2011 Festival

A new decade fully in swing as the noughties slipped the way of the millenium. For a second year, we sprawled through the full expanse of Chapel Street from Peel Hall at the top to Sacred Trinity Church at the bottom, with the much missed MIE Music hosting an exquisite exposition of dense sound in the latter, Barn Owl and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma amongst the particular highlights.

2011 saw promotors du jour, Now Wave, join the party for the first time and they seemed firmly intent on upstaging all others with a line-up that managed to combine SBTRKT’s heavenly vocal maker, Sampha, with a soon to become Alt-J Films, with notable performances from Creep and Money. As the evening wore on into the night, perhaps the highlight of the day was the sight of Zsa Zsa Noir seemingly float raving on a table amidst the sweatiest of sets from D/R/U/G/S.

Across the day there were many more weird and wonderful moments, including Swedish popstrelles, Those Dancing Days, squeezing onto the stage in the upstairs room of the Pint Pot, moments after hair and make-up call in the landlady’s flat, a spoken word set  from Aidan Moffat at the Angel Centre and the enchanting addition of Sonny Smith’s ‘100 Records’ exhibition at the Islington Mill gallery.

(in no particular order)

Bad Uncle, Hear Here, Comfortable on a Tightrope, Fat Out Till You Pass Out, Helmets for Men, Hey! Manchester, Trash-O-Rama, MIE Music, Paradox, Postcards from Manchester, Mind on Fire, High Voltage & Now Wave.

(in no particular order)

Fixers, Denis Jones, Temperatures, Plank!, Day for Airstrikes, Deaf to Van Goghs Ear, Dr Mahogany’s Goat Circus, Veronica Falls, Girls Names, Sonny & The Sunsets, Irma Vep, Golden Grrrls, Feel Right, Anta, Drunk in Hell, Trojan Horse, Primal Device, Bad Body, Factory Star, The Blimp, The Suns, Death to the Strange, The Inflictors, Urchins, Sandbox, David Thomas Broughton, The Wave Pictures, Darren Hayman, Willy Mason, The Other City Ensemble, Viv Albertine, Brown Brogues, No Womb, Float Riverer, Ste McCabe, Salty Lips, Zsa Zsa Noir, Brittle Stars, Barn Owl, Richard Youngs, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Cath & Phil Tyler, Outshine Family, Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides, Frazer King, Aidan Moffat, Milk Maid, Neil Bell, Easter, SpaceGhost, Wode, April Showers, Butchers, Andrew Beswick, Nasdaq, Lauren Bolger, Rainbow Arabia, Patterns, Replicas, The Steals, With that Knife, Ghost Outfit, Those Dancing Days, Young British Artists, Mammal Club, Tigercats, Weird Era, Louche FC, Action Beat, Capac, From the Kites of San Quentin, Neko Neko, VEi, Zing, Vieka, High Voltage, The Twilight Sad, Still Corners, The Good Natured, The Kill Van Kulls, Driver Drive Faster, Charlie Barnes, D/R/U/G/S, Anchorsong, Creep, Sampha, VondelPark, Breton, Films, Money, Fetch the Witches and Sonny Smiths ‘100 Records’ Exhibition.