Green Island is the Manc music festival you’re all missing out on — and it’s in a garden centre
They don't need any promotion, it sells every time without fail — but we're still going to shout about it anyway because you NEED to get a ticket to this thing.
We’ll be completely honest, we didn’t quite know what to expect when we first stepped foot into Green Island Festival back in June of this year; a festival in the middle of a community garden centre, who the hell put those two things together?
Believe us when we tell you we were by no means prepared for how much of a good time we ended up having after going along for our first visit and we can now confidently say we’ll be going along again.
For those of you who have never heard anything about Green Island Fest, that’s about as close to ‘does what it says on the tin’ as you can get with these kinds of things: every year, Hulme Community Garden Centre turns into this almost tropical island of music, dancing, food, drink, plants and so much more.
Now held over a trio of dates every summer since 2021, the annual festival takes over what is a beloved community and cultural institution down the road in Hulme and turns into almost a small-scale Glasto set amongst a green space just outside the city. It’s simply unlike anything we’ve ever been to before.
One of the first things that struck us about this festival as we walked into the venue, besides the abundance of colour and greenery — something that gave us an instance dose of happiness to start off the day — was, with the best will in the world, how almost casually thrown together a lot of it felt.
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There were no big queues, barriers or large signs segmenting each section or stage, you just kind of strolled into this sun-soaked and extremely wholesome-looking party already in full swing and, fittingly, felt like you were being led down the garden path into a different world.
A table here and a tent there, people just sitting on a log, a patch of grass or even a bed of chamomile where you could rest your head and relax as you gazed up at the blue sky, everything felt a little bit slapdash in the best kind of way, somehow putting us at ease and exciting us at the same time.
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One of the parts we often dread about festivals is the organisation: getting there and navigating the event once you’re inside. While we know a lot of planning goes into making Green Island as wonderful as it is, it feels very free-form and spontaneous — always the recipe for the very best nights, in our opinion.
Fun for all the family (no, really)
And then there was the crowd, which was a wonderful mix of all different ages, cultures and backgrounds. We were told that this was a family-friendly event, but we really didn’t expect to see a dad with a child wearing ear defenders strapped to his chest as they laughed and danced along to baby’s first rave.
Turn one corner and you’d find people dancing to the wide variety of live music, but turn the next and you’d see kids playing, potting plants with their parents and dancing along with all the grown-ups. We weren’t joking about the wholesomeness, it was genuinely one of the cutest things we’ve ever seen.
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It was also completely accessible, meaning people with wheelchairs and mums pushing prams had no problem coming along to enjoy themselves. In fact, we had two new parents with and we’re pretty sure they had an even better time than we did — those customisable cocktails and Midori dumplings was all they needed (get the paloma, trust us).
Even more charming was the fact that you’d occasionally see someone pushing a wheelbarrow past or doing some pruning in a greenhouse and it was at that point that we realised that the garden centre itself was running as usual and hadn’t shut down to make room for the festival. They’re one and the same.
A stage for all seasons and the nightime transformation
Now, you can’t talk about Green Island Festival without talking about the music itself and let me tell you, we had the BEST time singing and dancing along to pretty much every genre of music you could hope for across it’s three areas: the main stage, the forest stage and the third which hosts a rotation of takeovers.
Teaming up with BBC Introducing and various up-and-coming artists both local and from all across the UK, we got to listen to everything from rap, grime and R&B to indie, ska, funk, soul, techno, house and plenty more. We know it sounds unlikely but we didn’t hear a bad act all day long either, seriously.
If we had to pick a favourite, it would have to be the forest stage which made us feel like we’d been transported to some random disco jungle on the other side of the world and once the sun went down, we might as well have been at The Warehouse Project. It was an absolutely unmatchable vibe.
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And then there was the afterparty over at Canvas which ran until late and we’re not going to spoil for you, but all you need to know is that we had an amazing time and never wanted it to end. To be honest, that would be our main takeaway from the festival as a whole, we’ve genuinely become its biggest fans.
