Eve event also has some big tricks up its sleeve.
Here’s what to expect.
ADVERTISEMENT
___
New Year’s Eve
The biggest party night of the year, New Year’s Eve is always one for making memories with some huge music lineups. Whilst we weren’t able to see in the new year at Depot Mayfield last year, WHP has pulled off one to remember for the big night on Friday, 31 December 2021.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fat Boy Slim and Radio and DJ legend Annie Mac will headline the night, bringing in the new year with another prime NYE slot, alongside Yousef.
Over on the Concourse, Hannah Wants, Redlight, Low Steppa, My Nu Leng plus loads more will be responsible for a house, tech, and bassline driven soundtrack. Then in the Archive, it’ll be over to Emerald, Big Miz, and Joe Motion to spin some funky beats.
With an early start from 8 pm, there’ll be plenty of time to get the drinks in before midnight strikes, too, before rounding things up by 4 am – if you can make it that far.
ADVERTISEMENT
New Year’s Day
On New Year’s Day, an extra special party is set for the Depot.
In a first for the city, four of Manchester’s biggest music brands will come together to round off what has been an unforgettable return to live music and events this year.
In a collaboration named ‘The Riot’, Homoelectric, Electric Chair, Repercussion, and The Warehouse Project will join forces to produce the biggest NYD lineup the Depot has ever seen.
Credit: WHP 21
If your New Year’s Eve hangover allows it, from 3 pm until 2 am, you can enjoy five stages of music, each with a different takeover all day and into the night.
The Depot’s usual three rooms will be open for business, with music from the likes of The Blessed Madonna, Todd Terje, Jayda G, and Krystal Klear in the Depot’s main room, with Louie Vega, Hunee B2B Palms Trax headlining the Concourse.
ADVERTISEMENT
Over in the Archive, a Homoelectric takeover will see Horse Meat Disco, Leon Vynehall, Shanti Celeste, Sherelle and more.
What’s more – one of Manchester’s most famed pubs, The Star & Garter, will play host to a WHP lineup again.
The venue was recently taken over as part of the inaugural Repercussion Festival back in September, where Sassy J, Greg Wilson, Krysko and Space Afrika took to the decks at The Star & Garter for a special day of music.
Repercussion Festival took over a number of venues in and around the Depot, including the Star and Garter and Temperance Street pictured here / Credit: Zed Bias
For The Riot, though, the pub will have two stages.
Upstairs in ‘The Loft’ you can expect to see Erol Alkan B2B Ivan Smagghe, alongside Nancy Noise and Maurice Fulton. Meanwhile the ‘Downstairs’ stage will feature the likes of Manc legend DJ Paulette, Abigail Ward, and Aficionado.
ADVERTISEMENT
And with that extra bank holiday on Monday, 3 January, you might just get away with the hangover for your return to work.
Micheal Bibi Presents Isolate
A third night has also been revealed today.
The brand-new show, Michael Bibi & WHP presents Isolate, has been added to the calendar on 18 December. Although we know there are some very special guests in the pipeline, the lineup announcement and full details will follow soon.
Credit: WHP 21
How to get tickets
Getting hold of tickets for the closing parties is simple.
For previous WHP21 ticket holders, limited pre-sale tickets will go on sale at 6 pm tonight (Wednesday, 27 October).
ADVERTISEMENT
The remaining tickets will go on general sale to everyone else from 10 am tomorrow (Thursday, 28 October).
For links and more info, head over to the Warehouse Project website. Here, you’ll also find tickets for the final 20 events that are still to come, featuring Bicep – Live, The Chemical Brothers, Honey Dijon, Jamie xx, Solomun, Avalon Emerson, and hundreds more.
To read more like this, head to our music tab. And don’t forget to stay up to date with music and events in Manchester over on Instagram with The Manc Audio.
Featured Image – The Warehouse Project
Audio
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…
Global girl group Katseye add Manchester to huge new world tour
Daisy Jackson
Katseye have announced a major arena world tour for this year – and the global girl group are coming to Manchester for the first time.
The pop superstars will be performing at the Co-op Live as part of their WILDWORLD TOUR, which is taking them right across the UK, Europe and North America.
Katseye formed through The Debut: Dream Academy, which narrowed 120,000 applicants down to just six talented singers and dancers – though the group will be touring as a five-piece this time (Manon Bannerman has taken a hiatus from the band).
The Los Angeles-based global girl group, formed by HYBE and Geffen Records, merges K-pop dance training with Western pop sounds, with members hailing from across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and beyond.
The group is currently made up of Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza, and Yoonchae Jeung.
Katseye have not yet released a full studio album but have achieved major commercial success with songs like Gabriella, Pinky Up, Gnarly, and Internet Girl.
The group have already performed a major slot at Coachella, as well as taking the stage at the GRAMMY Awards this year where they were also nominated for two awards (including Best New Artist).
Katseye will be releasing their third EP, WILD, this summer ahead of their world tour, which reaches Manchester in September.
Tickets will first be on sale via a Weverse Artist Presale from 11am on Wednesday 20 May, followed by the Katseye.World presale from 3pm.
Fans can also register for presale access by pre-ordering Katseye’s new EP WILD or by signing up – no purchase necessary.
General sale will begin at 3pm on Thursday 21 May HERE.
Katseye WILDWORLD Tour – UK and European dates
1 September – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
3 September – London, UK – The O2
6 September – Manchester, UK – Co-Op Live
9 September – Paris, France – Accor Arena
11 September – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
Hannah Starkie -
27th October 2021 
