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Gigs & Nightlife

BBC Radio 6 Music Festival is returning to Greater Manchester next month

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia - 4th February 2025
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The BBC Radio 6 Music Festival is coming back to Manchester once again, and they’re bringing yet another phenomenal lineup with them.

National radio station and overall upcoming music connoisseurs, BBC Radio 6, are back with their music festival, and just like years previous, it’s taking place across Manchester.

Over the years, the festival has brought some of music’s biggest names to lots of local venues, putting on an array of brilliant live performances.

Last spring saw the arrival of rock band Gossip and Irish singer CMAT, both taking up residency in O2 Victoria Warehouse, Lily Fontaine of English Teacher at Band On The Wall, while DJ Seinfeld went B2B with Salute in Depot Mayfield.

2024 set the bar high, but 2025 is coming in hot.

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Leading this glowing roster of performers is Ezra Collective, a Mercury award -winning band known for their brilliant jazz productions, and then from one Mercury-winning band to another, Lily Fontaine won’t be riding solo this year, instead she’s bringing all the crew with her, as English Teacher are set to perform at this huge festival.

Fat Dog, whose debut album is titled ‘Woof’, are joining in on the fun with Scottish band Mogwai also making a feature too.

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There’s even a chance for an exclusive first listen too, as Kae Tempest will be debuting new material right here in Manchester.

Ezra Collective are returning to Manchester for this music festival.
Ezra Collective are performing at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.
English Teacher are performing at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.
English Teacher make a return to Manchester for this special event.
Fat Dog are performing at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.
Fat Dog are also playing the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.

All performances will be taking place at a multitude of venues, like the previously mentioned O2 Victoria Warehouse, Depot Mayfield, and Band On The Wall, as well as loads of other events at entertainment bar, Yes.

Every highlight, alongside live and recorded live performances, will be taking place at MediaCityUK in Salford, in order to keep everything Manchester central.

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BBC Radio 6 Music Festival is happening from 26 – 29 March 2025, with tickets going on sale from 6 February at 10am here.

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

Featured Image – Publicity Picture (via Supplied)

Gigs & Nightlife

Parklife 2025 stage times and stage splits for Sunday 15 June

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Parklife 2025 stage times and stage splits for Sunday 15 June
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Day one of Parklife festival is done and dusted and we’re heading straight into Sunday – with arguably one of the biggest line-ups the Heaton Park festival has ever had.

For the second day of the massive party in north Manchester, Parklife have pulled together a headline slot from Charli XCX – one of the biggest artists in the world right now.

She’s joined on Sunday’s line-up by the likes of Bicep, Confidence Man, Peggy Gou, Girls Don’t Sync and many, many more.

Parklife has confirmed the stage times for Sunday 15 June so you can get to planning.

So without further ado, let’s get to planning your day two of your Parklife weekend – here are the stage times for Sunday.

Parklife stage times – Sunday 15 June

The Valley

13:00 – 14:00 – Gina Breeze
14:00 – 15:00 – Jodie Harsh
15:30 – 16:15 – Marc Rebillet
16:30 – 17:30 – Girls Don’t Sync
18:00 – 18:45 – Confidence Man
19:15 – 20:45 – Peggy Gou
21:30 – 22:45 – Charli xcx

The Hangar

13:00 – 14:10 – Krysko
14:10 – 15:30 – Aletha
15:30 – 16:50 – DJ Gigola
16:50 – 18:10 – Ewan McVicar
18:10 – 19:30 – DJ HEARTSTRING
20:00 – 21:00 – Overmono
21:30 – 23:00 – BICEP presents CHROMA (AV/DJ Set)

Matinée

13:00 – 14:20 – PACH.
14:20 – 15:40 – Mella Dee
15:40 – 17:00 – Chloé Caillet
17:00 – 18:30 – Prospa
18:30 – 20:00 – Josh Baker
20:00 – 23:00 – Chris Stussy

Magic Sky

13:00 – 13:45 – North Base b2b Mark XTC
13:45 – 14:35 – Harriet Jaxxon (w/ Jolie P)
14:35 – 15:25 – A Little Sound
15:25 – 16:15 – Basslayerz
16:15 – 17:10 – Hedex (w/ Eksman)
17:10 – 18:05 – K Motionz (w/ IC3)
18:05 – 19:00 – Bou (w/ B Live 247)
19:00 – 19:55 – Hybrid Minds (w/ Tempza)
19:55 – 20:50 – Sota (w/ Carasel)
20:50 – 21:45 – Andy C (w/ Tonn Piper)

Big Top

13:00 – 14:00 – Urbi
14:00 – 15:15 – Mix-Stress
15:15 – 16:30 – D.O.D
16:30 – 17:45 – Fish56Octagon
17:45 – 19:00 – Paul Woolford
19:00 – 20:15 – Sam Divine
20:15 – 21:30 – Mau P
21:30 – 22:45 – Armand Van Helden

