This week sees the hotly anticipated return of BBC Radio 6 Music Festival, with international acts including Loyle Carner, Christine and the Queens and Arlo Parks taking to the stage.
The radio station's flagship event - which will see a series of world premier performances, collaborations and surprise guests - is returning to the location where it first launched nine years ago - Greater Manchester. Back for the first time since 2014, the festival will also be making the city its permanent home.
Making its big return from Friday, March 24 to Sunday 26, it is set to feature the station's hallmark mix of exciting new acts and ground-breaking old favourites in venues ranging from Victoria Warehouse to Band of the Wall and Ramona.
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Each year, it brings a series of special concerts, and this year is no different as Loyle Carner joins forces with Manchester's AMC Gospel Choir for a very special set, while Christine and the Queens and Arlo Parks will debuting new shows. Elsewhere, DJ sets will come from Afrodeutsche, Erol Alkan, Daniel Avery, Don Letts, Good Future, Hot Chip, Jamz Supernova, Steve Lamacq, Tarzsa, The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, Yard Act and BBC Introducing DJs, Emily Pilbeam and Phoebe I-H.
Launched in 2014 with a headline set by Damon Albarn, the festival quickly became a highlight of the UK music calendar. Since then, the 6 Music Festival has stopped off in a number of cities including Bristol, Glasgow and Liverpool, among others. A wide range of acts have graced the stage from Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals and Wet Leg, to Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, James Blake, Self Esteem and many more.
Speaking about the festival's return, Samantha Moy, Head of BBC Radio 6 Music, said: “The 6 Music Festival is almost here, and we’re so excited to be coming back to Greater Manchester, where the 6 Music Festival began in 2014. This year we’ve worked with artists, including Loyle Carner, Christine and the Queens and Arlo Parks, to bring their fans and our listeners something unique and brand new, all the performances promise something you won’t have seen before.
"From BBC Music Introducing Live at Band on the Wall, which will celebrate local emerging artists, to our Rave Forever club night on Saturday, with guest sets from Erol Alkan and Hot Chip, we’ll be showcasing the broad mix of artists that people expect to hear on 6 Music, across the whole weekend."
Afrodeutsche, who will be on the decks at 6 Music's Rave Forever on Saturday night, adds: "It’s very, very exciting and I think the city needs this kind of festival to be here annually. The pandemic really gave space for emerging artists too. A lot of people were able to process their existence through their music and where they hadn’t necessarily had a voice before, suddenly they had almost the space and time to create that and build something.
“So, what we’re hearing now is a lot of music that has come from the pandemic, artists that have taken a grip on their own identities and have come back really strong and really, really beautiful stuff has come from that time."
For Bolton-born radio presenter Mark Radcliffe, the festival's return to its home city is a "major stepping stone" for radio and music in the North. "Back when I did my show with Marc Riley on Radio 1 from Oxford Road there wasn’t really anywhere else outside of London, we felt like a little branch office really, but now with MediaCity, every network has something coming from Salford," he explained.
"Tony Wilson always told us we didn’t need to go to London, we didn’t need to wait for someone down there to give us permission, and he made us all believe and think like that. It took a long time but he was right and he’d be proud of what we’re doing.
"There’s a great thrill having spent so many years feeling like we were at the end of the line and now feeling like we’re at the central station. It’s a feeling, a golden globe for those of us who felt we were lone voices in the North for so long. The idea that we were a branch office, and sort of tolerated and given dispensation, fighting for scraps from the London table and now at the centre of the radio universe is very heartening."
On this year's festival locations, Mark is also pleased to see that Band On The Wall is on hosting duties for the Club Nights. “Independent venues have had such a horrible time in recent years, it’s a miracle so many of them are still here. And Manchester is fantastically well off for these spaces.
"Band On The Wall has been a big part of my life and I played there not that long ago. I hold it very close to my heart because when I was a student, between 1976 and 1979, Manchester was a totally different place from what it is now and one of the few places you could feel comfortable at night and get a late drink was Band On The Wall."
And in terms of what music fans can expect from this weekend, Mark says it may be physically scaled back but the ambition is bigger than ever. He adds: "This year is very much giving people something different, so yes there might be physically less of it but there is more that you couldn’t see elsewhere.
"You can always get people to drop in and play a set they’re playing everywhere else, but can you get them to do something different, with Christine and Arlo, they will be debuting new work and it’s kicking off in Manchester."
Jamz Supernova, who will be on DJ duties ahead of Christine and the Queens, says having a presence is the North is crucial. "I think it’s important that 6 Music has a presence here because we play so much music, going all the way back to some of the older music coming out of the Hacienda days through to some of the stuff that’s coming out of the rainy mill, space Africa side of things," she says. "I think we have a long history and legacy with Manchester so it’s further implementing that and I think the festival’s a good way to do that.
“Hopefully going forward there will be spaces and stages to showcase Manchester talent. I can only speak for myself, but it makes me want to find out, ok, what's next, what’s emerging, who should we be listening to?”
When is 6 Music Festival?
This year's BBC Radio 6 Music Festival will take place from Friday, March 24 to Sunday, March 26 in Greater Manchester. A special opening event will take place on the evening of Thursday, March 23.
Where is it taking place?
This year's festival will take place in Manchester, with Victoria Warehouse hosting the headline sets. There will also be club nights at Band on the Wall and Victoria Warehouse, themed around 6 Music’s Indie Forever and Rave Forever shows and a Morning After Mix live broadcast on the Sunday at Ramona.
Who is performing, when and where?
On Thursday, March 23, from 7.30pm, BBC Introducing will host an event at Band on the Wall with Manchester acts Afflecks Palace, Antony Szmierek and Phoebe Green.
On Friday, March 24, from 6.30pm, Loyle Carner will headline Victoria Warehouse with Wu-Lu supporting and a DJ set from Tarzsa. Meanwhile, Band on the Wall will host Friday's Indie Forever night from 9pm, with upbeat indie bangers from 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq and guest DJs including Tim Burgess, BBC Music Introducing’s Emily Pilbeam, Good Future and Yard Act.
Saturday will see a brand new performance from Christine and the Queens at Victoria Warehouse, supported by Lava La Rue, while Jamz Supernova will DJ. Also on Saturday, 6 Music’s Rave Forever will take place at Victoria Warehouse Manchester from 11pm, with a sprinkling of the finest new club sounds from 6 Music’s Afrodeutsche and guest DJs including Phoebe I-H, Hot Chip and Erol Alkan.
In addition, on the morning of Sunday March 26 (from 12pm), Morning After Mix at Ramona will see Daniel Avery provide a two-hour DJ set. Bringing proceedings to a close, Sunday's lineup includes a headline sett from Arlo Parks at Victoria Warehouse, playing songs from her new album, while support comes from The Big Moon and Don Letts.
Are there still tickets?
Tickets went on sale on Thursday, February 16 and some are still available from Ticketmaster. Tickets are available for each of the nights and individual performances.
Highlights from the festival will be broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio Manchester from MediaCityUK in Salford, as well as on BBC Sounds, BBC Four, BBC iPlayer and BBC Music’s YouTube channel.
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