After the success of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram‘s charity DJ Battle in Manchester in 2022, a rematch has been declared for this year. Artists, presenters and sporting legends including Rebecca Ferguson, Heather Small, John Barnes and Peter Reid are set to join the Mayors for their charity ‘DJ Battle’ in Liverpool next month.
The pair will be taking to the decks again on Friday 2 February 2024 at Camp and Furnace, as the Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester go head-to-head in a good-natured music battle, all for a worthy cause, with proceeds going to local homeless charities.
Ticketholders will be treated to the musical stylings of singers Rebecca Ferguson and Peter Hooton alongside and LFC and England Rapper John Barnes for the home side – and former Corrie actress Sally Lindsay, M-People’s Heather Small, and BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake for Greater Manchester, amongst others yet to be announced.
The previous DJ Battle charity event raised over £25,000 and (incredibly) won ‘Leading Live Event of the Year’ at the 2023 This is Manchester Awards, so Andy Burnham will be wanting to hit further than that target and bring it home for Manchester.
Proceeds from the night will be distributed between the Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester charities, with all funds supporting initiatives to tackle homelessness and end rough sleeping. Early-bird tickets for the February fixture are now available with people urged to follow the charities’ and the Mayors’ social media accounts for further information.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester said: “We’re coming back but this time we’re heading over to Liverpool. I was so proud of what we achieved with our DJ Battle last year, using the power of music and friendly rivalry to unite behind one powerful message, that homelessness has no place in Greater Manchester. It’s going to be bigger and better this time round, as we spread the fundraising and ramp up the noise over in Liverpool.”
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “I’m really looking forward to welcoming Andy and the rest of the Greater Manchester contingent to Liverpool – or the UK’s cultural capital as I like to call it! We’ve shown time and again that nowhere can throw a party quite like our area and we’ve got a fantastic line-up of famous faces joining us on stage for what promises to be an evening full of fun and great music.”
The work of the Mayors is all part of a concerted and creative effort to tackle the challenge of homelessness across the regions, and the current financial crisis is seeing communities facing increasingly tough challenges. Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity’s A Bed Every Night has helped tackle homelessness across the region and since 2020 it’s helped nearly 6,000 people, with 2,910 people supported in the last year alone.
Find tickets for the charity DJ Battle between Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram here.