Featured image: Georgina Hurdsfield
June marks the beginning of summer, and what a summer it will be! The start of the festival season was kicked off with Neighbourhood Weekender and June follows with a vengeance. As Parklife Festival takes over our city this weekend, it doesn’t stop there. Tour season is upon us and it looks like June is shaping up to be a month of stellar music, art and culture.
From ceramics to sculpture, fashion to filmmaking and textiles to photography, Manchester School of Art invite students to present work covering a wide range of subject specialisms. Exhibitions will be taking place in Benzie, Chatham and Grosvenor buildings as well as our brand new School of Digital Arts, all on the Manchester Metropolitan campus on Oxford Road. During the Degree Show there will be a number of live performances by students of the Manchester School of Theatre.
Parklife is Manchester’s very own annual independent music festival! Each year the festival has grown, boasting large crowds of over 160,000 music lovers who all travelled to Heaton Park to hear their favourite artists on the big stage. This year the festival is being headlined by the likes of 50 Cent, Chase and Status, Tyler, the Creator and Megan Thee Stallion, kicking off the start of a very fun-filled summer in Manchester!
A breakout star in the British music scene and era-defining artist, Ed Sheeran has not only racked up a slew of accolades and awards for his music but also broken a few records too. After the success of his first album +, the singer has continued to top charts and remain relevant a decade into his career and shows zero signs of stopping. On 17 September 2021, Sheeran announced his + – = ÷ x Tour (Mathematics Tour), taking place in stadiums with a UK leg set for 26 May – 1 July 2022.
American four-piece, The Killers, have become a mainstay in British culture with their hit song ‘Mr Brightside’ becoming a certified cult classic! But that’s not all they have to offer with other songs such as ‘Somebody Told Me’ and ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ becoming favourites by fans and peers alike. The band confirmed the rescheduled dates for the UK and Ireland stadium tour which started in May.
After receiving an incredible five Grammys in 2002, for Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Album and Best New Artist, Alicia Keys has cemented herself as one of the most successful R&B artists of all time. With over 75 million records sold globally, she is bringing her soulful melodies straight to the heart of Manchester on her latest tour.
A break-out star after his One Direction boyband days, Harry Styles has shown the world that he can make it on his own. From ‘Sign of the Times’, ‘Fine Line’ and the brand new, viral TikTok hit ‘As it Was’, his new album ‘Harry’s House’ debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 113,000 album-equivalent units, becoming the fastest-selling album of 2022 in the country. A new album means new music which is the perfect opportunity for a brand new tour.
If you missed Lewis Capaldi at Parklife, fear not, the Scottish singer-songwriter is also in the Isle of Wight to perform at the cinch Presents The Isle of Wight Festival this summer! Originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970, The Isle of Wight Festival has become home to a wide range of artists over the years from Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, George Ezra, Liam Gallagher and many more! This year’s lineup includes the aforementioned Lewis Capaldi, Kasabian and Muse!
Manchester Day was created in 2010 and has now become one of the North West’s flagship events of the summer. The purpose of Manchester Day is to celebrate the creativity and diversity of Manchester. Where communities can celebrate pride in our city and show what makes them feel uniquely Mancunian. Where communities, artists and businesses can work together to create something truly special for Manchester.
Art School Live is a two-day music festival in the Grosvenor East Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University. After a hugely successful first year in 2021 Art School Live is back to do it all again, this time with a full physical audience and even more bands! 12 amazing bands will play across two days in the theatre (opposite All Saints Park, just off Oxford Road) plus a DJ stage and an after show at Sandbar both nights. Each band playing at the festival is also paired with a visual artist to transform the space with projections for each set.
St. Vincent is an American musician, singer-songwriter and producer. Known for her complex arrangements, utilizing a wide array of instruments, there’s no surprise the singer is the recipient of several accolades, including three Grammy awards. Her latest album ‘Daddy’s Home’ won the award for Best Alternative Music Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards and will no doubt be the main event during her worldwide tour.
Featured image and gallery: Hoang Phan Notebooks were carried from one workshop to another. Writers from different generations sat around tables, sharing manuscripts and listening to each other. Outdoors, small groups strolled along Oxford Road, pausing before buildings steeped in literary history. This was the scene during the Manchester Writing School Summer Festival 2026, held…
Featured image: Katja Ogrin With many sore heads and limbs this morning after the most hardcore day of the festival taking place yesterday, many are recovering from the moshing and pit brutality of the previous day’s antics. As the tradition of a morning movie in the Serpents Lair prevails, the crowd sprawls out onto the plush,…
Featured image: Abbi Draper After an electrifying start to the weekend, with temperatures slowly climbing, many lather themselves in suncream, shed their band shirts and rise from their tents to trek towards the arena. Saturday has big things incoming for the humans of Bloodstock 2026. Some pace themselves for the day and hide from the early…
Featured image: Abbi Draper After a memorable Thursday opener, Bloodstock 2026 opens its gates once again onto the Hallowed Grounds of Catton Park, kicking off day two of its 25th-anniversary celebration of metal. As the sun rises on Catton Park, festivalgoers emerge from their tents to prepare for another day of mayhem. The morning brings…
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