From the folks at Seven Brothers slinging drinks across the multiple bars, the independent food traders serving burritos, butties and plenty of other top scran, to the staff at Hulme Garden centre’s in-house Cafe Sorrel, everyone working at this thing helped make it a truly special event
And the best part is, this year’s event isn’t even over yet…
There might not be many tickets left for Volume II on Saturday, 29 July, but you can always try and grab one for the third and final day of Green Island Festival 2023 HERE.
We’ll see you there for nothing but good times and greenery!
Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live, Manchester – tickets, times, setlist and more for ‘intimate’ UK tour
Thomas Melia
The red-headed, guitar-strumming, lyrical genius, also known as Ed Sheeran, is back, and he’s heading to Co-op Live for one night only as part of his current UK tour.
‘Bad Habits’, ‘Shape of You’, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, Sheeran has built quite an impressive music catalogue over the years and amassed a whopping 60 billion streams while doing so.
The UK music heavyweight scored his ninth number one album with Play, all while adding two more top ten hits to his discography with ‘Azizam’ and ‘Sapphire’, driving his overall top ten singles total to 43 – that’s ‘Perfect’.
Last week, Sheeran dropped his latest musical addition, Play (Deluxe), which features 14 brand new tracks, and lucky fans who have tickets to these upcoming shows will be eager to see which ones he adds to his setlist.
Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live, Manchester – all the key info you need to know
Ed Sheeran is performing a run of ‘intimate’ shows in the UK (Credit: Press Shots via Petros Studio)
Now he’s bringing his huge hits to Manchester’s biggest indoor entertainment venue, Co-op Live, just across from the ‘Castle on the Hill’, Etihad Stadium, which Sheeran has performed at on eight occasions.
If you’re patiently trying not to get your hopes up, thinking about tickets for Sheeran’s latest gig while simultaneously saying ‘I Don’t Care’, think again.
All you ‘Beautiful People’ after tickets to go see Ed Sheeran when he plays out at Co-op Live on 7 December, you’re in luck as there’s a handful waiting to get snapped up HERE.
Ed Sheeran setlist
Prepare yourself, but with 43 top ten hits next to his name, it’s no surprise Sheeran’s setlist is quite a lengthy one; here’s what he performed at his Paris show earlier this month:
Give Me Love
Castle on the Hill
Shivers
Sapphire
The A Team
Don’t
Boat / Life Goes On
Galway Girl
Nancy Mulligan
Old Phone
Celestial
One / Photograph
Thinking Out Loud
Eastside / 2002 / Cold Water / Little Things / Love Yourself
I See Fire
River / Peru / Beautiful People / I Don’t Care
Camera
Slowly
Perfect
Symmetry
Bloodstream
You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
Shape of You
Azizam
Bad Habits
Afterglow
Merry Christmas
What are the stage times for Ed Sheeran in Manchester?
Co-op Live has a strict curfew of 11pm, meaning you can ‘2step’ to this chart-topping superstar’s tracks and get tucked up in bed before the early hours of the morning.
Anyone attending can expect the doors to open from 6pm, and not one but two very special guests as the support acts: contemporary Irish band, Biird, and folk duo, Nizlopi, who Ed Sheeran has been a big fan of for a long time now.
You can hear more about his connection with the group down below.
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know 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 and until 1:00am 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 is limited parking available at the venue, but this must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are 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.
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For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Featured Images — Petros Studio and Mark Surridge (via Press Shots)
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Hazlett at Manchester Academy 3 – some of the best ‘sad and depressing songs’ you could ever ask for
Danny Jones
On Thursday evening, we finally got to see Hazlett in a small, tightly-packed room here in Manchester and have maybe never heard so many people sing so expertly quietly so as not to even remotely dullen the stunning voice of this rising solo artist.
For anyone who isn’t aware of Hazlett, he’s an Australian singer-songwriter who has been gradually growing in popularity over the last couple of years, but his journey to where he is dates back much further than that.
