For the past two decades, Sounds From The Other City has been spotlighting the Salford music scene, aiming to shift the focus from Manchester to its oft-overlooked neighbour. In the process, the festival has unearthed talent such as Black Country, New Road, black midi, and alt-J in their early days, making it the perfect place to witness the next big thing. This year’s line-up is impressive in itself, and will see over 100 artists perform across seventeen stages on May’s first bank holiday Sunday.
Maxwell Hall, situated at Salford University, hosts a capacity of up to 1000, and is thus due to function as the festival’s unofficial main stage. The hall is already a landmark within Salford’s musical heritage, having hosted Blondie, The Smiths, Pulp, Joy Division and New Order over the years.
For Sounds From The Other City, Maxwell Hall will be taken over by fellow Salford-based festival FaT OuT, as well as Manchester-based promoters Grey Lantern, who have curated a line-up of upcoming artists such as jasmine.4.t. Her performance follows a headline show at Gorilla last autumn, as well as an impressive festival season in 2025 which saw her appear on bills as big as Reading and Leeds. Her debut album You Are The Morning is intimately devastating, and features production credits from none other than boygenius, leading to opening slots for her number one supporter Lucy Dacus.
Due to appear alongside her is Lynks, who recently performed at YES as part of BBC Radio 6 Music Festival, and Moonchild Sanelly, who provided the opening act on selected dates of her collaborator Self Esteem’s recent UK tour. In addition to her own performance, jasmine.4.t. has curated a stage for upstairs at The Old Pint Pot, featuring artists she has championed over the years such as Fern Veh and Girlteeth. Downstairs at The Old Pint Pot will be hosted by renowned venue The Peer Hat in collaboration with promoters The Beauty Witch, while The DBA will take over once the day is over with an afterparty line-up featuring Aiden Francis b2b Fastlove.
Now Wave, the promotion company known for hosting events at venues as prominent as New Century Hall, have curated a line-up for the day at the 300 capacity, Grade II-listed Peel Hall. This includes Pollyfromthedirt, who will bring her unique ambient pop to the scenic first-floor theatre ahead of an appearance at Manchester Psych Fest later in the year.
One of the most exciting line-ups of the day is due to be hosted at St Philips Church by Hey! Manchester and Strange Days, two promoters who pride themselves on bringing the best in experimental music to Manchester venues. Their listing includes London six-piece Blue Bendy and Brighton band SLAG, whose startling name and remarkable debut EP have cemented them as a name to look out for.
Salford Museum & Art Gallery will be taken over by Brume and Stockport shop Rare Mags, hosting names such as Ellen Beth Abdi, who recently performed at the BBC Introducing showcase night for BBC Radio 6 Music Festival. Vinyl-only selectors Good Afternoon will appear at The New Oxford to spin disco, house, soul, funk and post-punk throughout the day; they will be joined by acts such as Mix-Stress, a resident of CROP Radio and Reform Radio who is also due to appear on other huge bills such as Parklife Festival this summer.
Reform Radio themselves are due to take over Islington Mill’s balcony, exhibiting electronic artists as celebrated as Chimpo, who is known for his lasting influence on the UK bass scene. Fittingly for its function as a multi-disciplinary arts space, Islington Mill will host various stages from day into night, including one in their main events space presented by Band on the Wall and Six Trees bar and kitchen.
A cohort of early-career music promoters have also organised their own exciting artist programme for the gallery space, developed within a training course in collaboration with Factory Academy. The venue will also see an afterparty curated by queer club nights BENT and Swagga, featuring names such as DJ Stacey Bee, Zuri, and Jase Jeffery.
If the afterparty line-ups at The Old Pint Pot and Islington Mill aren’t tempting enough to warrant a late night, The White Hotel is bound to be, seeing performances from producers at the fringes of the north-west electronic scene selected by studio space N/OM and collaborative music project Fixed Abode. For those looking for a further electronic fix, Stretford’s Steam Radio will host various back-to-back DJ sets hosted by mamba.exe at Porta, while queer music space Gut Level and the Club Rez collective will bring a taste of Sheffield to The Old Fire Station.
While it’s impossible to predict the volatile British weather on this particular bank holiday Sunday, the prospect of May sunshine is plausible. Come rain or shine, however, Manchester-based magazine SEEN will bring their community ethos to Bexley Square, the festival’s outdoor hub, presenting a variety of DJ sets throughout the day. The Green at Salford University will also feature an outdoor stage, with a stellar line-up including Miss Chief, all-female shoegaze band PINS and even Red Rodeo Club, the now-famous queer line dancing party.
If the multitude of names already listed aren’t enough, most stages at Sounds From The Other City have room for more to be announced. Although tickets are now on final release, their prices remain unchanged from 2025, so there’s really no excuse to miss one of the biggest days in the north-west’s new music calendar.
