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Music in the North

Johnny James, Managing Editor

Open air clubs, new festivals and long-awaited gigs. The North West’s live music scene is heating up this spring.

Electronic music features heavily in our latest round-up of highlights across Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. Enter a whole new season of forward-thinking electronica at Manchester’s ever-growing open air club Progress. More outdoors action as Green Island takes over Hulme Garden Centre, while electronic punk duo Sextile swap LA for deepest darkest Salford.

Also hailing from LA, electronic pop stalwart Baths brings his long-anticipated fourth record, Gut, to Leeds, while over in Liverpool, a new festival is born as Outer Waves becomes a beacon for all things experimental and underground.

Something very different over in Bradford, the current UK City of Culture. Over a weekend in May, the district celebrates its rich musical landscape with The Bradford Progress – an ambitious sonic journey led by Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller, the pioneering Charles Hazlewood and his Paraorchestra, and the people of Bradford themselves.

All this and lots more below.

Our top picks

Baths at Headrow House

Baths at Headrow House, Leeds, 7 May 2025, from £16.00 - Book now

2025 marks Will Wiesenfeld’s first Baths album in eight years, and his first show in Leeds in seven. It’s a big moment, then, as he brings his fourth record, Gut, to Headrow House this May.

Find out more
Image by Tonje Thilesen, courtesy of Chromatic.
Image by Tonje Thilesen, courtesy of Chromatic.

Spring/Summer Season at Progress

Spring/Summer Season at Progress Centre, Manchester, Until 31 July 2025, from £0.00 - Book now

Manchester’s open-air club Progress scales up to 5000 capacity and launches a spring/summer season of forward-thinking electronic music and grassroots culture.

Find out more
PROGRESS
Progress.

Sextile at The White Hotel

Sextile Live at The White Hotel at The White Hotel, Salford, 28 May 2025, from £16.00 - Book now

From sunny Los Angeles to deepest darkest Salford, electronic punk duo Sextile bring an anarchic, serotonin-boosting party to The White Hotel.

Find out more
Sextile
Ground Control Touring

Outer Waves Festival 2025

Outer Waves Festival 2025 at The Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool, 24–26 May 2025, from £49.00 - Book now

A new festival is born as Outer Waves brings to Liverpool an inclusive space for all things experimental and underground.

Find out more
Outer Waves Festival full line up poster 2025
Outer Waves Ltd

The Bradford Progress

The Bradford Progress, 17–18 May 2025, free entry - Find Out More

Currently wearing the crown of UK City of Culture, Bradford celebrates its rich musical landscape with a two-day sonic journey led by Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller, the pioneering Charles Hazlewood and his Paraorchestra, and the people of Bradford themselves.

Find out more
A man in a black mac and black rain hat plays a double bass on some rocks in the countryside.
Karol Wyszynski

Sounds From The Other City

Sounds From The Other City at Maxwell Hall, University of Salford (and other venues), 4 May 2025, from £30 - Book now

Salford’s Sounds From The Other City returns for a bumper anniversary edition this Early May Bank Holiday, ringing in 20 years as over 100 acts play across 15 stages.

Find out more
GROVE
GROVE by Khali Photography, Josh Cohen.

Green Island Festival at Hulme Garden Centre

Green Island Festival at Hulme Community Garden Centre, Manchester, 7 June–6 September 2025, from £25 - Book now

Hulme’s Green Island Festival returns this summer, bringing a three-part series of events to Hulme Garden Centre and the iconic NIAMOS.

Find out more
Festival-goers at Green Island
Green Island Festival

Anika at Brudenell Social Cub

Anika at Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 1 May 2025, from £17.00 - Book now

Political-journalist-turned-musician Annika Henderson is about to drop her third studio album. Apparently it’s her heaviest and angriest to date, making her intimate gig at Brudenell Social Club an extra exciting prospect.

Find out more
the artist
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired

Keeley Forsyth with Matthew Bourne at Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Keeley Forsyth With Matthew Bourne at Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool, 20 May 2025, from £19 - Book now

When Keeley Forsyth arrived on the scene in 2019, The Guardian called her “The new Scott Walker”. Others placed her next to Beth Gibbons, Nico or Nick Cave. But the more she releases, the more she sounds like no-one other than herself.

Find out more
A close-up image image of artist Keeley Forsyth
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired

Moin at Band on the Wall

Moin at Band on the Wall, Manchester, 28 May 2025, from £16.50 - Book now

Pursuing a thrilling slash-and-burn ethos to music-making, genre collagists Moin bring their rock-informed, techno-adjacent live show to Manchester.

Find out more
the band
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired

manchester jazz festival 2025

Manchester Jazz Festival 2024, 16–25 May 2025, 0-£30 - Book now

Jazz lovers rejoice – manchester jazz festival is back with a bumper edition in 2025, as the festival celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Find out more
Rina Srabonian.
Rina Srabonian.

