Manchester Folk Festival

MCRJourno

Germa Adan

Manchester Folk Festival returns this spring with lineups announced.

Taking place Thursday 20th March to Saturday 22nd, the festival promises contemporary and traditional folk, roots, and acoustic music in its eight year running.

Moving from its regular slot in October the festival will take over some of the city's best-known venues to showcase a variety of artists.

Headliners include The Longest Johns, Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings, Cara Dillon, Stornoway, Katherine Priddy and many more.

The shows also feature lesser-known rising stars and exclusive artist showcases.

RE_VULVA

Venues hosting events so far include Band on the Wall, Hallé St Peter’s, Night & Day, The

Castle Hotel, Hallé at St Michael’s, The Stoller Hall and New Century Hall.

There will also be an international showcase for artists based in or from England taking place, the English Folk Expo - running parallel to the festival it joins 200 music industry delegates with Manchester audiences.

Headliners include Bellowhead, frontman Jon Boden will be rallying The Remnant Kings - featuring Bellowhead’s Sam Sweeney, Leveret’s Rob Harbron, Ben Nicholls, Sally Hawkins

and M. G. Boulter - in what’s guaranteed to be a standout headline set, supporting their latest album, Parlour Ballads.

Cara Dillon will bring her celebrated Coming Home show to life with an extraordinary band led by Sam Lakeman.

Born from a collection of personal poems and the remarkable album and book that followed, Cara will skilfully interweave this emotive new material with much-treasured classics.

Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne

The beloved, nature-inspired outfit Stornoway will headline New Century Hall performing choice cuts from 2023’s Dig The Mountain alongside fan favourites.

The show will kick off with Amelia Coburn - named one of Drowned In Sound’s ‘15 Must See Acts of 2025’ - leading with her full band.

Gig-goers will experience the “rock ‘n’ roll of 1752” as The Longest Johns join the stage, reimagining many of folk’s classic songs while adding their own unique style of songwriting to the melting pot.

At The Stoller Hall, Josienne Clarke will present Across The Evening Sky: Josienne Clarke Sings The Songs of Sandy Denny following her highly praised new album, Parenthesis, I.

Describing Sandy Denny’s songs as her “north star,” Clarke promises to extract the gold from each track and fashion it anew.

Fran & Flora

There will also be performances from artists familiar to Tradfolk readers, such as Nick Hart & Tom Moore, The Magpies, Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, Miranda Sykes & Jim Causley, and Eliza Carthy, Sean Cooney and Sam Carter, performing Cooney’s Rochdale-made musical Peter’s Field.

The Smithfield Market Tavern will host a series of free music sessions, while

Manchester Craft & Design Centre offers hands-on creative workshops.

For true folk song enthusiasts, the North Atlantic Song Convention will run a one-day event

packed with engaging talks, interactive workshops and plenty of singing.

Tickets are available on an individual show basis or as full festival wristbands.

For full details on the programme visit Manchester Folk Festival’s website.