Manchester record label Scruff of the Neck has launched their brand-new music festival in the city centre, Year’s End, as dozens of up-and-coming bands from the North and beyond are set to close out 2023 in style.
Debuting this December, the inaugural Year’s End Festival is 0161’s newest metropolitan music event, promising nearly 50 different artists playing across eight different beloved stages in central Manchester, all within the space of less than 24 hours.
The day-night festival will be taking place along the city’s iconic Oxford Road Corridor, considered not only student central but home to some of our most iconic venues where countless bands and solo acts have made their name and continue to play to this day. Here’s the final lineup for Year’s End 2023.
Credit: Liam MaxwellThe lineup for the first-ever Year’s End Fest.
Playing across the following locations — The Bread Shed, Canvas (two rooms), The Deaf Insitute (also two rooms), Hatch, Thirsty Scholar (indoor and outdoor) and Zombie Shack — each gig will be just a short walking distance from another and boast a capacity of 2,000 guests in total.
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If you’ve ever been to any of these venues, be it the legendary Deaf Institute or the shiny new surround that is Circle Sqaure‘s Canvas bar, restaurant and events space, you’ll know that each of them offers up their own unique charm.
Better still, with a host of Scruff of the Neck bands signed up like BLOXX, Shambolics and All the Young, plenty of local acts such as The Covasettes, UNO MAS and Cassia just to name a few, as well as big names in general like The View, there is going to be some serious talent on display.
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Set up not only by Scruff but with the help of BBC Introducing, Fatsoma; Marshall, 42nd Street and music-fuelled beer brand, Signature Brew, there is a lot of collaboration and celebration of the ‘up-and-coming’ about this exciting new event — that’s what we like to hear.
Credit: Lewis WolstenholmeCredit: Scruff of the Neck
While early bird passes (which cost just £15) have already sold out, there are still plenty of tier one general release tickets available for £20 before tiers two and three drop at a different price point.
It goes without saying that you need to be quick if you don’t want to miss out on Manchester’s newest music festival. Each ticket grants you access to every single venue all day and night long, plus a free wristband that will get you into the afterparty. You can grab yours HERE.
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Year’s End Festival kicks off at 12pm and will run until 11pm on 9 December, followed by the afterparty which will be hosted by none other than Scruff of the Neck themselves, who’ll be on decks until late.
The label’s founder, Mark Lippmann, is tipping the unique music industry and community concept as the perfect way “to end the year with one big blowout and a chance to spend quality time together whilst enjoying our artists before the music industry Christmas break.” We couldn’t agree more.
See you there. In the meantime, there’s plenty of gigs on the schedule for the rest of the month:
Featured Images — Year’s End Festival/Scruff of the Neck
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A dedicated anime, movie and gaming concert with a live orchestra is coming to Manchester
Danny Jones
Calling all self-proclaimed otakus, cinephiles and gamers: a huge concert experience will see dozens of musicians bring classic anime, film and gaming soundtracks and scores to life later this year, right here in Manchester.
The city is no stranger to events celebrating these beloved kinds of media, but you’ll struggle to find another bringing all of them together in one place.
Brought to us Mancs by KIN Music Entertainment, a locally founded arts, events and music label, this celebration of all things pop culture – and specifically, the music tied to it.
Entitled ‘The Kin & Fushigi Anime, Film & Videogame Orchestra’, this passionate collective serves as not only a platform for rising artists but also to hear some iconic sonic moments like never before.
KIN have created a large-scale live concert experience which will bring together a 25-piece pop orchestra made up of emerging professional performers and conservatoire graduates.
Aside from the impressive total of people behind this production to begin with, they also form an immersive hybrid orchestral and live band capable of bringing.
Speaking on the upcoming date, KIN Entertainment said in a statement: “We wanted to create the kind of live experience that many anime and videogame fans in Manchester have been waiting for — something cinematic, emotional and community-driven that brings these sound worlds to life with the energy of both an orchestra and a live band.”
Kin was founded by bassist, composer and ensemble performer Alejandro Urbina Diaz, who first brought his talents and wider interests over from Mexico to the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) here in the city centre at the age of 23.
Citing Manchester’s multiculturalism and cosmopolitan cultural fabric as a big part of his inspiration, he and his team have ended up carving out this niche for themselves, and now they’ll be playing this beloved music to Mancs at none other than the O2 Ritz.
Credit: KIN Music Entertainment (supplied via Academy Music Group Digital)
With new arrangements inspired by anime, cinematic and videogame culture, not to mention orchestral and even rock crossover twists – including both vocalist and rhythm sections, by the way – it’s set to be a highly unique experience that most will have never come across before.
This event itself is suitable for audiences aged 14+, although under-16s must be accompanied by an adult, and it’s taking place at the Ritz on Sunday, 26 July.
We’re not going to spoil any more details about the show for you, so which particular pieces of pop culture they reference will just have to be a surprise…
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (supplied via AMG Digital)
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Disney are bringing a live music crossover tour featuring three cult favourite films to Manchester
Danny Jones
The latest Disney Concerts live tour is coming to the UK and Ireland in 2027, bringing a music crossover of three straight-to-TV teen movie favourites to Manchester and more.
For any fans of the old Disney Channel films of the noughties and the 2010s, this next musical adaptation might be right up your street.
Set to land at the AO Arena early next year, the ‘Disney Worlds Collide Concert Tour’ will be embarking on its first-ever run outside of North America, where it’s already proved to be a big success.
Here’s a trailer from the start of the tour just a few months ago:
They’re bringing the singalong, and the crowd helps bring the energy.
Throw a kids’ cult classic like Camp Rock into the mix, and you’ve got a great lineup with nostalgia spanning across multiple generations.
Sharing the news on social, Manchester’s legendary venue wrote: “Ready for THE family pop show of the year?! The Disney Worlds Collide Concert Tour is coming to AO Arena next year, bringing the cast from Descendants, ZOMBIES, and Camp Rock together live for the first time!
That’s right, linking up with a talented cast of live singers bringing the 2015 and ’18 Disney flicks to life, respectively, songs from 2008’s Camp Rock will also be performed to what we’re sure will be an audience of various different ages.
Famously featuring the likes of young Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers and more familiar ‘Disney kid’ faces, people remain super nostalgic for the musical/coming-of-age Disney film; even the memes have gone on to enjoy a life of their own.
As for the concerts themselves, these live shows will include stars from the original theatrical releases, too, such as Malachi Barton, Liamani Segura and Dara Reneé; Mekonnen Knife, Hudson Stone, Swayam Bhatia, Kiara Romero, Alexandro Byrd and more.
Having first hit US stages last year, it didn’t take long for this new Disney production to receive positive reviews, notching sold-out arenas in over 40 huge venues, and being named in the ‘Top Family Tour of 2025’ by Billboard Magazine, not to mention being nominated for ‘Top Family Tour’ of 2025 by Pollstar.
For British and Irish fans who might fancy going along to one of these dates, general admission tickets and VIP packages go on sale this coming Friday, June 12, from 10am.
Danny Jones -
6th November 2023 
