One of Manchester’s newest and most exciting festivals, Beyond The Music, is set to return for its second instalment later this year and the first raft of artists has just been announced.
BTM is a multi-venue live music festival and fundamentally global music conference that spotlights new up-and-coming artists, grassroots gig spaces, as well as key voices in the industry, with an at changing the face of the modern music landscape.
Having first launched in 2023, much of their flagship Manc music festival and conference still felt somewhat like a work in progress, but with the inaugural weekend now under the bag and plenty of time and experience to build upon, year two is looking promising already.
Announcing Aviva Studios as the main hub for this year’s festival, along with a number of beloved Northern Quarter venues this week, you can find the first wave of artists set to play Beyond The Music 2024 down below:
Taking place from 9-12 October, they have already confirmed 70 artists and 20 different stage partners (BBC Introducing, Clash and Unity Radio just to name a few) who will serve as ‘tastemakers’ alongside the multiple venues helping put on what is, without doubt, one of the UK’s most diverse live showcases.
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Set to platform over 200 artists when the full lineup is confirmed, this is one of the best ways for any budding musical talent based in and around Greater Manchester to try and find a platform, with plenty of out-of-towners sure to join too.
On the conference side of things, under the title, ‘Is It Time For The Music Industry’s Great Rest?’, the groundbreaking look at the inner workings of the music industry will centre around Aviva Studios as already mentioned, with new-look summits and talks programme available to all attendees.
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The hope is not just to make this an even bigger and better music festival than last year but to create a unique and global music forum to find solutions to the most pressing issues within the sector. They already made a decent start on it in 2023.
Commenting on its return, festival partners Clash said of the event, “There is hope and we felt it in Manchester… the beginning of something incredibly special”, and Hunger Magazine added, “It could be the spark that sets the scene alight. Manchester is already a centre of creativity, but the extra push could see it become the centre of the musical universe” – as if it wasn’t already.
To sweeten the deal even more, there’ll be a whole host of afterparties following the horde of gigs being held over the weekend and if you sign up for pre-sale, not only do you get a discount on your entry fee but you’ll also be entered into a prize draw, with drinks vouchers and upgrades up for grabs.
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Pre-sale for Beyond The Music 2024 is already live and tickets are now more affordable than ever before, with a standard Delegate Pass (including full festival access) priced at £170, a one-day festival ticket costing only £20 and a full weekend pass to enjoy all three days of music setting you back just £45.
Catfish and the Bottlemen stun fans with surprise Heaton Park gig
Danny Jones
Whilst most of their followers have been fretting that they were getting ready to break up again, Catfish and the Bottlemen have just stunned everyone by announcing a surprise gig at Heaton Park in Manchester.
Out of nowhere.
The Welsh rockers have been back touring together this year after a three-year hiatus, playing multiple festival sets and headline dates at the likes of Cardiff Castle and released their first new music back in February – much to the delight of fans all over the country – and now they’re coming back to 0161.
Set to play the biggest stage in Manchester next summer, just less than a month before Heaton Park erupts into bedlam for the Oasis 2025 shows, Catfish and the Bottlemen will make their Manc return on Friday 15 June.
Now, don’t get us wrong, this is wonderful news if it all goes ahead as planned, but it has to be said that there is some hesitation coming from interested gig-goers – ourselves included.
Catfish have caught a lot of flack recently for cancelling their Australian tour on the day it was meant to start along with the entire run of US shows “due to artist illness”, with little detail given to fans other than how to sort their refunds. But it gets worse…
They also cancelled their Dublin gig at the RDS Simmonscourt just 15 minutes before doors were set to open and with fans already waiting outside the venue. Again, not the best look.
Perhaps more concerningly, even at some of the shows that have gone ahead this year, there have been concerns raised around the nature and quality of their performances, as well as the wellbeing of charismatic if albeit a bit chaotic frontman Van McCann.
The Oasis reunion shows have also put a bit of a spanner in the works when it comes to their upcoming London shows next year too, as both bands are set to play the capital on the same day. It remains to be seen how many of those tickets will now be put up for resale.
We’re reserving judgment for now but you can understand some of the reticence.
Nevertheless, we’re not going to pretend that we’re not absolutely buzzing to hear this news and we’re hoping that this massive Manchester show goes ahead and off without a hitch.
They last came to town in 2019 when they played the AO Arena and played one of their final shows before the split just down the road at Neighbourhood Weekender back in 2021, so it’s fair to say it’s been a while. Keep everything crossed, Catfish fans.
General admission goes live next Friday, 4 October at 10am but you can access pre-sale, which starts at the same time on Wednesday, 2 October, by signing up via the mailing list.
You can grab tickets for Catfish and the Bottlemen at Heaton Park, Manchester HERE and good luck to us all.
Featured Images — Press Images (supplied)/Silly Little Man (via Flickr)
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Fontaines D.C. announce massive Manchester gig at Wythenshawe Park
Danny Jones
Undoubtedly one of the most exciting bands on the planet right now, Fontaines D.C. have just announced one their biggest headline dates yet as they are the latest act set to take Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park stage.
Fontaines already have a sell-out Manchester show coming up at Aviva Studios (arguably the biggest acts that have played the new arts venue yet) but now they’re set to level up to one of the biggest stages in the region next summer.
That’s right, following in the footsteps of legends such as Noel Gallagher, New Order, Johnny Marr and the likes of Blossoms earlier this year, the Dubliners are the first artist to be named as part of Live From Wythenshawe Park 2025.
Not even remotely exaggerating, this is going to be utterly enormous.
Landing in Manchester for the massive outdoor gig on Friday, 15 August – 2025 being just the third year of the now must-not-miss annual event – the young post-punk and alternative rockers are effectively skipping several steps on the gig venue ladder to play the huge summer festival.
The announcement comes fresh off the back of the release of Romance, the band’s biggest record to date. Produced by James Ford and met with incredible responses from fans and reviewers alike, it’s categorically one of the albums of the year.
Elton John recently declared that they are “the best band out there at the moment” and with NME dubbing them as “the defining band of their generation”, not to mention massive sets at Glastonbury’s Park Stage and Reading and Leeds, this date shouldn’t really come as that as much of a surprise.
That being said, what we couldn’t have predicted was how amazing the support acts were going to be, as warming the all-day festival crowd up will be none other than critically-acclaimed Belfast rap trio, Kneecap, and Leeds’ Mercury Prize-winning indie outfit, English Teacher.
Fontaines will be smashing an already seismic gig at London’s Finsbury Park next July, but then they’ll be bringing their unreal live atmosphere to Wythenshawe Park just a month later, and with Kneecap in tow too, you can guarantee a big Irish delegation will be turning up for this one.
General admission for Fontaines D.C. Live From Wythenshawe Park goes live next Friday, October 4 at 9am but you can access pre-sale, available from the same time on Wednesday, 2 October,by signing up for the mailing list.
You can get ready to grab your tickets HERE and, as always, good luck with securing these ones!