The North Will Rise Again at Gorilla and The Invisible Wind Factory
Johnny James, Managing Editor
Crucibles of the nation’s music industry, Manchester and Liverpool are uniting to host The North Will Rise Again, a live-streamed micro-festival featuring The Charlatans, The Lightning Seeds, Red Rum Club, Ist Ist, Zuzu and LIINES.
The festival is the brainchild of John Robb of Louder Than War and Karl Connolly, the founding director of Liverpool Music House. The pair have curated the event as a way of supporting the north’s live music scene and its eco-system, following a year of catastrophic damage.
The North Will Rise Again will provide work for independent venues, production staff and film crews that have been hit hard during the pandemic, while proceeds from the festival will go to charities Liverpool Music House and The Music Venue’s Trust #SaveOurVenues campaign.
The festival will be split across two days, with the 27th March being live-streamed from Liverpool’s iconic Invisible Wind Factory. The Charlatans will headline, preceded by Red Rum Club and Zuzu. On 28th March, the festival will stream from Manchester’s recently-saved Gorilla, where The Lightning Seeds will top the bill, after performances by Ist Ist and LIINES.
And there will be more than just music. Author, journalist, Louder Than War founder and Membranes frontman John Robb will conduct backstage interviews and Q&As with the bands, which will be interspersed between the live performances.
Speaking about the festival, Robb said:
“As the wonderful Hunter S Thompson once said, ‘when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro…’ With the North Will Rise Again we fulfill his prophetic words with a series of live cast gigs that embrace the cultural, social and political aspects of the north of England and inspire, empower and entertain people across the world. We will bring life back to the local music communities and will draw the powerhouse cities of Liverpool and Manchester together and celebrate what we have in common to the world and then pave the way for the post-pandemic culture renaissance as the north will truly rise again!”
Tickets are priced at £7.50/10.00 for each stream and are available globally from Universe.com, Ticketmaster and Livefrom.Events.
