United Kingdom

PAWSA

pop dance

uk dance

uk funky

Rudimental

Brazil

Mochakk

electronica

float house

future garage

uk bass

wonky

Joy Orbison

breaks

experimental house

Interplanetary Criminal

ukg revival

salute

Max Dean

Rossi

Australia

australian house

ghettotech

Partiboi69

New Zealand

jazz house

nz electronic

Chaos In The CBD

Ireland

Sally C

Netherlands

dutch tech house

Luuk van Dijk

Paige Tomlinson

latin house

Enzo is Burning

Murphy's Law (UK)

Inafekt

Joëlla Jackson

’s roots trace back to a student festival known as 

, essentially an end-of-year party thrown by students at Platt Fields Park in south Manchester​. Over a decade ago, the first Parklife Weekender took place there, born directly from the Mad Ferret experiment. Realizing the event’s potential, the original student founders sought help to take it further - they teamed up with local music impresario Sacha Lord, famed for Manchester’s 

 club nights, to build a proper infrastructure and bigger lineup. With a new company and Lord as co-founder and curator, Parklife Festival as we know it was born. It quickly outgrew its humble beginnings, soon moving from Platt Fields to the expansive Heaton Park in north Manchester to accommodate the exploding crowds​. (Heaton Park, one of Europe’s largest municipal parks, had itself hosted legendary concerts by Oasis and The Stone Roses – a fitting new home steeped in musical heritage​.) To this day, Parklife is guided by the vision of the Warehouse Project team, ensuring the festival maintains its independent spirit even as it partners with major promoters to thrive​.

One of Parklife’s greatest strengths is its musical diversity. The festival predominantly features electronic and dance music, but its stages champion everything from hip-hop and grime to pop, indie rock and house. It’s not unusual to wander from a thumping DJ set straight into a live band or a grime MC’s explosive performance. This broad palette means Parklife attracts a wide audience, united by a love of live music and a good party. Despite its massive scale, Parklife is a non-camping city festival, meaning the party winds down each night as attendees head home or into town (only to return the next day for more)​. This setup gives the event a unique day-party atmosphere and keeps it closely tied to the city. In fact, Parklife has been described as encapsulating the very energy of Manchester’s rave and music culture, with its high-BPM dance stages pulsing alongside blockbuster live acts. The vibe is electric, youthful, and inclusive - a celebratory mash-up of muddy sneakers, bucket hats, and hands-in-the-air euphoria.

The move to Heaton Park marked a turning point in Parklife’s evolution. What began as a 20,000-person gathering of students has swelled into a capacity of roughly 80,000 attendees each day at this vast park venue​. The festival’s expansion in size came with an expansion in scope: more stages (nine major stages running across the park​), more elaborate production, and a broader audience from all over the UK. Heaton Park’s rolling green fields and open space allowed Parklife to blossom into a full-fledged metropolitan mega-festival while still remaining within the city limits. Notably, local authorities and the Parklife organizers have worked hand-in-hand to manage this growth, from security operations to transportation plans. Over the years, the site itself has seen tweaks and improvements - new stage arenas, art installations, even the addition of carnival-style attractions like a ferris wheel - all enhancing the experience as the festival continues to refine its layout. Through these changes, Parklife has managed to keep its Mancunian charm intact: it’s a massive party in the park, but one that feels like part of the city rather than a remote island. The festival’s evolution in venue and scale mirrors the rise of Manchester as a music capital, proving that a homegrown event can explode into a world-class festival without losing its local soul​.

Over the years, Parklife’s stages have been graced by a who’s who of music superstars, reflecting its multi-genre ethos. The lineup is renowned for mixing huge international artists with breakthrough talent and local heroes​. For example, rap icons like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent have delivered crowd-roaring headline sets, while legendary hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan brought classic East Coast swagger to Manchester​. On the flip side, indie and pop royalty such as The 1975 (hometown heroes turned global stars) and R&B innovator Frank Ocean have captivated Parklife audiences in past editions​.

Electronic music is always front-and-center too - from the chart-topping house of 

 to the rave anthems of The Prodigy and drum’n’bass duo 

, dance acts consistently energize the massive crowds​. The festival also champions UK urban talent: grime king Skepta and Manchester’s own Aitch and Little Simz have all ignited the Parklife stages, underscoring the event’s commitment to homegrown music​.

Parklife is not just about big names, however, it’s about big moments. Fans still talk about the time dance legend 

 led tens of thousands in a moving sing-along of “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” turning a moment of local tragedy into a communal triumph of spirit​. They remember surprise guest appearances, like when Stormzy jumped on stage for an impromptu duet, or when supermodel-turned-singer Grace Jones defiantly performed while ill, hula-hooping onstage in true diva fashion​. Each year brings its own highlights, but the common thread is an atmosphere of shared joy and musical discovery. Whether it’s a blockbuster headliner closing out the night or an up-and-coming DJ throwing down beats at a smaller tent, Parklife delivers memorable experiences that have secured its place in Manchester’s music history.

In just a little over a decade, Parklife has solidified its status as a cornerstone of the UK festival circuit and a point of pride for Manchester’s music scene. It’s curated by a passionate team who keep the festival’s identity authentic and forward-thinking​. Crucially, Parklife never forgot its origins - the community vibe and fearless booking policy remain, even as international acclaim grows. The result is an event that feels both globally relevant and distinctly Mancunian. For one weekend every summer, Heaton Park becomes a mad microcosm of music culture, where graffiti-tagged bucket hats mingle with designer festival outfits, and underground club beats collide with mainstream hits. Parklife is more than just a festival; it’s an annual celebration of everything Manchester stands for: musical innovation, diversity, and an unyielding love of a good time. It’s no wonder Parklife is often hailed as a spirited cultural force for the city - a festival that started small, dreamed big, and continues to embody the loud, loving heart of Manchester’s youth and nightlife.

