BBC Radio 6’s Music Festival is set to descend upon Manchester next week. Running from Wednesday 26 March to Saturday 29 March, the festival will bring a huge variety of artists to the North, marking the event’s 13th iteration, and it’s third consecutive year in the city that shaped genres like post-punk, acid house, and Britpop.
This year’s lineup was announced at the start of February, revealing a small but heavy-hitting lineup. The headline acts had two Mercury Prize winners among them in Ezra Collective and English Teacher. Discussing their appearance, Ezra Collective called it a “deep honour” to be headlining, recalling the importance of first being aired on Radio 6 in 2013.
Another act that caused a stir online is Kae Tempest. They took to their Instagram page last week to announce some warmup shows before their set at the festival. Fans attending their show will be hopeful to hear some new material, with Tempest saying “What you doing end of March? I’m putting a new live set together, and we’re playing a couple of small venues to kick things off… can’t wait to get back to it – get your tickets while you can – will be very special”.
The full schedule includes BBC Introducing at YES on Wednesday, featuring Adult DVD, Renee Stormz, and jasmine.4.t. Thursday sees Ezra Collective, Fat Dog, and Jamz Supernova at Victoria Warehouse, plus a New Music Fix Live at YES later that evening.
Mogwai and English Teacher will headline Friday night at Victoria Warehouse, with a DJ set from Tom Ravenscroft going late into the night. Amber’s Club will see a playful twist as a ‘phone-free’ night will be enforced for sets from Ayy Den, nora, Anish Kumar, and SBTRKT. Elsewhere, Band on the Wall will host the Radio 6 programme Indie Live Forever.
Saturday concludes the festival, starting with a ‘Morning After Mix’ at YES, hosted by Jamz Supernova and Emma-Jean Thackray. Kae Tempest, Perfume Genius, and DJ SHERELLE will close the event out at Victoria Warehouse.
BBC Radio 6 has shown their commitment to aiding grassroots venues, with their choices bringing more awareness to the glaring issues facing many spaces up and down the country. Indie Forever host, Nathan Shepard, said: “Venues like YES and Band on the Wall are integral to Manchester’s music scene for emerging and established artists and using them for the 6 Music Festival ensures they can continue to support the scene in the future by bringing in new artists and audiences.”
Reaction to the announced lineup was mixed. On the Radio 6 subreddit, one user compared it to feeling more like a “6 Music nights out”, criticising the scale of the event in light of apparent budget cuts. At its peak, the festival hosted 72 different events at the 2016 iteration. This year has just 27 acts.
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The festival still has tickets available for anybody wanting to go, available through both the BBC’s website, and Ticketmaster, though Ticketmaster does indicate that ticket availability is limited. The events will also be available to everybody through iPlayer and BBC Sounds, as well as traditional broadcast mediums.
Despite the disappointment around the size of the lineup, BBC Radio 6 Music Festival continues to celebrate and provide a platform to music from beyond the ordinary, and the variety on offer means there is an act for everybody.