Noticing a few familiar faces in the crowd from his last visit to the city for a performance at The Deaf Institute just over a year ago – one we sadly missed and have been kicking ourselves ever since – he acknowledged that many may already know his story, but it’s nevertheless worth sharing with the class.
After self-deprecating (how oh-so British) about gigging in pubs when he was younger, and being told to stick to covers rather than try any of his own material, he moved to Sweden in 2019 and fell in love with not only a much more seasonal European but winter, specifically. No wonder he looked at home here.
Here’s our review of Hazlett at Manchester Academy 3, 4/12/2025. (Credit: Audio North)
Kicking off with one of his best-known tracks, ‘Please Don’t Be’, it immediately struck us how full and mournful it all felt in the flesh – arguably even more so than the studio version we’ve been playing in our headphones since 2023.
The atmospheric but not over-produced engineering is an aspect we’ve always admired about Hazlett‘s discography, and we were so relieved it came across on the night, with the Brisbane-born ex-pat crediting his talented live band with helping bring that same sound to life on stage.
It’s a regular trapping, we’ve found, when it comes to acoustic-led music; that instinct, perhaps, for an artist and/or a producer to use seemingly as many of the tools at their disposal as possible just because they’re available to them.
Sadly, this easy pitfall often ends up taking away from what makes those tunes so beautiful to begin with – but not in this case.
The rising solo star seemed to have an expert command not only of his vocals, but the second mic that added those subtle and yet stirring layers, and built those moving, almost ethereal effects on top of the words themselves.
Honestly, we were literally in awe of him just whistling…
Admittedly, it’s hard to put a finger on what exactly made this such a special show, but we think it is THAT same appreciation and embrace of colder months and how it’s inspired his music.
Just bear with us for a minute, it’ll make sense soon.
He actually said it was one of the things he loves the most about people in this country, and this specific part of the world, as well as other parts of Europe, such as his now beloved Sweden, where he says he found his creative spark.
It’s that feeling of the weather and the mood it brings so intensely that he says it helped him write ‘Bones Shake’, which was fittingly chilling as he played it to the spellbound, would-be choir, and could hear the soft sibilance of people gently repeating those S-sounds back to him.
There’s a genuine sense of being able to chart the slight sorrow in the passing of time through the seasons, and while some may not be afforded that same feeling from the sun-soaked shores of his homeland, it’s a concept he’s really run with – especially on his most recent LP.
Simply titled, last night you said you missed me, it’s almost something he kind of tried to resist, confessing that he wrote and finished the album in the space of about a month, fearing that it couldn’t be good enough/ready purely because it came together so quickly.
Given that two specific tracks from this record made a lady standing with us well up and eventually shed several tears (you know who you are), we’d say he absolutely nailed it.
Our only minor gripe was not getting to hear ‘Tell Me What You Dream About’. (Credit: The Manc)
He did joke that his set is filled with nothing but “a bunch of sad and depressing songs” and had a laugh at the idea of people being “dragged along” without any real idea of who he is or the kind of stuff he makes, but having now witnessed him play live, we can assure you it’s much more than that.
Bloom Mountain was an emotional, magical debut that found us in a particular place and time in our lives that we’ll always appreciate, but hearing him knit it together with his newest material confirmed to us that his music has to be more than listened to – it has to be felt.
Like the changing of the seasons. Like the winter. Like the cold.
We unfortunately didn’t manage to make it in time to watch the support act, Hans Williams, but judging by the reaction from the audience who did get in there early enough, the authentic but inventive stylings of the Americana, folk and soul-infused indie-pop artist, he definitely won over plenty of new fans.
As Mitchell Hazlett Lewis, to use his full name, he’s had our hearts since the very start and will continue to do so for however long he keeps bringing his relatable lyricism, delicate but impressive guitar-picking and gentle charm to Manchester.
Please check out his tour dates and see him the next time he’s in town. You can guarantee you’ll find
Please enjoy the song from his latest album that he says his mum likes best.
Danny Jones -
22nd July 2023 
