Record Store Day 2024 is just around the corner and there are some seriously magical Manc music to be picked up this year, including presses of The 1975’s recent charity gig at Gorilla, two limited edition Noel Gallagher demos, an exclusive print of The Charltan’s first-ever song and many more.
The now annual event celebrating and supporting independent record stores all over the UK has become a cultural rite of passage for die-hard music fans and vinyl collectors, and also serves as a bit of a scramble for special editions and hidden gems that people have been looking to get their hands on.
With the official list of Record Store Day exclusives being released this week, people are already feasting their eyes over the selection and putting together their plan of attack ahead of April.
Yes, this is just any old national day, it’s an event that remains so important to the music industry. We know they’re not from around here but Britpop fans are going to go mad for this one.
One of many special anniversary releases for Record Store Day 2024
Given Manchester’s rich music culture, it’s no surprise there is lots of work from local artists named on this year’s list too.
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Including everything from vinyls of The 1975’s aforementioned live show and a 30th-anniversary release of Morrisey and Siouxsie ‘Interlude’, to his former bandmates’ Marr’s Guitars book and an alternative version of A Country On The Click by Preswitch rockers The Fall, there’s plenty to be snatched up.
There’s even a remastered reissue of fellow Manc post-punk band The Durutti Column’s seminal album, Vini Reilly, the band famously first put out copies of their 1980 record The Return Of The Durutti Column in sandpaper sleeve so that it would gradually destroy the records next to it. How punk is that?
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So yeah, safe to say they’re more than familiar with putting out collectors’ items.
.@london_records have released a mesmerising new visualiser for Otis, a timeless track taken from the 1989 album Vini Reilly. The album is being reissued on vinyl on 20th April 2024 exclusively for @RSDUK.
We’re yet to get a full round-up of the local places taking part in Record Store Day 2024 but there are over 270 across the UK and you can expect most if not all of the music shops in and around town to get involved on Saturday, 20 April.
Speaking of which, you can find all the best record stores in Greater Manchester down below and the full list of the Record Store Day releases for 2024 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
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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 February 2024 
