The third Salford Music Festival is almost upon us, with four days of music starting this Thursday, September 20, and running until Sunday 23 September, held over 20 venues across Salford.
There are more than 200 acts on the bill, with an onus on Salford bands; accordingly, The Fall are playing three sets, two at The Lowry arts centre, on September 20 and 23, and one at the Lower Kersal Social Club on September 22. Joining them on the line-up are Suzie Does It, The Mothpopes, Some Bird, Wonderland Trip, Dislocation Dance, TeamAvsTeamB, Jess Harwood, Dan the Thief and The Strange – for the full line-up and tickets head over to the festival’s website here.
Before events get under way, we talked to Ed Blaney, the organiser of the festival:
Tell us about how the Salford Music Festival came together.
Ed Blaney: I just had the idea around 5am one morning and put it up on Facebook and had over 1600 members within a few days. I felt Salford bands were not being given the attention they deserved, other events in Salford were receiving funding and not putting Salford bands on the bill.
Now three years on we have a small group of volunteers that work all hours bringing it together. It’s all about new music and they don’t have to be from Salford; we have bands appearing from all across the northwest and the UK and we have doubled in size each year. We have received no funding this year but it’s on fire.
What’s good coming out of Salford at the moment?
EB: Girl Peculiar and We The Dead – to name a couple. The music scene is growing all the time in Salford and it appears cool to say you’re either from Salford or based here, it does work. There are so many completely different sounds coming out of Salford it’s like Tin Pan Alley.
Do you find you get a particularly good Fall gig the closer they play to home?
EB: Salford is the official home for a Fall gig and these shows have shown interest from all across the world with tickets and flights being booked from the USA, Australia and all across Europe and the UK. Both The Lowry shows sold out very fast and the third added show on Saturday at the Lower Kersal Social Club will be like one of the best Fall gigs ever, the venue is perfect. All Fall hometown gigs are special but three in Salford is as close as it gets to a real home gig. The Fall always deliver something special everytime and I know that Mark is well up for it in Salford. It’s almost like a pilgrimage for Fall fans to come to this one.
