Beyond The Music Festival announces first wave of artists

Beyond The Music Festival have announced today their first wave of artists performing at the inaugural festival. It will take place across eleven venues in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on the 11^th – 14^th October 2023.

Among the 60 names announced today is student favourites Pyncher, Manchester post-punkers IST IST, and London indie housemates Lip Filler. Submissions are also open to a panel of industry experts for new artists and bands to perform at the festival. The lineup has been curated collaboratively by several organisations, including NQ Legacy, SXSW, Dot to Dot Festival, and Nice Swan.

Other artists announced include the Slovenian July Jones, who comes off the back of being the cover star of the Gay Times. Jones’ brand of electro-pop explores mental health and queerness and is not to be missed. Elsewhere, Scottish ‘glam-goths’ Walt Disco and hometown talent [ K S R ] grace the lineup. At Beyond The Music Festival, there is music for everyone.

The iconic Night and Day Café will host a specially curated showcase by Manchester’s beloved Loose Articles ‘Kick Like A Girl’, putting on an all-female lineup. Loose Articles have also recently announced a support slot with Foo Fighters next summer. On the festival, they said: “Recent news articles have stated that women are seen as too much of a “risk” for headline festival slots, with statistics showing if you count the total number of performers on stage during headline slots, only one in 10 (11%) are women and even less (2%) are non-binary people […] we aim to showcase as many talented musicians as we can to highlight this issue in the hope that this will start to effect change in the way festivals are booked.”

Beyond The Music Festival and Conference is a response to the ongoing challenges that the music industry face. The weekend will aim to “explore, define and tackle those issues to shape the future of the music industry and turn the challenges into opportunities to overhaul and advance.” The festival will showcase a diverse and inclusive range of artists “who may not have had the opportunity to reach new audiences or the industry professionals who could help to grow and enhance their careers.”

Early bird tickets are available now for the weekend, costing £29 per day or £49 for the weekend. Tickets are available here.

The festival also has a Pay It Forward scheme in order to ensure accessibility to the artists that need it most. Applications are open here.