Our favourite time of the year is about to kick off, as Highest Point launches us head-first into festival season.
The massive open-air music event begins tomorrow and promises another bumper weekend of music, food and activities, as well as a whole day dedicated to families.
Set in one of the most picturesque locations of any northern festival, Highest Point will lure in around 35,000 music-lovers over the next few days.
It paves the way for the summer of live music across the north west, including Parklife, Bluedot, and Kendal Calling, plus the Sounds of the City series at Castlefield Bowl.
Highest Point Festival was first set up in 2018 as a tribute to the late Chris Glaba, who started A Wing alongside Richard Dyer and Jamie Scahill but tragically lost his short battle with cancer in 2016.
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Now, it says its ultimate goal is to ‘create a legacy music festival, to join all of the other amazing events that happen in the city, that the people of Lancaster can be proud of’.
So if you’re digging out your best festival fit and getting ready for a weekend of dancing in the fields, here’s what you need to know about Highest Point Festival 2023.
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When and where is Highest Point Festival 2023?
Highest Point Festival. Credit: Robin Zahler
This year’s festival will run between Thursday 11 and Sunday 14 May, back at the beautiful setting of Williamson Park in Lancaster.
The entrance to the park is located on Wyresdale Road, LA1 3EA.
If you’re using public transport, get the train to Lancaster and then either walk the 30 minutes to the park or take a 10-minute taxi.
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Road closures are in operation so if you’re driving, follow the signs to the customer car park at North West Auctions, Wyresdale Road, LA1 3JQ.
Who’s on the line-up for Highest Point Festival 2023?
Headliners at Highest Point 2023 will include Bastille, Anne-Marie, Sub Focus, Freya Ridings, Friendly Fires, Craig Charles, and Wigan’s very own chart-toppers The Lottery Winners.
There’ll also be a special launch night on Thursday, headlined by Hacienda Classical.
The music is split across six stages – the main stage, the Chris Glaba Memorial Stage, The Sundial, The Woods, The Dell Inn and Bushrocker HiFi at the Waterfall.
Keep reading for the full line-up, including who’s playing which day.
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Highest Point Festival 2023 tickets
Highest Point Festival. Credit: Robin Zahler
Tickets for Highest Point 2023 are priced as the following:
Adults: £145 for weekend tickets, £39.50 Thursday, £69.50 each for Friday and Saturday.
Teen tickets: £80 for weekend, £20 for Thursday, £35 each for Friday and Saturday, .
Festival food will take the shape of a regional street food offering.
The full line up of street food stalls features Supper by Sanah, Cubbins, Kitchen Tap, Pizzarana, Eat Like a Greek, Veggie Republic, Furness Fish, Senor Paella, Yardies, Halloumination, Spoon Crepes, La Petite Crepe, and Mac and Wings.
What is the Big Family Day Out?
Taking place on Sunday 14 May, this low-cost, all-inclusive day out is geared towards families to want to soak in the atmosphere at a lower ticket price.
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The theme this year will be Kings and Queens of Pop, inspired by the Coronation and Eurovision.
Visitors are encouraged to dress as their favourite pop icon from years gone by, with prizes awarded to the best-dressed.
There’ll also be music on the main stage, craft zones, vintage markets, carnival parades, dinosaurs, Paw Patrol, birds, bees, and loads more.
