The Kendal Calling lineup for 2024 has officially dropped and we’re not exaggerating when we say it’s an absolute belter.
With Northern names like Blossoms, Happy Mondays, Reverend and The Makers; Rick Astley, The Lottery Winners and many more playing at the Lake District music festival last summer, we had an absolute blast and we’re genuinely worried how they’d be able to top it this year.
That being said, with everyone from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Paolo Nutini and The Streets to Paul Heaton, Keane, Declan McKenna; Pale Waves, The Snuts, and even the Sugababes signed up for Kendal Calling 2024, just to name a few, the latest edition is going to be absolutely dynamite.
As well as bringing back favourites from the previous lineup such as Lottery Winners, The Hunna and Rianne Downey, other new additions include rising local lads The K’s, Liverpool stars Red Rum Club, The Reytons from Rotherham, British rock veterans Feeder and even some special DJ sets…
Kendal Calling has released its 2024 lineup in full / Credit: Supplied | The Manc Group
Yes, as well as another appearance from Manc music icon Bez and a full night of funk from the one and only Craig Charles, Man United legend, pundit and local businessman Gary Neville (you heard) will also be hopping on the decks back-to-back with none other than Tim Burgess of The Charlatans.
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Can’t lie, that’s worth a headline slot on its own.
They’ve also bolstered the rest of the entertainment since last year, with live stand-up set to descend of Lowther Deer Park in the form of much-loved comedians Russell Howard and Paul Smith.
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As you can see from the full lineup, there are so many names to choose from — over 120 across a total of more than 13 stages, to be more precise — the only tragedy is that you can’t see them all. Still, there’s plenty for you to get up in the late hours once the main acts call it a day.
It goes without saying that Kendal Calling was a huge success last year and with the lineup we’ve got in store, 2024 looks set to be just as memorable as more than 40,000 music lovers are set to pull on their wellies and bucket hats each day.
One of the things that makes this festival so special is how much it champions the North West in particular, so many of the big slots going to artists from this region and the Mayor of Greater Manchester himself, Andy Burnham, even giving the likes of Stockport a shout-out last time round.
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If you’ve never given Kendal a go before, we sincerely advise you to consider it this year. It’s probably one of the most underrated live music events in the country but not for long — this thing just keeps getting back and we are absolutely here for it.
Taking place from Thursday, 1 to Sunday, 4 August, pre-sale goes live at 10am on Friday HERE and general admission will be available from Monday, 29 January.
Featured Images – RTP (via Flickr) / Supplied / Paolo Nutini (Press Image)
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A month-long, mile-long, margarita bar crawl is returning to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
An award-winning bar crawl that’s all about celebrating margaritas is returning to Manchester this month.
El Tequileño’s Margarita Mile will see venues right across the city centre creating bespoke tequila cocktails, alongside events and loads more.
The mile-long, month-long celebration will kick off on 16 February, with 11 brilliant local venues taking part this year.
Those involved will include Mexican restaurant favourite Madre (and its sister site, Mexican pool hall Salon Madre), margarita bar Ramona, and cosy cocktail dens like The Daisy.
Also joining in this year is the city’s newest rooftop destination, Chotto Matte, which is home to Claude’s Skyview Bar with staggering views over Albert Square to the Manchester Town Hall.
It’s all been handily laid out into a mile(ish)-long bar crawl that will showcase the best in tequila and some of the best watering holes in the city.
Billed as the ‘ultimate margarita experience’, you can spend the next month visiting participating venues to sample bespoke menus, with the main celebrations taking place during Mile Week from 16 to 22 February – ahead of National Margarita Day on 22 February.
The Margarita Mile launched in Manchester in 2023 and was initially a week-long celebration, designed to celebrate quality tequila, champion bartender creativity, and tempt people back out into bars during the quietest time of the year for hospitality.
Now in its fourth year, it’s grown to an award-winning event (it was named The Spirits Business Best Event of the Year 2025), spanning a full month.
Maps of this year’s Margarita Mile across Manchester are available online HERE, as well as at all participating venues, with no tickets required.
Steffin Oghene, VP Business Development for El Tequileño, says: “Each year, the Margarita Mile grows, and we’re incredibly proud that it is now an award-winning campaign.
“Our goal has always been to share a love of craft tequila while connecting Brits with the hospitality trade, especially in such challenging times.
“With some of the best bars and bartenders in the world, it’s more important than ever to inspire the UK public to get out, enjoy the Mile, and raise a margarita.”
All the venues on the El Tequileño Margarita Mile in Manchester
New details released ahead of world-premiere exhibition taking visitors on ‘epic space adventure’
Emily Sergeant
Some exciting new details of a major exhibition taking visitors on an ‘epic space adventure’ in Manchester next month have been revealed.
Making its world premiere, Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos will invite visitors to explore our wondrous Solar System when it launches at the Science and Industry Museum in a few weeks time.
Announced in November last year fresh off-the-back of the new BBC Children’s and Education TV show, Horrible Science, the ‘thrilling’ new exhibition will encourage visitors to ‘do science the horrible way’, and join both scientists and supervillains to unveil the secrets of space.
The new exhibition will propel families up into space where mystery, intrigue, and rocket-loads of silly and surprising science await. You’ll get to venture through a series of cosmic zones, walk in the shoes of astronauts, explore the life-giving energy of the sun, marvel at mysterious moons, and discover far-off weird worlds.
Left teetering on the edge of our Solar System, explorers will then find themselves staring into the dark depths of space, on the lookout for any extra-terrestrial life that could be staring back.
Whether its sniffing astronauts’ smelly socks, dancing on an alien disco planet, feeling the tremors from a mysterious moonquake, or launching a space rocket, organisers say this new adventure will engage all the senses in a truly immersive experience.
This is the first time Horrible Science has been brought to life as a major exhibition.
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos opens in a few weeks time / Credit: Drew Forsyth (Science Museum Group)
Visitors will get to see familiar characters from the BBC series – like Dr Big Brain, in particular – on their mission to find out more about our fascinating Solar System through interactive experiments, playful challenges, and sensory exploration.
Newly announced are the names of some of the different exciting areas of the exhibition, like ‘Awesome Astronauts’, where life aboard the International Space Station is revealed, and ‘Mysterious Moon’ where visitors explore the only place beyond Earth ever visited by humans.
There’s also ‘Sizzling Sun’, ‘Weird Worlds’, and sensory spaces like the ‘Cosy Crater’ and ‘Dreadful Deep Space’ to make the most of.
The exhibition is being developed by the Science and Industry Museum in collaboration with producers of the Horrible Science TV show, BBC Children’s and Education, and Lion Television, together with Scholastic, who are publishers of the much-loved Horrible Science book series by Nick Arnold and illustrated by Tony De Saulles.
‘Unmissable’ objects from the Science Museum Group’s world-class space collection will also be on show when the exhibition premieres.
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos will open at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester on 13 February 2026 for an 11-month run before heading down to London, and tickets are now on sale priced at £10 – with family discounts available, and under-threes going free.
Danny Jones -
25th January 2024 
