In case you missed it, the star-studded lineup for Manchester’s biggest annual celebration of music was finally unveiled last night.
Following a year of cancellation due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Parklife is returning to Heaton Park on the slightly later dates of 11th – 12th September, and there’s a jaw-dropping selection of artists set to play across the two days, including some familiar faces back to finish what they started after being booked to play the cancelled 2020 edition last June.
Headlining the bill is multi-award-winning rapper Dave, in an exclusive UK festival appearance for 2021.
Meanwhile, “WAP” star Megan Thee Stallion will make her Parklife debut and will be joined by some of the finest grime, rap and hip-hop artists including Skepta, AJ Tracey, slowthai, Burna Boy, Mist and DaBaby.
There’s also a stellar selection of world-class DJs, drum and bass artists and more.
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With all the big-name acts set to provide the soundtrack to this year finally revealed, it’s not hard see why social media went into meltdown last night, especially as Parklife also announced the lineup alongside the launch of an exclusive competition to win x4 weekend VIP tickets.
PARKLIFE 2021 IS HERE 🥳
@ tag 3 mates & RETWEET for your chance to win x4 weekend VIP tickets 😍 🎁
All the hopeful festival-goers had to do to be in with a chance of bagging the free tickets was retweet the lineup announcement tweet and tag the three friends they want to take with them in the comments thread below.
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The winner would then be picked by the festival’s organisers at random.
And after over 8,000 entries came flooding in just a matter of hours, the lucky winner was chosen and informed of his win over DM.
Things then took a bit of a turn though.
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After securing the highly-coveted tickets for free, the winner – who we have chosen not to directly name here – was seen trying to re-sell his winnings to other people desperate to get their hands on tickets during this morning’s pre-sale.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he was attempting to sell them at £350 each, which is an extortionate mark-up considering Weekend General Admission tickets are only retailing at £155.
After exchanging back-and-forth tweets with another member of the public who called out his behaviour and staggering re-sale prices, the lad finally revealed that he was the competition winner.
“I won tickets for me and my pals, so why wouldn’t I sell them?” he said.
His gloating didn’t get him very far.
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Parklife was alerted to the conversation happening between the two under their recent tweet, and very swiftly confiscated his winning tickets, without even a second thought.
“Lol, your tickets have just been cancelled pal.” Parklife responded.
Unsurprisingly, the hilariously savage response and decision by the festival organisers to confiscate the tickets from the former winner has been highly-praised on Twitter, racking up thousands of retweets and likes.
We love to see it.
Featured Image Credit – Parklife Festival
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Didsbury favourite Rustik has confirmed its will sadly be closing this month
Danny Jones
West Didsbury favourite Rustik has sadly announced it will be closing for food after a decade at the end of this month.
The beloved Burton cafe and bar has been a staple of the tight-knit foodie neighbourhood since 2015, but now the independent Irish eatery has confirmed that the business will be shutting down permanently in less than a fortnight.
Confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, 17 September, the casual Manc restaurant and hangout informed their loyal followers of the unfortunate news.
Unsurprisingly, their social media has been awash with condolences, collective sadness and support for the local institution.
Posting across all of their accounts, Rustik wrote: “After an unforgettable 10 years on Burton Road, the time has come to close our doors. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come — never in a million years did we imagine Rustik would grow into what it became.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single one of you who walked through our doors and supported us along the way. We poured everything we had — our time, our energy, our lives into making Rustik a space for everyone. And what a ride it’s been.
“From the chaotic, beautiful brunch shifts to late nights dancing on tables to ‘Wagon Wheel’, pushing through the challenges of COVID and helping our community with meals during hard times— we’ve done it all, together.
“To our amazing staff, past and present: thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and the love you brought every single day. You helped build something truly special, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
“To the incredible musicians who filled our space with life — keep doing what you do. The noise complaints? 100% worth the unforgettable nights.”
The team go on to detail that the official closing date is Tuesday, 30 September, reiterating that it is “business running as usual until then” and urging fans to “come down, grab your last Rustik fix, and raise a glass with us one final time.”
Signing off with an emotional farewell, they add: “Lastly, a message close to our hearts: please support your local cafes, bars, and independents. Hospitality is tough right now, and they need your support more than ever.
“Thank you for the most incredible decade of our lives. It’s over and out from us.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted to see Rustik go and know how much it meant not only to the Burton Road community, but also to the Didsbury community, Chorlton and many other Greater Manchester natives.
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.
Emily Sergeant -
24th March 2021 