Binx 23:00-0:00 Sub Focus 22:00-23:00 Charlie Tee 21:00-22:00 AMA 20:00-21:00 Emily Makis 19:00-20:00 Nathan X 18:00-19:00 Lasko and T.Lee 16:30-18:00 Monika & NafroB 15:00-16:30
Dell Inn
Jamie McCool 20:15-21:00 Pub quiz with The Lovely Eggs 19:30-20:00 Lowes 18:45-19:15 Melanie Williams House Party 17:45-18:30 In Conversation with Gordon Raphael 16:45-17:30 In Conversation with DJ Paulette 16:00-16:30 Lois 15:00-15:30
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The Woods
Craig Charles 19:30-21:00 DJ Paulette 18:00-19:30 Audiowhores 17:00-18:00 Sam Redmore 16:00-17:00 David Dunne 13:00-16:00
The Waterfall
North Fire Soundsystem 19:00-20:00 Daddy1Love 18:00-19:00 Chris Holt 17:00-18:00 John Hayward 16:00-17:00 Jojo & Jnr Jahvis 15:00-16:00 Miss Chop 14:00-15:00 The Buddhakkan Headset 13:00-14:00
Danny Howard 22:30-00:00 Ki Creighton 21:00-22:30 Arielle Free 19:30-21:00 Pirate Copy 18:15-19:30 Murphy’s Law 17:00-18:15 Matrefakt 15:45-17:00 Beth 14:30-15:45 Nico Balducci 13:15-14:30 Eldon 12:00-13:15
Sundial
Binx 23:00-00:00 Sigma 22:00-23:00 Goddard & MC XL 21:00-22:00 Turno & MC Dreps 20:00-21:00 A Little Sound 19:00-20:00 Binx 18:00-19:00 DJ Clumsy 17:00-18:00 Rek:law 16:00-17:00 Charlie Tee 15:00-16:00 Coded 14:00-15:00 Grimsey 13:00-14:00
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Dell Inn
Vicky Radio 1 (pub quiz) 20:30-21:00 Sk Shlomo 19:30-20:15 Mike Garry 18:45-19:15 Andy Ellis / Thomo Turgoose 17:45-18:30 Cuban Brothers in convo 16:45-17:30 Lowes 16:00-16:30 Rich & Jamie In convo 15:00-15:30 Chris DJing 14:00-14:30
The Woods
Guilty Pleasures 16:00-21:00 Bucky 15:00-16:00 Les Croasdaile 14:00-15:00 Mark Hogg 13:00-14:00 Ginny K 12:00-13:00
The Waterfall
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Jinx in Dub & Cheshire Cat 17:30-19:00 Catch a Fire & MC Dandy Dizzle 16:30-17:30 Matty Banton 15:00-16:30 Prof P 14:00-15:00 Impressa Soundsystem 13:00-14:00 Ranking Miss P 12:00-13:00
Featured image: Robin Zahler
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Rare picture of David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport unearthed
Danny Jones
A rare picture taken from the night of the late, great David Bowie’s legendary one-off gig in Stockport has been unearthed by a local whilst digging through his loft.
Imagine having that kind of history just squirrelled away in an attic…
As revealed by Stockport Music Story, after being supplied with the image by David Maynard, the snap was shared more than half a century on from the much-mythologised moment in Greater Manchester music history.
In fact, it was put on display and posted on social media quite literally 56 years to the day since Bowie played his only Stopfordian set on 27 April, 1970.
Maynard himself is featured in the newly discovered photograph (second from the left) and was one of the select and lucky few who were in the room for that very special show.
Organised by a group of teens on behalf of the Stockport Schools’ Students’ Union, the performance took place at the long-gone Poco a Poco music venue and club over in Heaton Chapel.
The storied space hosted many big names over the years – Gerry Marsden, Freddie Starr, Hank Marvin and more – but sadly closed in May of 1987 following a fire.
It went on to become the popular Hinds Head pub, which still serves punters to this day, but once had the honour of hosting a true artistic great and British icon.
For anyone wondering, this is indeed the same night on which David Robert Jones (yes, that’s Bowie‘s full birth name) missed his train home and had to sleep on the railway platform.
Here’s a BBC segment covering the tale back on its 55th anniversary in April 2025.
It may be a small and somewhat curious claim to fame, but native love the legend of it all nonetheless.
As for the other individuals pictured alongside him, Stockport Music Story (SMS) said: “The names of the people we know are David Maynard (2nd left), Roz Wood (3rd left), David Bowie, Bill Frost (2nd right), Stewart Rigby (right).”
They go on to add: “It would be amazing to find out who the other people in the photograph are and what they remember from that night.” We sincerely hope they do.
