Parklife 2023 is nearly here and if there’s one thing we know about this staple of the British summer and festival season it’s that it never disappoints.
There’s once again an absolutely massive line-up heading to the fields of Heaton Park, including headline slots from Fred Again, Aitch and The 1975.
The sun and warm weather seems to have arrived in the nick of time too, with what looks like a sunny, mud-free Parklife on the way.
If you can believe it, it’s been 13 years since the first-ever Parklife was held and since then it’s gone on to be not only a Manc music institution and rite of passage, but one of the most famous festivals around the world – we’re just lucky it happens to be right on our doorstep.
With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Parklife 2023, from who’s playing and where to how you’ll be getting there and back.
As you can see, Parklife punters are in for an absolute stormer this year, with the organisers bringing along some of the biggest names across various different genres.
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With headliners and local lads Aitch and The 1975 topping the bill, the bar is already pretty high, but with the likes of Fred again…, Little Simz, The Prodigy; Anderson .Paak, Nas, Self-Esteem; Skrillex, Annie Mac and even the Wu-Tang Clan all rocking up over the weekend, it really is going to be unforgettable.
We could literally go on forever when it comes to who we’re excited to see at Heaton Park this year – Peggy Gou, Charlotte De Witte, DJ Seinfeld, Patrick Topping and so on – but part of the challenge is always going to be sorting out your clashes.
If any of you ever figure out the magical power of being able to be in two places at once let us know but until then, here’s which Parklife artists will be appearing on which stages for 2023.
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Parklife 2023 festival site map
Parklife takes over a corner of Heaton Park, just to the north of Manchester itself.
With so many stages and street food and parties scattered around the festival site, it’s good to get your bearings beforehand.
And Parklife has just dropped its festival site map for 2023, which you can see below.
Who’s playing when and where?
Since moving from its original home at Platt Fields (2010-2013), Parklife Festival now stretches across several stages, many of which are exclusive only to Saturday/Sunday.
There is, of course, the self-titled main stage, as well as The Valley, The Hangar and The Temple – all of which span across both days.
It won’t surprise you to learn that there aren’t a lot of Parklife tickets left for 2023, with all Saturday and full weekend passes now sold out and only travel packages really available.
However, that isn’t to say there aren’t any: there a still a handful of tickets left for the Sunday, with general admission costing you £92.95 including the booking fee.
There are also VIP passes still going for £123.65 with upgrades also available for Saturday too if you’re feeling fancy. After all, summer is getting into full swing and it’ll have just been payday (hopefully), treat yourself – or don’t know, we’re not the boss of you.
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Travelling to and from Parklife
Speaking of travel, knowing how you’re going to get to and from Heaton Park is also something you should plan ahead for rather than just wing it on the day.
Luckily, Parklife’s famous Big Green Coaches will be running as per usual, all of which will be carbon neutral, will only set you back a £10 deposit and are running from all over the country.
As for public transport, the Parklife shuttle buses and regular TfGM bus services will all running across the weekend and into the early hours of each night to make sure everyone gets home safely.
The dreaded Metrolink strike has now been called off, so you can also use the tram to get up to Heaton Park – just hop off the Bury-bound tram at either Heaton Park or Bowker Vale.
For the shuttle bus, you can board it from the corner of Aytoun Street and Minshull Street (M1 2DD) near Piccadilly train station, with the drop-off site right inside the festival. For any further information, check out the travel portal on the Parklife website.
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The Parklife travel pass is £10 for the whole weekend and can be used on trams or the shuttle buses.
Last but not least, there’s not much point in turning up to the festival without your wristband. Here are the three official locations to have your Parklife 2023 tickets verified and receive your wristband.
Open on Saturday 11 June and Sunday 12 June.
Minshull Street (next to the shuttle bus departure point) from 9.30am-4.00pm.
Cathedral Gardens (in front of the National Football Museum) from 10am-4.00pm.
St Peter’s Square (outside of Manchester Central Library) from 10am-4.00pm.
As always, we’d also remind you to steer clear of ticket touts – not worth spoiling your weekend by being stung.
Parklife 2023 is set to be an absolute stormer and with the weather looking to be holding up too, all the stars are aligning as punters prepare to descend on Manchester.
It’s a great weekend for the region and for the UK music scene, let alone Greater Manchester, and we can’t wait. You’ll see a few faces from The Manc going along too, so feel free to come up to us and say hello – we don’t bite.
Last but not least, look after each other out there and, above all else, enjoy yourselves. Roll on June 10!
Olly Murs at Co-op Live, Manchester – tickets, times, setlist and more
Thomas Melia
The ‘Troublemaker’ himself Olly Murs is ready to cause some more chaos, and this time he’s returning to Manchester with throwback boyband, Blue.
X Factor and British star Olly Murs is embarking on his latest UK arena tour, which feels more like lads on tour with a helping hand from UK boyband, Blue.
Back in the late noughties, it was hard to escape the blazer-wearing, trilby-wearing popstar as he was dropping back-to-back bangers like ‘Heart Skips a Beat’ and doo-wop inspired ‘Dance With Me Tonight’.
