Book now: Manchester Folk Festival ft. Tom Robinson

Manchester Folk Festival will celebrate the best of English folk and acoustic roots music. The new annual festival of urban folk fun brings four days of established names and new artists, along with in-conversation events, craft workshops and pub singalongs. Expect guitar-toting festival favourites, alt indie acts, traditional music and more than the occasional squeezebox. Although its hub is at HOME, expect plenty of action at the O2 Ritz, Gorilla, Briton’s Protection and the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. To save stringing you along, Manchester Wire brings you these big-name highlights.

Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings

Festival stalwarts Bellowhead brought Jon Boden to audiences across UK and Europe – until their split last year. Boden comes to Manchester with a pimped-up big band version of his The Remnant Kings collective, which features Bellowhead buddies Sam Sweeney and Paul Sartin alongside Leveret’s Rob Harbron. Boden’s new album ‘Afterglow’ is described as “an Orwellian mashup of Bonfire Night and Diwali.”

Thu 19 Oct, HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN. Tel: 0161 200 1500, 7.45pm, £23, www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk

Grace Petrie

Activist Grace Petrie is a regular voice on BBC Radio 4’s Now Show and was featured in the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List of influential LGBT figures. Her protest anthem ‘Farewell to Welfare’ made waves when the 2010 coalition government came to power. This is a chance to catch someone who has wowed Latitude, Glastonbury and the main stage at Vancouver Folk Festival.

Fri 20 Oct, HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN. Tel: 0161 200 1500, 7.30pm, £15, www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk

Afro Celt Sound System

There are few folk acts more groundbreaking than Afro Celt Sound System. Their unmissable live music spectacle is an explosion of African and Asian roots, and will make the best use of the Ritz’s bouncy floor. Instruments include the kora, balafon, dhol, cittern, piping and guitars. Look out for their newest member Griogair, winner of Gaelic Singer of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards.

Fri 20 Oct, O2 Ritz, Whitworth Street West, Manchester, M1 5NQ. Tel: 0844 477 2000, 7pm, £23.50, www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk

Tom Robinson

Songwriter and broadcaster Tom Robinson is a bona-fide legend, and you can catch him in concert and in conversation at Manchester Folk Festival. Ray Davies of The Kinks produced his debut album as part of Café Society. Robinson went on to co-write with Elton John, play Madison Square Garden with The Police, and host shows on eight different BBC radio stations.

Concert. Sat 21 Oct, HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN. Tel: 0161 200 1500, 7:30pm, £23, www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk

Glad to Be Grey: in conversation. Sun 22 Oct, HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN. Tel: 0161 200 1500, 11am, £6, www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk

Kathryn Tickell & David Almond

Only at Manchester Folk Festival will you see music, literature and clog dancing in one event. Kathryn Tickell is a purveyer of Northumbrian pipes who has played with Sting and Evelyn Glennie. She is joined by Carnegie Medal-winning David Almond, author of childrens’ books Skellig and My Name is Mina. Their words and music will be accompanied by accordionist and clog dancer Amy Thatcher.

Sat 21 Oct, HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN. Tel: 0161 200 1500, 2pm, £21, www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk