Back in May of this year, as the pandemic lockdowns persisted and the reality that another SFTOC-free year was upon us, we rallied together friends from across our community to create a series of intimate performances across Chapel Street, to mark the day and make sure that Salford wasn’t completely devoid of Sounds on the May Day Bank Holiday Sunday!

The first of these was this beautiful sitar rendition from John Lancaster in the gardens at Peel Park. In true May Day Bank holiday style, there was some extremely unpredictable weather before the sun came out in the nick of time to bath the park with its warm rays.

The day also marked another momentous occasion for us all, the wedding of SFTOC co-founder Morry Carlin to his long-term love, Bill Campbell. Family and friends joined for an impromptu promenade through the Victorian grandeur of the park, completed by strains of sitar ringing through the air.

We invited film maker Georgiana Ghetiu to capture each of the busking sets and we’ll be releasing the other two films soon.

We couldn’t have imagined such a thing happening back at the first SFTOC in 2002, but even in lockdown, it was wonderful to still live out the spirit of Sounds and John’s reaction this week to watching his performance summarises that perfectly…

“It all came back to me: being locked out of my house and sleeping on my friend’s living room floor the night before, my dreadful hangover, waiting in Chips’ van for the rain to stop and the sun eventually coming out, but most importantly, feeling really honoured to be there.”