Manchester’s most affordable music festival is back

The Northern Quarter will be taken over by some of the freshest talent in the north this weekend for Sonder Festival.

Expect musicians of many genres – from hip-hop to hard rock and everything in between -as well as spoken word performers, visual artists, public speakers and plenty of comedy too, including headliner Nathan Cato, as seen on Live at the Apollo, Russell Howard’s Good News and Mock The Week.

Now in its second year, Sonder has spread across seven iconic venues for 2017 –  Ruby Lounge, Gullivers, The Castle Hotel, Jimmy’s, The Whiskey Jar, AATMA and Soup Kitchen.

Sonder also has an even more exciting focus for 2017 – the best rising talent around, with many of the artists hotly-tipped by both local and national media to go on to achieve great things. This year features a range of artists who have performed on BBC Introducing, Radio 1, Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1 Xtra, XFM and many more.

This year is your chance to see musicians and artists expected to make it big including The Lottery Winners, Louise Distras, Kapital, Dantevilles, Prose, Cleargreen, Lady Ice, Camens, St Lucifer, Jekyll, In Search Of Sun, Syd.31, The Orchid Hunters, The Boston Shakers, Elevant, Liines, Sly Antics and many more.

Whilst a ticket for a single gig in some city venues may cost as much as £30 or even £40, a £15 full weekend ticket for Sonder allows you to see hundreds of acts over three nights. See who you like, when you like.

“The creation of Sonder started with a brief chat between myself and Gav Pettifor about the lack of opportunities for the amazing artists in this city,” says festival co-creator Kelvin Leigh.

“We felt that sometimes in this city it’s less about the quality of the bands and more about how many friends they can sell tickets to. The festival idea sprung up from there.

“I knew that Joe Maguire was also thinking about hosting a music festival so one quick message later and he had joined the team. We all really wanted to showcase as much creative talent as we possibly could at Sonder but also make sure that the festival was accessible and affordable.

“This city is built on the backs of its creatives and sometimes we spend far too much time looking to the cities past and not its future. There’s such an abundance of talented people in this city from musicians, photographers, comedians, artists and everything in between.

“If we can do our part in showing off just a small amount of this creative talent then we feel we are doing something right.”

Sonder has invited local record labels and organisations to curate their own stages. Real Record Productions are involved and a stage at AATMA will be managed by AnalogueTrash, a local record label bringing some of the most exciting alternative musicians to the city.

“AnalogueTrash is a Manchester label through and through and supporting grassroots art and music is at the core of what we do, so naturally we jumped at the chance of being involved in Sonder Festival this year,” says co-owner Adrian Brian Thompson.

“We’re all really excited about curating the AATMA stage and presenting a label showcase on Friday. It’s going to be loud, leftfield and a lot of fun, and we hope that by throwing our hats into the ring and getting involved in great events like Sonder Festival we can do our bit to showcase the sheer diversity and dynamism of Manchester’s musical landscape.”

Sonder Festival Tickets

Friday 30th June – Sunday 2nd July 2017. Tickets here. If you prefer to purchase physical tickets for gigs, pop down to the Jutah Studios on Port Street