After a year’s hiatus, Neighbourhood Festival is officially returning to Manchester later this year and the first wave of the 2024 lineup is already out.
You’re in for a treat, you lot.
The city centre spin-off of Warrington’s popular Neighbourhood Weekender has become one of the most popular music festivals in the North and was sorely missed when they took a break last year, but luckily is back with a bang this fall.
Rocking up to a number of beloved Manchester music venues including the Ritz, Gorilla and Albert Hall, the all-dayer is set to be a stormer.
As you can see, there are some seriously good names on the list too, including lots of local talent like Anthony Szmierek, Seb Lowe, Balancing Act, Corella and Manc headliners, Pale Waves.
ADVERTISEMENT
There are also lots of other acts from in and around the North West like Liverpool stars Red Rum Club, Courting and The Mysterines, as well as artists who’ve gone big on TikTok such as indie pop group Daydreamers and Bradley Simpson of The Vamps.
Other names we’ve picked out include Birmingham boys, Overpass, Brighton’s Chappaqua Wrestling and Portsmouth four-piece, Crystal Tides.
ADVERTISEMENT
Honestly, there are so many ones to watch on the 2024 Neighbourhood Festival lineup and this is only the first wave of artists, we honestly can’t wait.
Manchester’s biggest city centre festival has welcomed all manner of names that have gone on to do massive things in the past, including the likes of Sam Fender, Declan McKenna and The Last Dinner Party; Yungblud, local lads The Lathums and many more.
With Neighbourhood Weekender also having been postponed until 2025 as the organisers looked to ‘take a break’ and fine-tune the event, seeing the city centre day festival back in the interim is music to our ears – literally.
ADVERTISEMENT
NBHD returns to Manchester city centre on 5 October and tickets go on sale at 10am this Friday, 24 May at 9am. You can grab yours HERE.
Inspiring new 360° immersive David Bowie experience to open in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Music lovers will get a glimpse inside the mind of a creative genius when a new immersive experience opens later this year.
Factory International has this week announced its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season, and by far one of the stand-outs on the list has to be the return of Lightroom for a new 360° experience called David Bowie: You’re Not Alone – which is set to immerse audiences in the iconic performances and creative mind of one of the world’s most visionary and influential artists.
Bringing together a wealth of visual material from a wide range of sources, the experience combines rare performance footage, photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes, and audio recordings from the late Bowie himself.
You’re Not Alone will showcase some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mix of iconic, rarely seen, and even never-before-exhibited material.
Selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, you can expect to see everything from Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs, through to Heroes, Black Star, and more.
Each track has been newly reconfigured by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer, Gareth Fry, to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system.
The 360° experience is set to be both a multimedia spectacle and an intimate self-portrait in one, giving audiences a unique insight into Bowie’s perspective on the subjects that were most important to him, like theatricality, spirituality, songwriting, and the transformative power of creativity.
David Bowie: You’re Not Alone is being made in close collaboration with, and has been authorised by, the David Bowie Estate.
It’ll run at Aviva Studios from 8 December 2026 through to 10 January 2027.
Featured Image – Supplied
Audio
Parklife has quietly added a major DJ set from Happy Mondays’ Bez
Daisy Jackson
Parklife has quietly added a DJ set from Bez this afternoon, joining an already stacked festival line-up.
Eagle-eyed users of the Parklife app (aka, us) have spotted that as the big weekend nears, a few new stages have popped up on the plans.
And that’s included a new Beatbox Stage, which on Saturday will host a mega set from the icon that is Bez, from Happy Mondays.
Bez isn’t the only nostalgic name who’s been added to the line-up for Saturday – the Beatbox Stage will also host a set from Artful Dodger.
The 2000s garage icons will be taking to the stage at 3pm for a set that will hopefully include their massive hits like Moving Too Fast, Re-Rewind (with Craig David), and Woman Trouble.
On Sunday, the newly-added Beatbox Stage will be hosting DJ Fat Tony, who you might know for getting stuck into the middle of the Beckham family feud – but he’s also one of the most in-demand A-list DJs, having spun for icons like Madonna, Prince, and Elton John.
Parklife has also quietly added a few secret sets to the bill, which we’ll be keeping a close eye on.
They join existing Parklife headliners including Calvin Harris, Zara Larsson, Chris Stussy, Sammy Virji, Skepta, and East End Dubs.
On Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June, thousands of music-lovers will be flocking to the fields of Heaton Park ready for this year’s instalment of Parklife.
Danny Jones -
20th May 2024 
