Gorgeous Manchester festival Green Island Festival returns this year, and has announced a packed line-up. 2025 marks Green Island Festival’s fifth anniversary, born with the mission of creating a space to platform and celebrate the flourishing scene of musicians and DJs in the North, as well as championing sounds of the global majority with artists from as far and wide as Brazil and Senegal having performed in the past.
The three-part series of day festivals will return on June 7th to celebrate its fifth anniversary, with the second chapter on August 2nd, and final date on September 6th 2025. Beginning as a 150-person capacity event in 2021 with just two stages, the past four years have seen Green Island evolve to become a staple event in Manchester’s grassroots music scene, cherished for its commitment to celebrating multiculturalism, individualism and music in all its diversity of sounds and forms, with unrivalled up-close performances, and a charming and welcoming atmosphere.
This year Green Island Festival will return to Hulme Community Garden Centre, in the musically rich area of Hulme. The 1,500 capacity festival will house five stages that sprawl across the leafy terrain, creating a haven in the centre of the city. Manoeuvre between the plants and trees to discover the various stages, each with a unique atmosphere, showcasing different sounds, as well as a block party occupying Warwick Street.
The three event Green Island Festival line-up includes:
Saturday 7th June
June will see DnB hero DRS headlining the Main Stage, joined by a full 11-piece band for a very special performance on his home turf. With over 25 years of discography, he’ll be shutting down the stage with old school gems as well as fresh releases. Joining the Main Stage in June will be Cooper T, the balaclava-wearing duo who truly embody the Northern spirit and profess to make music for misfits.
Also gracing the stage are The Zawose Queens – set to bring a slice of Eastern Africa to Manchester with their enchanting fluid polyrhythms and rapturous polyphonic singing of the Gogo (aka Wagogo) people of the Dodoma region of central Tanzania.
Trees.R.Good will bring jazz-infused electronica music, the six-piece live band turn into whistleblowers with an immersive musical exploration of trees, weaving percussion, horns, bass and synths. DJs gracing the stage include Savannahh, renowned for seamlessly blending soulful Chicago house, tech-infused beats, and vibrant garage rhythms into sets that exude both nostalgia and fresh energy, as well as Little O and Atiké, who are set to deliver global riddims.
Saturday 2nd August
August presents Conor Michael & The GreensKeepers, who will bring their lively blend of hip-hop and jazz. Plus poet turned rapper, and Rap Game graduate, Meduulla, delivering her signature soulful hip-hop, and a dynamic set from Dr Jive. Joining them will be the musician’s musician, Reuben James, whose intuitive and infectious sound is as indebted to classic funk and soul as it is contemporary pop and R&B.
Afro Cluster join the Main Stage lineup in August, too – expect strong rhythms and jazzy refrains from the Cardiff-born collective inspired by the legacy of West African funk, afrobeat and golden age hip-hop. DJ and Broadcaster Tina Edwards will take to the Street Stage in August – her eclectic taste traverses soulful house, jazz, offbeat disco, afro-grooves, Latin American rhythms and more.
Also in August, beloved Manchester party-starters High Hoops‘ takeover of the Bandstand Stage adds Aletha to their lineup. Known for her high-energy sets blending breakbeat and acid, she’s a heavyweight DJ with residencies on Rinse and Worldwide FM. AMAA joins too, fresh from her debut club appearances for SONIO Sounds at Soup and High Hoops at the White Hotel, bringing flavours of percussive house and amapiano – so it’s a truly Manc affair.
Saturday 6th September
September welcomes nine-piece powerhouse, made up of virtuosic players, skilled producers and inspired composers, Nubian Twist, with their infectious, free-flowing, global grooves dubbed ‘Jazztastic Afro-kissed funk’. Transmission Towers also join the bill – a two-piece, cosmic machine soul outfit made up of Mark Kyriacou and Eleanor Mante who manoeuvre between interplanetary bass-heavy beats, stripped-back, odd-ball soul and highlife afro-futurism.
September’s Main Stage will host North London rapper Coops, celebrated for his reflective lyricism and 90s hip-hop and soul-influenced sound. Katbrownsugar will be taking to the decks on the Street Stage with her signature neo-soul centric sonics that pull the audience into her stoney-sunshine-sounding universe. Closing the day, NTS residents Sofie K B2B Macca – expect everything from wonky proto-house, sleazy synth pop and other miscellaneous pumpers.
Secret Night Gang – the duo celebrated for their genre-defying sound, serving groove, energy, and melody in equal parts – will also take the stage. Nominated as a Breakthrough Act of the Year at the Jazz FM Awards and previous winners of Track of the Year at the Worldwide FM Awards, their accolades are testament to talent and pioneering sonics.
On each date, from 12pm-2:30pm there will be kids activities for families to engage in before the festival gets into full swing – expect workshops, face painting and family focused DJ sets, so don’t be afraid to bring all the family along.
In honour of their mission to empower and nurture the next generation of artists, Green Island Festival is offering artists the opportunity to play their first ever festival and secure a spot on their 2025 line-up. Potential artists cam head here to register their interest by sending a bio alongside samples of music or mixes.
Tickets are £35, plus there is a low income and a neighbours ticket option, priced at £12.50, to ensure accessibility for all and local community inclusion. Entry is free for children under 12 to encourage families to come and dance together!
You can grab tickets and see the entire line-up here.
📍Green Island Festival 2025 will take place across Hulme Community Garden Centre, 28 Old Birley Street, Manchester M15 5RG.