Hamlet Hail to the Thief at Aviva Studios

Hamlet Hail to the Thief at Aviva Studios, Manchester, Until 18 May 2025, from £10.00 - Book now

Hamlet Hail to the Thief brings Shakespeare’s great tragedy and Radiohead’s seminal album together in an intoxicating blend of theatre, music, and movement.

Find out more
Hamlet Hail to the Thief: The cover of Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief – which is a collage of colourful text blocks stacked on top of each other. The text has been replaced by words from Hamlet.
Factory International

More music events

GROVE
MusicManchester
Sounds From The Other City

One of the country’s foremost festivals showcasing new and emerging talent, Sounds From The Other City is back over Early May Bank Holiday.

from £30
Sextile
MusicManchester
Sextile at The White Hotel

From sunny Los Angeles to deepest darkest Salford, electronic punk duo Sextile head to their spiritual home of The White Hotel.

from £16.00
Two dancers and orchestra on stage
Until
DanceManchester
Dance:Music at the RNCM

Through a treasure trove of concerts, the RNCM’s initiative Dance:Music explores the symbiotic relationship between music and dance.

from £0.00
Rina Srabonian.
–
MusicCity Centre
manchester jazz festival 2025

manchester jazz festival is back this May with 10 days of live music from some of the best northern, national and international musicians operating in the world of contemporary jazz.

0-£30
MusicManchester
Manchester Psych Fest 2025

Manchester Psych Fest, the UK’s trailblazing psychedelic music and arts festival has announced a massive bill for its 2025 edition.

from £44.80
A black woman sat down looking to the left.
Until
MusicLeeds
Sound Out Leeds 2024/25

Leeds International Concert Season is on a mission to push boundaries, expand horizons, and ask the question: ‘What haven’t we heard?’ as it presents its city-spanning Sound Out Leeds series.

from £10.00
See all music events
Image by Jonathan Schofield.
Spotlight on

Walking Tours in Manchester by Jonathan Schofield

Presenting the best walking tours in Manchester for history buffs, culture enthusiasts, and those looking to scratch beneath the surface of the city.

Take me there

Music in the North

Manchester
Park
Platt Fields Park

Platt Fields Park in Fallowfield is steeped in history, the land having been acquired by the Platt family in 1225.

HOME Manchester
Manchester
Theatre
HOME Manchester

Offering a packed schedule of events and things to do, HOME Manchester is one of the city’s leading hubs for arts and culture.

Cumbria
Event venue
Penrith Old Fire Station

Main venue for Eden Arts, an artist-led organisation based in Eden in Cumbria creating projects around mass participation, local distinctiveness and digital engagement, from Picnic Cinema to The Winter Droving.

The MerseyMade building in Liverpool
Liverpool
Shop
MerseyMade West Kirby

In the MerseyMade shop you’ll find bottled gin from the likes of Turncoat Gin, Anfield Gin, Albert Dock Gin and Three Graces Gin. Yep, Liverpool REALLY likes its gin.

See all places

Destination Guides

Things to do in Bradford: Kala Sangam
Things to do in Bradford

Our guide to the dark horse of Bradford, full of eye-opening exhibitions, independent shops and authentic curry houses.
Things to do in Blackpool

Fancy a day trip? Explore our guide to Blackpool and build yourself an itinerary featuring attractions, galleries, restaurants and more.
Birkenhead Priory
Things to do on the Wirral

The Wirral is a short train (or ferry) ride away from Liverpool so why not sample its best arts and culture spots?
York Castle Museum
Things to do in York

We take a closer look at York, one of the UK’s most beautiful heritage cities with a wealth of contemporary culture.
Burnley's Singing Ringing Tree
Things to do in Lancashire

Our guide to the culturally rich coastal county of Lancashire, encompassing Lancaster, Morecambe, Blackpool and Blackburn.
Chester
Things to Do in Cheshire

Our guide to the best things to in Cheshire, including culture, shopping and food and drink in Chester, Crewe and Macclesfield.
Things to Do in Cumbria

Our guide to the best things to do in the Cumbria and the Lake District, including Penrith, Kendal, Carlisle, Keswick and Cockermouth.

Culture Guides

A woman sits in a car with hands holding the steering wheel.
Cinema in the North

Vintage Alfred Hitchcock and a family friendly film festival are amongst our highlights this May.

Laura Ellen Bacon, Into Being, 2025. Photo © India Hobson, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Exhibitions in the North

Willow weaving, textile collages, digital arts and ecology - all this and more in our exhibition top picks this month

Image by Jonathan Schofield.
Tours and Activities in the North

We've got many a good time in store this month as we round up the best walking tours, cultural classes and makers markets in the land.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Dynamic dance, party-performance, high-energy stand-up and a site-specific show set in a pub. All this and more in our newest theatre guide.

Okechukwu Nzelu
Literature Events in the North

If it's inspiring, inclusive events and avant-garde, experimental afternoons you're after, look no further than live literature this spring – we've got you covered.