You can now see the plaque up close and personal at Stockport Station for yourselves and as for SMS’s growing archive of the region’s creative culture, you can find out tonnes more about other pieces of SK heritage right HERE.
Featured Images — David Maynard via Stockport Music Story/Stockport Council
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Ne-Yo and Akon at Co-op Live, Manchester – stage times, tickets, setlist and more
Clementine Hall
It’s finally time for Ne-Yo and Akon to reach Manchester, with three shows planned at the Co-op Live arena.
This is the first time that the two R&B greats have headed out on a joint headline tour, and it’s been all anyone can talk about on social media since the tour began (the inflatable ball crowd surf, hello?!).
Both artists are Grammy Award winners and come with their own formidable back catalogues of chart-topping hits.
For Ne-Yo, that includes songs like Miss Independent, So Sick, and Closer; while for Akon, he’s responsible for huge tracks like Smack That, Lonelty, and Right Now (Na Na Na).
Between them, they’ve shaped and defined radio, nightlife, and pop culture for decades.
This 2026 tour will see the pair performing on the same stage – for Manchester that’s the Co-op Live arena – for a co-headline Nights Like This tour, with a unique back-and-forth set throughout the show.
Ne-Yo and Akon will be at the Co-op Live on Friday 1, Saturday 2, and Wednesday 6 May.
You might have already seen some pretty iconic videos of their tour already circulating the internet, so it’s safe to say you’re in for a treat.
The nostalgic gigs will feature everything from slow jams to club anthems, with a party atmosphere throughout.
Are there tickets left for Ne-Yo and Akon at Co-op Live in Manchester?
Good news – yes! There’s still fairly decent availability for all three dates of Ne-Yo and Akon in Manchester.
You can see the latest availability for Friday 1 May HERE, Saturday 2 May HERE, and Wednesday 6 May HERE.
Judging by previous nights of the tour, the current set list is looking like this…
Ne-Yo
The Way You Make Me Feel (Michael Jackson cover) (Snippet)
Miss Independent
Because Of You
Nobody
Champagne Life
One in a Million
Akon
Akon’s Beautiful Day
Smack That
I’m So Paid
Locked Up
Soul Survivor (Jeezy cover)
Ne-Yo
She Knows
Single
Mirror
Sexy Love
Akon
Bananza (Belly Dancer)
Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) (Wyclef Jean cover)
Bartender (T‐Pain cover)
Body on me (Ashanti cover)
Dangerous (Kardinal Offishall cover)
Songs Ne-Yo/Akon Produced
Let Me Love You (Mario cover)
Titanium (David Guetta/Sia Cover) / Take A Bow (Rihanna Cover) / Drunk In Love (Beyoncé Cover) / Irreplaceable (Beyoncé Cover) / Just Dance (Lady Gaga)
Akon
Don’t Matter
Danza Kuduro (Remix)
The Sweet Escape (Gwen Stefani song)
Shut It Down (Pitbull song)
Angel
Ghetto
Sorry, Blame It On Me
Lonely
Ne-Yo
So Sick
Mad
NIGHTS LIKE THESE
Simple Things
Up Out & Gone
Beautiful Monster
Closer
Akon
QUE CALOR (Akon crowd surfs in an inflatable ball)
I Wanna Love You
Right Now (Na Na Na)
Beautiful
Sexy Bitch (David Guetta cover)
Til the Sun Rise Up (Bob Sinclair cover)
Ne-Yo
Let’s Go
Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)
Time of Our Lives
Give Me Everything
Encore:
Play Hard (David Guetta cover) – Akon & Ne-Yo on stage
Stage times for Ne-Yo and Akon at First Direct Arena
Doors open: 6.30pm
Gig starts: 8pm
Gig ends: 11pm
How to get to Co-op Live
Tram
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre and until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live.
Getting there by car and parking
If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue, but this must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU, and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide on event day, though estimates will obviously vary:
Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes on the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Daisy Jackson -
10th May 2023 
