Moovin Festival, one of the country’s best-loved festivals, is set to take over the beautiful countryside in Etherow Country Park this August bank holiday weekend.
The festival was once considered a real hidden gem but is now a proudly independent and welcoming staple for thousands every summer.
There’s a line-up of returning favourites and hotly-tipped newcomers, all performing in the ‘adult playground’ where quirky stages are built into open-sided cow sheds and festival-goers relax on actual bales of hay.
The site itself features canopies of trees, lakes with busy waterfowl, and a breathtaking gorge.
This year, Moovin Festival will take place between 25 and 27 August at Compstall’s ‘udderly unique’ Whitebottom Farm.
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Located just 30 minutes from both Manchester and Sheffield, this place is a real northern gem.
Moovin Festival is also on the longlist for a Festival of the Year Award at the inaugural Nordoff and Robbins Northern Music Awards – you can vote for it here.
Moovin’s picturesque countryside location in the village of Compstall is actually only 15 minutes from Stockport, and 30 minutes from Manchester.
Those who are driving should use postcode SK6 5HH, and follow the signs to the car park. The cost is £15 for a day or £25 for the full weekend, paid in cash.
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For drop offs you can either get dropped off in the Festival Car Park, SK6 5HH, or Etherow Country Park Car Park, George St, Compstall, SK6 5JD.
The walk to the festival site is approximately 25 minutes from the Festival Car Park or 20 minutes from Etherow Country Park Car Park, and is clearly signposted from both locations.
A shuttle bus will run between the Festival Car Park and the festival site, costing £1 each way,
The nearest train stations are Marple and Romiley. Stockport train station is also nearby with buses every 15 minutes.
Moovin Festival 2023 line-up and headliners
This year’s line-up includes headline performances from Laurent Garnier, house music mainstay Toddy Terry, plus local legend Mr Scruff.
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The bill also includes Mungo’s HiFi feat Eva Lazarus, David Holmes, Massive Attack’s Daddy G performing a DJ set, Craig Charles, plus hip hop royalty Big Daddy Kane, Goldie live with his orchestra, Sister Nancy, Chali 2Una from Jurassic5, Children of Zeus, Gilles Peterson, Stanton Warriors, Plump DJs, Jaguar Skills, Krafty Kuts, Freestylers, DJ Paulette, Graeme Park and many more.
What are the stage times?
Moovin Festival stage times for Friday, Saturday and Sunday
The Moovin Festival party will, as usual, run right through into the early hours, with the entertainment starting from mid-morning.
Headline performances from Sister Nancy Meets Legal Shot, Goldie, and Big Daddy Kane will all close out the main Barn Stage each night, with silent discos running until 2am at The Udder One.
And beyond the music, the programme includes fire shows, gong baths, yoga and more.
Gate opening times
Motor Home Ticket Holders Only: Friday 25 August – 11am – 9pm
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Camping Ticket Holders Only: Friday 25 August – 1pm -9pm
All Other Ticket Holders: Friday 25 August – 2pm – 9pm Saturday 26 August – 10am – 9pm Sunday 27 August – 10am – 9pm
What the headliners say
“At the bottom of a tree lined valley, a hay barn with a fat sound-system. A freewheeling crowd, no VIP red ropes, no hassle from the authorities, just music and good vibes” 90s free party? No its the brilliant Moovin Festival,” – GROOVE ARMADA
“Moovin Festival was my Highlight of the Summer. The Great Vibes, Music, Venue, the perfect organisation and all these Beautiful people made this Festival become my Favourite Worldwide” – LEE SCRATCH PERRY
“Moovin Festival is one of the standout festivals of the year for me. Wonderful location with the best party people who are always mad for it …What more could you ask for? KRAFTY KUTS
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“Whenever I get to play Moovin Festival it’s a highlight of my festival calendar. As soon as I see the waterfall I feel like I’m home. The crowd is just beautiful and the energy is electric.” DJ PAULETTE
Review | Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
Johnny Marr teases his work on upcoming Gorillaz album
Danny Jones
Legendary Manchester musician Johnny Marr has revealed he features on the new Gorillaz album, adding even more interest in the highly anticipated release.
The Mountain is the ninth studio LP from the musical collective led by Damon Albarn, which is set to drop in early 2026, more than three years on from their last album, Cracker Island.
Although the virtual band made up of several real-life creatives (though the ex-Blur frontman and artist, Jamie Hewlett, technically remain the only two consistent core members) hasn’t been away for too long, each new project brings a wave of excitement.
With that in mind, we have no shame in admitting we have even more interest in Gorillaz’s latest album now that we know Johnny Marr is attached to it.
I’m pleased to share that I appear on four tracks on the upcoming Gorillaz album The Mountain. It’s a privilege to be a part of this record along with so many great artists. #Gorillaz#JohnnyMarrpic.twitter.com/KXVZxgyGg9
In the new rundown of tunes already posted earlier this month, the former Smiths songwriter and lead guitarist features on four different songs on the new record. You can see it in full down below:
Gorrilaz – The Mountain tracklist
1. The Mountain (feat. Dennis Hopper, Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash) 2. The Moon Cave (feat. Asha Puthli, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda and Black Thought) 3. The Happy Dictator (feat. Sparks) 4. The Hardest Thing (feat. Tony Allen) 5. Orange County (feat. Bizarrap, Kara Jackson and Anoushka Shankar) 6. The God of Lying (feat. IDLES) 7. The Empty Dream Machine (feat. Black Thought, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 8. The Manifesto (feat. Trueno and Proof) 9. The Plastic Guru (feat. Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 10. Delirium (feat. Mark E. Smith) 11. Damascus (feat. Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey) 12. The Shadowy Light (feat. Asha Bhosle, Gruff Rhys, Ajay Prasanna, Amaan Ali Bangash, and Ayaan Ali Bangash) 13. Casablanca (feat. Paul Simonon and Johnny Marr) 14. The Sweet Prince (feat. Ajay Prasanna, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 15. The Sad God (feat. Black Thought, Ajay Prasanna and Anoushka Shankar)
As you can see, the 61-year-old appears for the first time on song seven, ‘The Empty Dream Machine’, as well as ‘The Plastic Guru’, ‘Casablanca’, and the penultimate track on the album, ‘The Sweet Prince’.
It’ll be interesting to see how he fits into the captivating soundscape already teased by the group, with Gorillaz having now shared ‘The Happy Dictator’ featuring art pop duo Sparks.
A strong and politically loaded start.
Marr – who only released his fourth batch of solo material, Fever Dream Pts 1-4, back in 2022 – has continued to craft and produce with countless other artists over the past few decades, sharing the studio with fellow icons such as Noel Gallagher, Billy Bragg, Talking Heads and many more.
He even helped create the score for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack with legendary composer Hans Zimmer.
That being said, we can only hope to hear some of his famous guitar tones sprinkled throughout this album, though it’s still unclear as to exactly how much input he had on The Mountain overall.
What we do know about the album is that it’s the first to be released via Albarn’s new record label KONG; it’s 15 tracks, and was largely made following extended recording sessions across India, with the likes of Ajay Prasanna, Omar Souleyman and Anoushka Shankar, joining IDLES, Jalen Ngonda and other collabs.
Perhaps most excitingly, the announcement of ‘Gorillaz no.9’ came alongside a series of tour dates, including one right here in Manchester. We can’t wait to see 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle ‘live’ in 0161.
Daisy Jackson -
23rd August 2023 
