Book soon: Animal Crossing’s Summer of Love Festival comes to Manchester ft. music, art & wellness

Animal Crossing has announced details of an exciting new event coming to Manchester this year. Hitting the city centre this August, Summer of Love will fuse music, arts and wellness in a two-day spectacular.

Taking place between Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 August 2021 within the grounds of an abandoned warehouse, there will be performances spanning across three stages including main stage the ‘Love Factory’, hosted in partnership with Gottwood Festival. Showcasing only the finest in the underground scene – headliners featured across the weekend include Praslesh (Raresh b2b Praslea), Petre Insperecsi & Rhadoo (with mind-blowing visuals from special fourth member Dreamrec), and ARPIAR who return to Manchester for the first time in over a decade. Also on the bill are local hero Josh Baker and fan favourite Dyed Soundorom to name a few.

With an emphasis on community the festival will provide a whole host of different of connective experiences to get involved in. Join a full programme of classes provided by national yoga platform, Blok, taking place in the dedicated ‘Wellness Hut’ alongside Mind Manchester. Or head to ‘Artist Corner’, presented by Smolensky Gallery, where a selection of local Manchester painters, designers, photographers and graffiti artists will showcase their talents. Animal Crossing’s lead illustrator Matthew Alker will also host an in-depth look into the impressive visual campaign behind the festival itself.

As well as that, there will be an on-site record fair and selectors stage, with local outlets Basement Wax, Vinyl Pimp and Wax Material all present for you to explore their collections. Plus if you’re hungry – a selection of the city’s best street cuisine will be available to tempt your tastebuds including the likes of Nells Pizza, The Green Lab and FryBy.

Summer Of Love brings together artistic expression, human connection and freedom. In a statement, the Animal Crossing team said, “This is our moment to reunite, rejoice and celebrate the reopening of the world we love and have missed so dearly.”  This bespoke event will also be one of the first festivals in the world to accept bitcoin as payment. Tickets will be available from Friday 25 June. Register for the pre-sale to get early access to tickets 24 hours ahead of general sale. For more information on tickets, the event and for the full line-up head to the official website.