Now, this cheeky chappy is embarking on the ’15 Years Of Hits – Live 2025′ tour, where he’ll be belting out all those classics as well as some more recent tunes too.
Olly Murs is coming to Co-op Live in Manchester this week.Credit: Marcos Moreno via Wikimedia Commons
Are there tickets left for Olly Murs’ Co-op Live gig?
There are just a few tickets left for Olly Murs at Co-op Live, so make sure you bag yours before your ‘Heart Skips a Beat’.
To see a range of tickets and prices in all sections of this impressive new entertainment venue, Co-op Live, tickets can be found HERE.
Plus, even if you miss out on the Co-op Live, we wouldn’t worry too much, because the British popstar is also coming to AO Arena later this month near the end of his tour with tickets HERE.
Olly Murs 2025 tour – ’15 Years Of Hits’ setlist
This Essex chap might have a solid setlist which he follows night in and night out, but he’s no stranger to being a bit ‘Unpredictable’ – I mean, he’s bringing a flamethrower on stage…
After being on our screens and airwaves for almost two decades, it’s no surprise that this setlist is lengthy, totalling at just over 20 songs, give or take the 80s medley weaved into the mix.
Who doesn’t love a bit of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ paired alongside Murs’ stacked setlist?
Troublemaker
Right Place Right Time
Please Don’t Let Me Go
Thinking of Me
Oh My Goodness
Heart Skips a Beat
Kiss Me
Army of Two
Hand on Heart
Up
Die of a Broken Heart / I Found Her / Dancing on Cars / I Hate You When You’re Drunk (Marry Me Medley)
Seasons
You Don’t Know Love
I’m Your Man / Never Gonna Give You Up / Livin’ On a Prayer / Beat It / Careless Whisper / I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) / I’m So Excited (80s Medley)
Dear Darlin’
Years & Years
Never Been Better
Wrapped Up
Save Me
Dance With Me Tonight
What are the stage times for Olly Murs in Manchester?
Olly Murs sporting his usual blazer and top-hat style back in 2013.
Co-op Live has a strict curfew of 11pm, meaning concertgoers can be ‘Wrapped Up’ in the Essex popstar’s hits without having to worry about getting home too late. It’s a school night after all!
Doors for Olly Murs’ ‘15 Years Of Hits – Live 2025’ are scheduled for 6:30pm, with a kick-off time of 7:30pm and support from 2000s UK boyband, Blue.
The BRIT Award winners, Eurovision-performing and one-time chart toppers, are back together once again and about to take us back to pop school as we re-learn the words to boyband textbook classics, including ‘All Rise’, Best in Me’, ‘Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word’ and more.
How to get to Co-op Live
Tram
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, fortunately, it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre; they run until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live. You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.
Getting there by car and parking
If you’re driving, there are limited parking spaces available at the venue but these must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are also designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide come event day – though estimates will obviously vary:
Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes through the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Featured Images — Mark Hayman/ Edward Cooke/Marcos Moreno(supplied)
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A music festival is coming to a Manchester skate park
Danny Jones
With the sun starting to shine more consistently and the music festival season well and truly on its way, we’ll admit we weren’t expecting to see an event taking place on a Manchester skate park, of all places.
Projekts Skatepark, the long-standing skating hub and cultural hotspot located under Macunian Way, is set to host the fourth edition of the unapologetically named ‘Metlchester’.
Starting out life as little more than a small Oldham Street takeover, the city centre festival is returning for this year, bringing plenty of alternative music, skate vibes, bevs and more.
You can see the lineup confirmed so far down below:
The 2025 edition of the festival, a.k.a. ‘Metlchester Vol. 4’, is taking place later this month.
Projekts has been catering to local boarders for the past two decades, and along with their on-site cafe and bar, the space has been put to use for several other special events – case and point, Meltchester Festival, which first started back in 2022.
Bringing a healthy dose of garage rock, post-punk and psych music to NQ from the outset, now it’s expanded, you can expect even more variety when it comes to genre this time around, as well as a well-stocked in-house bar and street food stalls.
Oh yeah, and of course there’ll be the usual merch and skate shop for you to browse.
As for the aforementioned tunes, while last year’s festival was headlined by Night Beats and Frankie & The Witch Fingers, topping the bill this year are Snapped Ankles, along with a mix of grassroots artists, including local duo, Slap Rash, who recently featured as one of our Manc artists of the month for April.
Projekts opened back in 2004Slap RashCredit: Supplied
Set in collaboration with Sour Grapes Records, an equally longstanding regional promoter with hundreds of successful events to their name, they make up part of the Greater Manchester Music Commission.
Serving up an exciting springtime event full of energy, from the skate culture to the performances themselves, this is the perfect appetiser ahead of a busy summer schedule as we approach festival season.
They also happen to be the event coordinators for local music venue Big Hands, where not only are current Sicilian traders Rizzo’s are based (also set to join the festival for the day) but where this year’s after party will be held, which is free for ticket holders, by the way.
Set to kick off from 12 noon on 17 May, with a pro skater session running until 2pm before the tunage, Metlchester sounds like a belter.