A brand new, totally free festival will spill into venues in Salford later this year.
The We Invented the Weekend festival will bring together class acts from the worlds of sports, music, comedy, theatre, dance, workshops, talks, food, charity, wellness, crafts and more.
There’ll be everything from water sports on the canal, to community feasts, to workshops, to vintage markets, to live music, right across MediaCity and Salford Quays.
The event has been created in partnership with some cultural heavyweights from the city, including the BBC, The Lowry, the University of Salford, the Royal Horticultural Society, Eat Well MCR, Science and Industry Museum, The Open University’s Business School, HOST, Salford Community Leisure, Salford CVS, Sounds from the Other City and hundreds of community organisations.
The inaugural festival is set to take place across the weekend of 10 and 11 September. It promises to be ‘a festival by the people, for the people’.
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We Invented the Weekend will take over Salford venues – and its waterways. Credit: Supplied
The inspiration for We Invented the Weekend goes all the way back to 1843, when the actual concept of a weekend was invented right here in Greater Manchester.
Robert Lowes (Salford Lyceum director, workers’ rights activist, and also Sir Ian McKellen’s great grandfather) campaigned to win workers the right to leisure time on Saturday afternoons.
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A full programme for We Invented the Weekend will be announced in the coming months, but already confirmed is CBeebies Live Bedtime Stories, the BBC Philharmonic, events at The Lowry, activities at the Science and Industry Museum, and gardening activity from RHS Bridgewater.
We Invented the Weekend will suit all ages. Credit: Supplied
Sounds from the Other city will also pull together a music partnership, expanding from their Chapel Street base to the Quays for the first time.
The Salford Weekend Orchestra with the BBC Philharmonic will invite people across the city to join a mass community performance, with all instruments and abilities welcome. The piece will be composed by Michael Betteridge (artistic director of The Sunday Boys – Manchester’s LBTQ+ low voice choir), and performed in the MediaCity Piazza during the festival.
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Hundreds of community organisations, including cheerleaders, bakers and disco dancers, have been invited to take part.
Key people and organisations involved in developing the festival are Wayne Hemingway MBE who is creative director; Salford’s City Mayor Paul Dennett; Tom Stannard, chief executive of Salford City Council; Julia Fawcett OBE, chief executive of The Lowry; Gwen Oakden, development director at The Lowry; Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live Heidi Dawson; Marketing Manchester’s international marketing director Victoria Braddock and MediaCity place director, Josie Cahill.
Wayne Hemingway MBE said: “The weekend is an intrinsic part of the rhythm of life. It’s hard to imagine life without the weekend, yet less than 180 years ago it didn’t exist. Happily, Sir Ian McKellen’s great grandad put an end to life without it.
“Greater Manchester can rightly claim to have invented the weekend and is a place that knows how to celebrate it. Whatever your bag, be it boxing or box sets, crafts or cricket, dancing or digging, reading or raving, swimming or samba, kicking back or letting loose, whatever free time means to you, MediaCity and Salford Quays is the place to be on September 10th and 11th for what has all the ingredients to become THE national celebration of free time.”
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Paul Dennett added: “The City of Salford’s motto and the name of our strategy for culture, creativity and the arts is ‘Suprema Lex’, which means ‘The Welfare of the People is the Highest Law’. The welfare of the people of Salford is paramount, and as the cost of living rises, We Invented the Weekend is set to deliver a programme of essential free cultural and creative activity that is open to every community across our city.
“We Invented the Weekend will be a great spectacle, reflecting our proud social history, whilst also animating the fantastic public realm at Salford Quays in true Spirit of Salford style.”
BBC Radio 6 Music Festival is returning to Greater Manchester next month
Thomas Melia
The BBC Radio 6 Music Festival is coming back to Manchester once again, and they’re bringing yet another phenomenal lineup with them.
National radio station and overall upcoming music connoisseurs, BBC Radio 6, are back with their music festival, and just like years previous, it’s taking place across Manchester.
Over the years, the festival has brought some of music’s biggest names to lots of local venues, putting on an array of brilliant live performances.
Last spring saw the arrival of rock band Gossip and Irish singer CMAT, both taking up residency in O2 Victoria Warehouse, Lily Fontaine of English Teacher at Band On The Wall, while DJ Seinfeld went B2B with Salute in Depot Mayfield.
Leading this glowing roster of performers is Ezra Collective, a Mercury award -winning band known for their brilliant jazz productions, and then from one Mercury-winning band to another, Lily Fontaine won’t be riding solo this year, instead she’s bringing all the crew with her, as English Teacher are set to perform at this huge festival.
Fat Dog, whose debut album is titled ‘Woof’, are joining in on the fun with Scottish band Mogwai also making a feature too.
There’s even a chance for an exclusive first listen too, as Kae Tempest will be debuting new material right here in Manchester.
Ezra Collective are performing at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.English Teacher make a return to Manchester for this special event.Fat Dog are also playing the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.
All performances will be taking place at a multitude of venues, like the previously mentioned O2 Victoria Warehouse, Depot Mayfield, and Band On The Wall, as well as loads of other events at entertainment bar, Yes.
Every highlight, alongside live and recorded live performances, will be taking place at MediaCityUK in Salford, in order to keep everything Manchester central.
BBC Radio 6 Music Festival is happening from 26 – 29 March 2025, with tickets going on sale from 6 February at 10am here.
Boasting two decades of experience, Sounds From The Other City (SFTOC) are pioneers when it comes to discovering new artists, giving everyone involved a chance to showcase their work to the masses.
As this esteemed festival is turning another year older and reaching its monumental 20th anniversary, what better way to kick off the celebrations than with over 100 of the freshest artists in the industry?
Although every act that has been selected is truly phenomenal, there are a few standouts that should hopefully pluck your interest…
Good vibes and good times in Bexley Square.Crowds gather for Sounds From The Other City 2024.Credit: Breige Cobane
Ever heard of a triple threat? How about a quintuple threat? Du Blonde is a musician, composer, artist, animator and video director.
This English star has caught the attention of music lovers with their loud and proud punk/ rock instrumentals and their infectious personality to match – Salford is up next.
Alternative singer and producer, Grove, knows how to put on a show and we have no doubt they’re set to deliver considering their recent roster of events.
Last year saw this outspoken vocalist at Burning Womxn – a feminist festival held in Paris that coincided with the 2024 Olympics – and even a Boiler Room show in partnership with fashion giants, Levi’s.
Halifax talent, The Orielles, teased they’re working on more of their indie-avant pop goodness and now they have just the stage to do it on as they’re set to play Sounds From The Other City too.
Du Blonde is ready to wow the Salford crowd.Grove, who is set to play Sounds From The Other City 2025.Credit: Rob McGee/Josh Cohen
In case you needed any more convincing when it comes to how big these names go on to bed after being given the nod by SFTOC, you only have to look back at the acts that have played the festival in the past.
Some of the talents that have graced this festival in years gone by include Greater Manchester locals, The Ting Tings; the Mercury Prize-winning Sampha, rising alt-rock and indie outfit, Black Country, New Road, and many more.
Sounds From The Other City is coming to Salford on Sunday, 4 May 2025 and tickets are on sale from 7 February or right now if you’re a registered subscriber to SFTOC HERE.
In the meantime, you can also check out some of the names playing Castlefield Bowl this summer as part of the festival’s twinned event in Manchester city centre. They’ve already notched some big ones…
Daisy Jackson -
18th May 2022 
