All the excitement of MIF will be heading out to the boroughs this year, as the full 2025 lineup has been announced.
Factory International has been working with partners across the city and the world to ‘build on the MIF legacy’, and has now unveiled an expansive multi-artform programme of events and groundbreaking world premieres to inspire fresh perspectives, challenge conventional thoughts, and invite audiences to ‘dream differently’.
Organisers say the 2025 lineup of the ever-popular Manchester International Festival (MIF) presents some of the most exciting creative minds of our generation.
MIF is all about showcasing Manchester as a global hub of creative innovation.
With works being presented throughout the city and even in the surrounding areas this year, MIF25 is set to be a celebration of homegrown artists returning to the region, with many of the names on the lineup originally coming from, or having important ties to, Greater Manchester and the North West.
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Eric Cantona, Juan Mata, The Royal Ballet, Blackhaine, Shilpa Gupta, Richard Russell, Edgar Davids, and Ella Toone are just a handful of the well-known names contributing to this extraordinary bi-annual celebration of creativity this summer.
As well as taking over lots of venues across Manchester, including Aviva Studios, HOME, and the Royal Exchage, as mentioned, the festival is ‘venturing further out than ever before’ this year – with new work being presented in Rochdale and Wigan.
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MIF has announced its long-awaited lineup for 2025 / Credit: Ant Strack | Juliet EllisThe festival is venturing further out than ever before this year / Credit: Rick Guest
On the opening weekend of the festival from 3-5 July, hundreds of participants will join puppeteers for a large-scale public artwork called THE HERDS, and will be parading ‘stampeding’ animals made in Manchester through the city streets and beyond.
Nearly 500 schoolchildren from across all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs will work alongside artists to create The Inheritance – a collection of knowledge, advice, jokes, memories, and objects.
For the first time ever, the festival will be partnering with The Royal Ballet this year to present a stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s acclaimed novel A Single Man at Aviva Studios, with former Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson performing the central role.
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There’s also three weekends of free community activations and events lined up / Credit: Venture Arts
One of the other most-notable events on the lineup is Football City, Art United created by an ambitious group of artists and footballers, led by former Manchester United star Juan Mata, which aims to expand the worlds of art and football, and the cultural contributions they both make, through sculptures, sound installations, and animations.
There will also be three weekends of community activations, such as cabaret, performance, and comedy, curated and hosted by MIF’s Neighbourhood Organisers to look forward to.
And of course, Festival Square returns with a free programme of live music and performances outside Aviva Studios this year.
You can also expect a talks programme to be announced in due course.
MIF25 kicks off on Thursday 3 July and will run its packed programme of events right through until Sunday 20 July 2025, and you can see the full lineup here.
Featured Image – MIF (via Supplied)
What's On
Manc music legends James announced MASSIVE hometown show
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester music legends James have just revealed a massive hometown show here in the city centre as part of a landmark domestic arena tour.
Daisy bucket hats at the ready.
James is arguably the epitome of what it is to be the understated, underdog British band; they’ve gone about the business of making quality music somewhat quietly for several decades now, but they’ve had a fresh wave of interest over the past year or so
Having opened up for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback shows, not to mention playing multiple big festival slots in recent months alone, they’ve now announced a huge run of UK arena shows – and nowhere does a James crowd quite like us Mancs.
Details have been announced for our 2026 UK arena tour, and we’re delighted to be joined by very special guests @dovesmusicblog with tickets going on general sale this Friday at 9:30am. Access the ticket pre-sale on Wednesday via our official store: https://t.co/DwpGrAUESZ NBL x pic.twitter.com/A4CWVpCooL
Announced as part of the celebrations around their Nothing But Love ‘best of’ LP, which pulls tracks from James’ whopping 18 studio albums, the new run of UK arena shows in 2026 follows on from numerous noteworthy shows this calendar year.
In addition to the aforementioned outdoor gigs, like their stunning sold-out night at The Piece Hall in Halifax – not too far from frontman Tim Booth’s hometown in Yorkshire – the indie veterans also celebrated a huge landmark in 2025.
Surpassing the milestone of 40 years as a band, with a lineup that’s remained largely intact and only really grown in terms of live session players and touring bandmates.
The new “definitive” greatest hits record also includes two brand-new songs in ‘Wake Up Superman’ and ‘Hallelujah Anyhow’, both of which are produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with the band on their long-awaited number one album Yummy in 2024 – a feat loooong overdue if you ask us.
As evidenced by the sheer amount of new material they continue to put out and the almost non-stop touring, they remain one of the most prolific artists in the country. FACT.
You can see the rest of James’ upcoming tour dates, including a healthy number of Northern stops in the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and more.
James UK arena tour dates 2026
Fri 2 Birmingham Utilita Arena
Sat 4 Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
Tues 7 Aberdeen P&J Live
Wed 8 Glasgow OVO Hydro
Fri 10 Newcastle Utilita Arena
Sat 11 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Mon 13 Cardiff Utilita Arena
Tues 14 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 17 London The O2
Sat 18 Manchester Co-op Live
With James returning to Manchester for their Co-op Live arena debut next April, along with a sensational support slot from fellow local legends, Doves (I know, how lucky are you lot?!), you can bank on this one selling out quickly.
General admission goes on sale this Friday, 10 October at 9:30am, so you’d better be ready to grab yours in a flash.
You can find the ticket link HERE, and we’ll see you in the crowd for a good ol’ singalong.
Featured Images — Ehud Lazin/Press shots (supplied)
What's On
Electronic icons Kraftwerk announce first Manchester gig since 2017
Danny Jones
Pioneering German band Kraftwerk have announced their first UK tour since 2017, with fans having to wait almost a decade for another Manchester gig.
Thankfully, they’ll be heading back down the Autobahn and across the channel for a return to our shores soon enough with a long-awaited list of British and Irish live dates.
Kraftwerk remains one of the most groundbreaking groups in the electronic scene to this day, having paved the way for generations of new artists to keep experimenting with the genre in the 50+ years since their formation.
Heading back to Manchester early next year, die-hards will no doubt snap these tickets faster than you can say ‘Das Model’.
For anyone unaware of these veritable legends of electronica and the world of alternative/Euro-synth pop, Kraftwerk formed all the way back in 1970 and went on to shape the modern music industry, bridging the gap between music and the digital age.
Best known for tracks like ‘Computer Love’, ‘The Robots’, ‘Pocket Calculator’ and the aforementioned on named after the national motorway network, they spearheaded futurism in the musical landscape from the outset.
It seems only fitting, therefore, that their upcoming highly anticipated return to the UK comes as part of their ‘Multimedia’ tour.
While they have played a number of live shows all over the globe this year, including an extensive run in the US, next spring will be our domestic visit from Kraftwerk in nine long years.
Credit: Press shot (supplied)
You can see the full list of UK and Ireland tour dates – including a handful of Northern gigs – down below:
Spanning a total of 15 UK dates, as you can see, there will also be tickets to see Kraftwerk nearby in the likes of Liverpool and with our mates over in Sheffield.
Kraftwerk legend Ralf Hütter famously played a set inside our city’s velodrome at the National Cycling Centre for Manchester International Festival (MIF) back in 2009, and has collaborated with the event on multiple ocassions.
In fact, that very performance was seen as a turning point for MIF, so the Manc Kraftwerk connection speaks for itself; O2 members can obviously get pre-sale, but general admission tickets go live from 9am this Friday, 10 October.
Emily Sergeant -
12th March 2025 
