The best: Festivals and outdoor gigs around the North this summer

As always, Parklife takes over Heaton Park to dominate the northern festival calendar this June with a customary parade of A-list musical talent, with tickets already in short supply and back garden tents cropping up all over the city.

This year, Charli XCX is set to resurrect the electric lime-soaked hedonism of Brat Summer with a headline set, alongside 50 Cent, Peggy Gou and Jorja Smith

Featuring Blossoms, Wet Leg, Lola Young and Sam Fender, Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2025 heads to Liverpool’s picturesque park to entertain 100,000 revellers with over 100 live acts across three days.

Keep up to date with the latest line-up announcements and ticket details below.

Transforming the May Bank Holiday weekend into a British millennial nostalgia trip starring James, The Wombats, Ocean Colour Scene, Stereophonics, The Snuts and more, Warrington’s Neighbourhood Weekender relives the halcyon days of noughties indie and pop music in the unsung DMZ between Manchester and Merseyside.

Stretching across five days of throwback abandon, Lytham Festival returns to the Lancashire coast with a staggeringly impressive line-up featuring the likes of Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Alanis Morrisette, Simple Minds and Kings of Leon.

Voted Best New Festival at the 2022 UK Festival Awards, Radar heads back to Victoria Warehouse this July for three full days of mosh-friendly madness.

This year, the two upgraded stages welcome international talent like Underoath, Carpenter Brut, As Everything Unfolds and more.

From breakbeat, reggae and techno to dubstep, house and drum and bass, the legendary electronic extravaganza takes over Dockber Farm for another instalment of digital dance delight spread across countless stages and spaces, including The Fortress, The Factory and even The Parish Church.

This August, the UK’s biggest dance festival invites ravers from across the generations to two-step across the Cheshire countryside with another colossal line-up and all-new features including a glamping hotel, a brand new stage, a wellness-oriented Downtown district and a 15,000-capacity Teletech arena.

This year’s headliners include Sonny Fodera, Ewan McVicar and audiovisual maestro Anyma, whose spellbinding Las Vegas Sphere shows have gone viral around the world.

Created by music lovers ‘who felt the fabulous fields of the lake district could be put to better use’, Kendal Calling’s mix of stunning surroundings and consistently incredible lineups has cemented its status as Britain’s most scenic shindig. This year’s lineup is particularly impressive, with Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy and Courteeners topping the bill.

Just a short trip up to t’Yorkshire, Leeds remains a perennial festival behemoth and this year’s billing is a testament to its international pulling power — this year’s genre-hopping line-up includes Travis Scott, Hozier, Chappell Roan, Bring Me The Horizon, Enter Shikari, Sammi Virji, AJ Tracey and many, many more.

Sounds of the City always delivers a hugely special few days at Castlefield Bowl, and the latest lineup suggests 2025 will be no different, with The Charlatans, Black Keys, Shed Secven, Rizzle Kicks, Bloc Party, Basement Jaxx, Elbow and Hacienda Classical all set to appear across seven hazy evenings in the city centre.

Back over the Pennines, Sheffield’s beloved retro party gathers more indie luminaries at Hillsborough Park and brings in a selection of 90s giants for reinforcements, with Pulp, Franz Ferdinand and Kasabian performing alongside Natasha Bedingfield, Fat White Family and hometown legends The Reytons.

The annual multi-venue celebration of all things psych is set to take over some of the city’s most iconic establishments, including Albert Hall, o2 Ritz, Projects Skatepark, Canvas, Gorilla, YES and Deaf Institute, with more still to be announced. GOAT, Nadine Shah, Deadletter and W.H. Lung are a few of the names appearing this year, with a whole host of other activities like workshops, films and art running throughout the festivities.

Described as a ’boutique festival in a bull field’, Moovin has established itself as one of the region’s best small festivals since its debut in 2016, hosted at the sprawling Whitebottom Farm. For 2025, the boutique bonanza welcomes Ezra Collective, Folamour, Craig Charles, The Sugarhill Gang and countless others for an unforgettable weekend in the countryside.

The much-loved community-focused Green Island is back in its unique three-part format for 2025, with this year extra special given it’s the event’s fifth birthday.

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.

This year’s line-up presents some incredible live acts – the likes of Manchester’s DnB hero DRS with a full 11-piece band for a very special performance, Zawose Queens, who’ll be bringing a slice of Eastern Africa to Hulme, Nubian Twist with their ‘Jazztastic Afro-kissed funk’, and Rap Game graduate, Medulla, delivering her signature soulful hip-hop.

On Wed 27 & Thu 28 Aug, rock royalty Queens Of The Stone Age will be heading to Sheffield Don Valley’s Rock N Roll Circus, backed by an impressive day-long billing that includes the likes of Viagra Boys, Shame, Fat Dog, The Murder Capital, The Bug Club & So Good.

Then, on Sat 30 Aug, Reverand & The Makers headline the Circus for a special homecoming show. The 20th anniversary special will see Reverend and The Makers joined on stage by Groove Armada (DJ Set), The Libertines’ Peter Doherty and Carl Barat, Lottery Winners, Everly Pregnant Brothers and More.

Just two years after being unveiled as Manchester’s newest outdoor gig venue, Live from Wythenshawe Park has pulled in another huge pair of gigs for the summer. On Fri 15 Aug, Fontaines D.C., who have cemented themselves as one of the best live acts around right now, will top an insanely strong bill that also includes Kneecap and English Teacher.

The next day, Sam Fender, another who is firmly at the top of his game, returns to the city off the back of two blockbuster Co-op Live dates with support so far coming from neo-soul singer Olivia Dean.

Genuine champions of unearthing the next big thing, Salfords Sounds from the Other City celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Spread across 15 stages around Chapel Street and The Crescent, shows will be taking over everything from pubs and churches to concert halls.

Boasting another eclectic lineup curated by a diverse group of independent local promoters and selectors, SFTOC will once again feature some of the best emerging artists from across the UK.