G Stage

13:00 – 14:00 – Larishka b2b Butchaboi
14:00 – 15:00 – Rich Reason (w/ Fox)
15:00 – 16:00 – Miley Serious (w/ Truthos)
16:00 – 17:00 – Club Angel
17:00 – 18:00 – Diffrent b2b Shuffa (w/ Riko Dan)
18:00 – 19:00 – Ghoulish (w/ T-Man)
19:00 – 20:00 – Conducta
20:00 – 21:00 – Todd Edwards (w/ Chunky)
21:00 – 22:00 – Oppidan
22:00 – 23:00 – BAKEY (w/ Strategy)

For more, download the official Parklife app.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Gigs & Nightlife

Gig review | Catfish at Heaton Park, Manchester – are the Bottlemen properly back?

Danny Jones Danny Jones Catfish and the Bottlemen gig review Heaton Park Manchester 2025
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10 months on from their last gig and more than a year since they officially ended their hiatus, Catfish and the Bottlemen finally returned to Manchester for a sold-out show at Heaton Park, and while the reviews online have been mixed, we had a blast heading back to the fields again.

Making their Manc comeback just hours before this year’s Parklife Festival got underway, the beloved Welsh band had stirred lots of worry leading up to the day itself and, in truth, even in the moments leading up to (and after) their stage time.

Apart from their huge headline slot at Reading and Leeds, 2024 was the year of cancellations and controversy, so their fans had plenty of reason to be concerned. Nevertheless, we had faith and kept our spirits high, especially with the weather holding out.

Local legends and indie rock veterans James certainly helped on that front, delighting both die-hards watching from up on the hill and younger gig-goers who may have only heard a few of the big hits like ‘Sit Down’ – though they certainly didn’t heed that message, there was merely jumping up and down.

james catfish and the bottlemen heaton park support set
Some great computer-generated imagery backdropped the set.
catfish heaton park reviews
We watched this thing like a hawk.
You can read our recent interview with them HERE. (Credit: Audio North)

Once the main support act had wrapped up their pretty perfectly timed set, we’ll admit, standing on that grass felt like an eternity, especially considering Catfish had us waiting an extra 15 minutes beyond their expected arrival at Heaton Park.

You could call it fashionably late, but in this case, it saw several people around us uttering, ‘they’re not coming on any time soon’, and some even beginning to walk off.

However, they did eventually arrive just over a quarter of an hour past schedule, and the eruption of cheers from the crowd and a fair few screams from those nearest the barrier signalled what summed up the entire night: we were just so happy to have them back.

Even more notably, in fact, the boys themselves looked to be equally as buzzing, with bassist Benji Blakeway and ever-charismatic frontman Van McCann embracing each other before the opener and the latter flashing that familiar grin all night long.

We’ve heard people debating the sound quality and taking issue with parts of Van’s performance, but we’ll just leave this here and let you decide for yourselves:

One thing’s for sure: the energy was immaculate from start to finish.

From kicking things off with ‘Longshot’ for a limb-worthy intro, to hearing a fully acoustic version of ‘Hourglass’ as the lead singer stood alone on the dramatically lit main stage, soon to be followed up by a plethora of Parklife acts, we’d wager you they’ll remain a tough act to follow all weekend.

Other highlights included an entire park’s worth of people belting every word to ‘Kathleen’, ‘Fallout’, ‘Pacifier’ and pretty much every track they played, as well Van having the crowd repeat the chorus of ‘Cocoon’ as he hung up his guitar from the stand to deliver an ice-old mic drop.

We would’ve loved to hear a fuller set filled with the extended live versions of ‘Oxygen’, ‘Heathrow’ and ‘Glasgow’ too, especially given how many sections of pure instrumentation felt like they were going to transition into another track, but you can’t have everything, I guess.

manchester and the bottlemen flag
Inflatable crocodiles and cracking flags
van mccann manchester heaton park
Credit: The Manc Group
catfish and the bottlemen photos
Eyes and arms wide open
We’re here to urge you not to be drawn in by TikTok reviews – as far as we’re concerned, Catfish were made to headline Heaton Park.

Sure, there might have been a few minor fluffed vocal notes and slightly over-lengthy solos here and there, but after all, it’s a rock show: we want a bit of mess.

The same goes for Van McCann himself, too; we worry that people are starting to forget what a proper rockstar is, and we’re not talking about contriving some kind of Hollywood lifestyle, but certainly getting lost in the music and trashing your guitar so hard that your face is draped in nothing but hair and sweat? Absolutely.

All in all, we think Catfish and the Bottlemen‘s massive outdoor show at Manchester’s Heaton Park and de facto ‘comeback after the last comeback’ was a triumph and even when they’re not absolutely 10/10, they’re still bloody good value live.

As for the question of ‘are they back?’ We think so and certainly hope that ‘Showtime’ wasn’t just released as a way of signalling fans to come along for one last ride before the final curtain call.

Read more:

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

Featured Images — Audio North

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