Parklife

Heaton Park

Parklife Festival 2025

Italy

italian techno

minimal techno

techno

Joseph Capriati

Germany

german techno

leipzig electronic

Paul Kalkbrenner

Francesco Squillante

Spain

Indira Paganotto

Tunisia

Cera Khin

dark techno

Amnesia Ibiza

Joseph Capriati presents Metamorfosi Week 6

Joseph Capriati Presents Metamorfosi

Marco Carola

Da Vid

Destino Five

Destino Ibiza Opening Party

house

schranz

uk tech house

Carl Cox

latin tech house

tech house

Dennis Cruz

Michael Bibi

United States

deep disco house

minimal tech house

The Martinez Brothers

melodic techno

Tale of Us

detroit techno

outsider house

Carl Craig

dance pop

electro house

moombahton

Diplo

Cloonee

deep tech house

Cuartero

uk house

Enzo Siragusa

Chile

microhouse

Ricardo Villalobos

Türkiye

Carlita

Chris Stussy

LP Giobbi

Parco Dora

Kappa FuturFestival 2023

melodic house

BLOND:ISH

Davide Squillace

Eliza Rose

France

lo-fi house

Sweely

Tania Vulcano

DC-10 Ibiza

Circoloco Week 5

Circoloco

folktronica

indietronica

intelligent dance music

trip hop

Four Tet

big beat

Fatboy Slim

Floating Points

Canada

alternative dance

art pop

Caribou

Glastonbury Festival is an iconic five-day music and arts event held on a farm in Somerset, England, that has grown from a modest gathering into a world-renowned cultural phenomenon. It was founded by dairy farmer Michael Eavis, who hosted the first edition on his Worthy Farm in the early 1970s. The first festival was a small affair, with around 1,500 attending, and tickets cost just £1, with festival-goers famously treated to free milk from the farm’s cows. That humble, communal atmosphere set the tone for Glastonbury’s ethos, reflecting the hippie idealism and countercultural spirit of its time.

Over the ensuing decades, Glastonbury transformed from that intimate gathering into a sprawling, world-renowned event. By the 1980s it was drawing tens of thousands, and each expansion brought new challenges and innovations. New stages and themed areas were added as the festival evolved from a simple concert into a celebration of contemporary performing arts, featuring not just rock music but also dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and more. Despite occasional setbacks, including battles with local authorities over licensing, and planned “fallow” years when the festival skips a summer to let the land and community recover, Glastonbury’s momentum only grew. Today it is often called the world’s largest greenfield music festival, with more than 200,000 attendees converging on over a thousand acres of countryside to form a temporary city each summer.

As its reputation soared, Glastonbury became a coveted stage for the world’s leading musicians. Some of the most celebrated figures in music have headlined the festival’s iconic Pyramid Stage, from veteran rock stars like David Bowie and Paul McCartney to pop icons like Beyoncé. The bill has spanned genres and generations, also featuring era-defining bands (such as Blur and Oasis) and groundbreaking artists from the worlds of hip-hop and R&B (for example, Jay-Z and Stormzy). These high-profile performances have solidified Glastonbury’s status as a pinnacle of live music achievement. They are often more than just concerts; many sets have passed into legend, talked about for years afterward and seen as defining moments in both the artists’ careers and the festival’s own story. In this way, Glastonbury’s stages have become 

, underscoring the festival’s massive influence on pop culture.

Another hallmark of Glastonbury is its long-standing commitment to activism and philanthropy. Far from being an apolitical entertainment event, the festival has used its platform for advocacy since its early years. In the 1980s it forged a partnership with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, turning the festival into a fundraiser and a megaphone for the peace movement. This ethos of giving back has only strengthened over time: Glastonbury regularly donates millions of pounds to good causes, and its official charity partners include humanitarian and environmental organizations like 

. Attendees encounter numerous causes on-site, from stalls promoting human rights and climate action to eco-friendly initiatives - and the festival itself strives to model sustainability. Recycling programs, renewable energy installations, and even the repurposing of abandoned tents for the homeless (through initiatives like the “Give Me Shelter” campaign) are among the measures that highlight its socially conscious mission. Glastonbury has effectively intertwined music with activism, showing that a festival can be both a celebration and a force for positive change.

As large as it is, Glastonbury has preserved certain traditions that distinguish it from other music festivals. For example, part of its grounds is dedicated to the “Green Fields” - zones with no amplified music, where attendees can explore workshops, healing tents, and a stone circle, all of which echo the mystical, free-spirited vibe of the festival’s early years. The festival’s Pyramid Stage, with its distinctive pyramid shape originally conceived in the early 1970s, has become a defining symbol of Glastonbury, instantly recognizable in photographs and broadcasts around the world. Another unique practice is the “fallow year,” when every few years the festival takes a planned break to let the land recover and to give locals and organizers a breather, a reflection of how interwoven the event is with its environment.

Glastonbury also stands out for the sheer diversity of experiences it offers; one can wander from a raucous rock performance to a tranquil field of meditation, or stumble upon a secret set by a surprise guest on a tucked-away stage. This blend of scale and intimacy, of mainstream spectacle and alternative community, gives Glastonbury an atmosphere of magic and camaraderie that keeps fans returning year after year. What began as a humble gathering in a Somerset field has evolved into a cultural institution, a festival unlike any other, revered not just in the UK but around the globe for its history, its heart, and its enduring creative spirit.

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