Beyond The Music, the Manchester music festival and conference, returns for its third year from October 6 to 9, opening with a celebrity-filled screening of the film 24 Hour Party People and featuring an artificial intelligence summit led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
The festival, created by Oli Wilson, Sarah Pearson, and Rose Marley in 2023, will be held at Salford Quays for the first time, with performances taking place on sound stages at MediaCity. Wilson, son of Tony Wilson, said the screening of the Steve Coogan-starring movie is a blueprint for the event.
Film screening and venue tributes
Wilson said of 24 Hour Party People: "It's a really good representation of what those times were really like. I love the music business, but it's very, very scientific these days. I wanted to show people what rock and roll is really about." He noted that the film enshrined his father's myth, adding that Tony Wilson never actually said the famous line "we do things differently here" — a line written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
The performance spaces, featuring acts like The Slow Readers Club, ALT BLK ERA, JayaHadADream, Che3kz, and Ewan Sim, will be named after Manchester's historic music venues, including the Twisted Wheel, the Russell Club, and Jilly's Rockworld. Wilson explained that the studios' original names were "quite boring," so the team wanted to nod to the city's music history.
Prime Minister's AI summit
Prime Minister Andy Burnham will lead a summit on the use of artificial intelligence in the music industry. Wilson said Burnham has supported the festival from the beginning and described AI as "the big existential threat to the music industry right now." The summit will culminate in a set of Manchester Principles on the ethical use of AI in creative industries.
Wilson said: "It's a massive deal having the Prime Minister on board, but Andy has always been a massive deal to us. He's always been a big deal in the music industry because he cares."
Record submissions and genre curation
Over 15,000 artists submitted to play at Beyond The Music this year. Wednesday's line-up is curated by John Robb and focuses on rock, metal, and punk; Thursday is indie pop, curated by Chris Hawkins; and Friday features hip hop and grime, curated with NQ and Studio 88.
Wilson said Manchester is "bursting at the seams with talent," adding: "The pipeline is bursting. What we are in need of is more music industry here in Manchester. There are already some brilliant labels, organisations here, but I think we could be ten times bigger."
