Team Freshnet’s live pick for this weekend in Manchester
My choice of Manchester recommended gig for the upcoming weekend comes in way of an urban festival in its second year. And what a second year it will be. This really has got to be the daddy of any two day intimate independent event.
Last year A Carefully Planned Festival brought more than 60 national and international acts to Manchester’s Northern Quarter for a weekend of live music, but this year they are almost doubling that to a whopping 100 live acts spread out over two days and six venues.
What will all this cost you ask, well it works out a staggering low, are you ready for this….. twelve and half pence per act (in case you need help doing some sums, that’s £12.50 for a weekend ticket).
Founder of Carefully Planned Matthew Boycott-Garnett explains: “It’s more a special treat for those already making the investment!” But A Carefully Planned Festival is just as much about a warm and friendly atmosphere as it is about the music. Matthew has been organising shows since 2007 and, since then, he has put on numerous well-attended events.
The extra attention he gives to getting the tone just right, and his efforts to keep ticket prices low has seen the popularity of Carefully Planned gigs grow exponentially through word of mouth alone.
Matthew explains: “Of course people ought to enjoy the music and the performances, but there is so much decent music in this country that booking the bands is the easy bit. Finding the right audience and creating the right atmosphere is much harder and is something that has taken me years to get right.”
“A Carefully Planned Festival is a celebration of my years organising events. If you like good people and you like good music, you’ll really like this. I’m very excited.”
So without further or do, here is a link to the immense line-up of some great up and coming bands and my five picks of the weekend. FULL LINE UP
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We Are The Physics – Purveyors of the completely fictional ‘mutant science punk rock’ hail from Glasgow, Scotland and formed in 2005 by mistake. They have also just been in session for Marc Riley on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Weird Era – This is another local band with simplistic guitar pop nuggets, grungey undertones and bewildering guitar melodies. Recently went down a storm supporting Egyptian Hip Hop in Manchester.
Alpha Male Tea Party – A Liverpudlian trio that describe themselves as Aggressive sexual calypso and Instrumentalrocktasm. A great band and should be a joy to see live.
Sex Hands – Yet another local Manchester band that have been playing plenty of noteworthy support slots with their own post-punk noise. Should be on most music fans radars very soon just like many other acts playing over the weekend.
A Carefully Planned Festival: Website | Soundcloud | Facebook
Venues:
2022NQ
Kraak
The Castle Hotel
Gullivers
Nexus
Soup Kitchen
