Sounds from the Other City 2019 – The Quindeccenial – Sounds From The Other City
Salford's festival of new music & art • 4 May 2025
colour photograph of band performing on stage with small crowd in front, lighting purple, red and orange
Rose Mercie
Black Futures
Young Identity and BCC Philharmonic collaboration
colour photo of 2 members of working mens club playing guitar and bass on stage in front of green tinged screen
Working Mens Club
colour photograph of child with adult crouching down next to them holding megaphone, festival activity in background

2 0 1 9 – the last SFTOC for another decade and our 15th birthday and what better way to mark that moment than going really, really….small! 1500 loyal custodians of the SFTOC vibe made their way down to Regents Trading Estate to celebrate our Quindecennial: a one-off event that attempted to condense everything we love about Sounds into one super-concentrated party.

We welcomed back 15 of our favourite promoters to select their two most loved current acts and mixed them all up across 5 stages taking in Barney Artist’s laid back rhymes to the visceral punk of Cocaine Piss, the much hyped arrival of Black Midi and an early doors Black Futures performance that wouldn’t have been ill matched in an arena.

There was much merriment around the toilet queue with LAL’s “It’s all gone to shit’, some beautiful interventions in the warehouse units from our returning art director’s megamix and some very sweaty afterparty action.

We also learned a lot too, mainly that the SFTOC crowd are very thirsty and that we missed some of the magic of Chapel Streets many nooks and crannies. We’ll be back for another Quindecennial in 2034, till then there’s a lot of SFTOC’s to look forward to.

Frank and Hanks MayDay Maypole
Audience at Regents Trading Estate
Audience at Regents Trading Estate
Audience at Regents Trading Estate
Audience at Regents Trading Estate

2019 promotors were

(in no particular order)

Partisan, OneFiveEight, Reform Radio, The Beauty Witch, Tru Luv, Bad Uncle, Hey! Manchester, Grey Lantern, Good Afternoon, High Hoops, So Flute, Strange Days, Heavenly Recordings, Young Identity, Comfortable on a Tightrope, Fat Out, Regal Disco, Kiss Me Again, Bluedot, Dots and Wolf, Chips with Everything, Me Gusta, Bound Art Book Fair, Marc the Printers and Salford Makers.

Black Midi
colour photograph of 2 performers on stage with large crowd in front, purple lighting, photo taken from back of the room
Barney Artist

2019 artists were

(in no particular order)

Yama Warashi, Aadae, Accü, All Hands On Deck, Ménage à Trois, Avalanche Party, BABii, BBC Philharmonic, Young Identity, Working Mens Club, Black Country New Road, Handle, Black Futures, Spectres, Black Midi, SCALPING,  Cocaine Piss, Gabe Gurnsey, ILL, Mikko Joensuu, Penelope Isles, Remover, Rose Mercie, See Thru Hands, Sneaks, Speakman Sound, The Orielles, Tirikilatops, Upset Stomach, Withered Hand, Woven Skull, Grotbags, Barney Artist, Frank & Hank, himHallows, IMPATV, Mariel Osborn, Stina Puotinen, Dave Bailey, DJ Acid Reflux, Young Pablo, Yohan, Atike, Yadhaj, Panda Palm, Danuka, Yadava, Sofie K, Baloo, Adj, Annabel Fraser, Miss Puerto Rico, Sunny Wray, Lowell Out of Quiet, King Bongos and LAL.

"A daring multi-venue exposition of fresh talent… Sounds From The Other City acts as both a platform and accelerator for the surrounding community"

Clash Magazine

Enthusiastically supported by: