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Celebrating all thing music and arts, Green Island Festival is small but mighty, presenting a three-part series of day festivals and afterparties in Manchester, with line-ups that place underground, underrepresented, emerging artists from across the UK and global sounds at the forefront.
The festival will span across summer and early autumn, with the first chapter kicking off on Saturday 15 June, part two on Saturday 27 July, and the final chapter on Saturday 7 September. The now doubled 1,000-capacity festival will see Hulme Community Garden Centre‘s floral paradise transformed into an arts mecca, housing several stages. The festival also announces an exciting expansion as they add cultural institution NIAMOS to the festival’s fabric.
The main stage will be situated inside the iconic NIAMOS where legends such as Nina Simone have graced the stage, while Warwick Street, that connects the venue and the garden centre, will be transformed into the festival’s food and drinks hub filled with local favourites. The original festival location, the ever luscious Hulme Garden Centre will house four stages – Marquee Stage, Forest Stage, The Bandstand and a brand-new Audiophile inspired Selector Stage.
Green Island Festival revealed the first wave of its 2024 line-up in February, with the second wave revealed this April and you can expect to hear neo-soul, jazz, ska-punk, indie, hip-hop, pop, electronic genres, and everything in between. June will see Afriquoi, the five-piece band celebrated for their unique blend of African sounds and live electronics headline. The main stage will also play host to sets from Ku’umba a radical arts collective, binding sounds of funk, blues, afrobeat and hip-hop, 21st century jazz singer Ni Maxine, and Ubunye the Zulu band bringing pounding rhythms of Africa.
The July chapter will see Def MaMa Def in the headline slot, two powerful women and rising stars of Senegal’s music scene, fusing contagious rhythms of amapiano, hip-hop and afrobeat, and singer and multi-instrumentalist David Walters who combines influences from his Caribbean heritage with electronic beats and acoustic folk will take centre stage in September. Across the dates, the Main Stage will also host contemporary jazz artist corto.alto and soul and R&B collective Lovescene binding sounds of funk, blues, afrobeat and hip-hop plus and TC & The Groove – a 10-piece collective exploring grooves from both the UK and around the world. In addition, Plant Food with their hard-hitting grooves and energy and the smooth as silk, R&B soul singer Victoria Jane.
The Bandstand, a stage built and developed by the Green Island team, now a permanent feature of Hulme Garden Centre, will present a range of takeovers. The June chapter will be curated by DIY masters and music experimentalists FAT OUT, the line-up so far includes Fat Clams DJ, Lavender Rodriguez, Queer Icons Karaoke, Meme Gold, Arch Femesis and R.aggs. Manchester legend Chunky will take the reins in July, bringing a diversity of sounds from amapiano, afro-house, afro-punk, blues-soul to rap to the forefront with Artist Lebo, Chia Kali, DeeD0t, NOT4MANY, Zhay and Troopz taking to the stage.
Rug Dug returns with Ruffy’s Lab in September, bringing on board Tia Cousins, Abigail Ward, Private Joy and a special guest to be announced. Expect, a bit of soul, electronic, afrobeat, RnB, broken-beat, reggae, jazz, synth-pop and post-punk from this mega line-up.
The Marquee Stage will exclusively host the best up-and-coming bands and vocalists. In June, Pedro Fonte & Dada Joaozinho will be bringing a flavour of bossa nova all the way from Brazil alongside, Benita & The Groove, neo-soul artist NinaRosa, jazz band Mangorata and flamboyant jazz-punk from Ask My Bull.
July welcomes sultry vocalist Jocelyn Knight backed by the classic soul and R&B band Natural Soul, songstress Hannah Rodriguez, duo Dia Frank, alt-soul indie band Rushbonds and rock-rap band Third Kulture. And in September, Jamaica’s Calypso George, indie-pop artist Boo Kickz, Life Aquatic Band bringing their blended 70s pop and 2000s electro-clash sound. Plus six-piece future soul and fusion band Mikoudi, and newly announced Gnawa bringing the spiritual sounds of Morocco to Manchester.
The brand-new Selector Stage – tucked away in a hidden corner of the festival to be discovered with strictly vinyl only, and an elite audiophile sound system for a proper selector experience – will be taken over by B-MUSIC-MULTI-LINGO-DISCO curated by Andy Vottel, with Stan Chow, Helene Gautier, Sean Demdike and Lee Janda. July will bring Apricot Ballroom x Cosmic Slop, and Lena C’s Melodic Junction enlists Cheb Mimo, Santa Leticia and Josh FB for the September festival.
Down the garden path, the hidden gem that is the Forest Stage will present some of the best selectors in the scene. June welcomes Una Lee, Nossa!, Supernature Disco, Dr. Jive and Murder He Wrote, followed by Reno Collective, Tim Knight, Yohan, Levi Love, Urbi and Contours in July then Rhod Parry, Zuri b2b Spinelli, Jade Li, Atiké and Shimrise in September.
Afterparties for each date will be hosted at YES, a two-floor takeover of the Pink Room and basement from 11pm till late. Rinse FM resident Arthi will be setting the pace in June, delivering a blistering mix of dancehall, baile, funky, dembow and everything in between. Accompanied by a set from Manchester’s very own SHEwillprovide, who are celebrated for their high-energy, genre-blending sets. Another of Manchester’s favourite collectives Stells Selection will be taking over the basement, with Cronners, Hen K, Javan, Kayja Vu & Tomi from Brockley on the decks.
July will see Zed Bias commander the Pink Room and a takeover of the basement by Manchester label and party Left Right & Centre, with Korzi, mamba.exe and Nora. Whilst September will have the ever hypnotic Me Gusta Collective oversee processions.
Accessibility is fundamental to Green Island founders’ vision for the Manchester festival, so tickets start at £20 each. You can find tickets here.