Crowds enjoyed live music at Dukinfield's Made in Manchester festival

Tuesday, 30 May 2023 11:04

It was the hottest weekend of the year so far, and the perfect weekend for Tameside's biggest family friendly music festival.

The Made In Manchester Festival had sold out well in advance of the event which took place on Saturday, and as soon as the gates opened at midday, thousands of music fans of all ages descended upon the huge fields of Astley Sports Village in Dukinfield for a full day of live music and entertainment.

The 'Made In Manchester' festivals take place in several locations around the North West throughout summer, with Saturday's event being the first one of 2023.

I work as a host and DJ at many festivals each year around the UK, including all of the Made In Manchester events, and with my connection to the area working as the drivetime presenter on Tameside Radio, plus writing features for this newspaper, Saturday was always going to feel like a local homecoming event for me, and that's exactly how it felt.

The Tameside Radio campervan was parked in prime position overlooking the huge fields, and many of my work friends and colleagues from Tameside Radio and Quest Media were in attendance.

The huge Astley Sports Village fields were filled with many food and drink vendors, large bars, festival stalls, a huge funfair, children's entertainment, and a dance music tent which featured DJs MC Tunes, Danny Babcock, Mike Lee, Will Anthony, Lewis Barlow, Chris Frater, Walshy and Si Frater, with a guest appearance from Nat Simmons.

Overlooking it all was the huge Made In Manchester Festival stage, which featured some of the country's best tribute artists plus local unsigned music throughout the day. This is where I spent the day as host and DJ inbetween bands. Also between bands earlier on in the day were showcases from Dukinfield's Ace Gymnastics and Janice Hughes School Of Dance.

Opening the main stage on the live music front shortly after midday was local country artist Chloe Jones, with the most perfect set of original material, as people made their way onto the festival site and found their spots for the day.

Scotty Dunning, who has been a familiar face on the local unsigned music scene for the last few years, followed shortly after Chloe, complete with his first full band, and set the tempo high for the rest of the day. By this time the festival site was warming up and a loyal crowd appeared at the front of the stage for the next band, who were Plastic Heart.

Fronted by Naomi Schofield, who is one of the most amazing and gifted female singers to come from this area for a long time, the five piece band gave an brilliant performance, before the first of the days tribute acts took to the stage.

First of all, it was These Smiths, a firm favourite on the UK tribute festival circuit, who raised the bar for the rest of the day with a full set of Smith's classics.

Next on were James tribute Laid, with almost an hour of James's biggest hits, before it was back to original artists for the next couple of hours. There was a huge buzz in the air, and any of the crowd who had been sat enjoying the sun around the outskirts of the site were now on their feet, as man of the moment Alex Spencer prepared to take to the stage with his band.

As someone who has worked in music for a long time, I can honestly say the buzz in the crowd waiting for Alex to walk on stage was like no other. He's 16, from Droylsden, recently signed to the Modern Sky record label, and one of the most talked about musicians around. His energetic set was filled with all of his own material, plus a Beatles and Arctic Monkeys cover thrown in.

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The performance Alex and his band put on and the crowd reaction was off the scale. Alex Spencer is the future of British guitar music, and his set on Saturday was definitely an 'I was there' moment for his huge army of fans.

After Alex, we gave a short tribute to Keith Halligan, who the festival had been named in memory of. Keith passed away last year, and was a well-known and respected local musician, teacher, audio visual engineer, and a popular figure in his local running club. He had been in the band 'The Capitals' with his son George, who following the tribute took to the stage and played an amazing upbeat set of original material which the crowd loved.

His dad will have been proudly looking down on him, just as members of his family were from the crowd. After George it was back to tributes for the remainder of the day. Pretty much all of the capacity crowd were on their feet at this point, and The Take That Experience walked on stage and from then on it was full on party mode for the rest of the day.

After an hour of Take That hits, Courtbetweeners walked on stage, and continued the first-class atmosphere with an unbelievable set of Courteeners singalong anthems. They once again showed why they are one of the busiest and best loved bands on the festival circuit. The day was now into the last few hours, and as Happy Monday's tribute 'Appy Mundays' took to the stage, you would've struggled to find anyone at the festival not living their best life.

I love DJing at these events, and as the crowd of thousand's got involved with a set of 90's dance classics after the 'Appy Mundays, there really was only one band to headline the day. The Oasis Experience are a permanent fixture on the Made In Manchester festivals, and an hour of singalong Oasis classics could surely be heard for miles around, as the night came to a close.

Local boxing hero Ricky Hatton was in the crowd and took to the stage to join the band for an impromptu version of 'She's Electric', and as the festival came to a close, Astley Sports Village Fields were still packed, and proof of what an amazing day it had been.

As well as being a brilliant event, the day also raised a lot of money for Cancer Research plus several other local charities and causes. Made In Manchester Dukinfield was a huge success and the most perfect and faultless day for families, friends, music lovers of all ages and the local music community. It was a real pleasure to be part of it.

Follow madeinmanchesterfestival.co.uk for other dates and locations, plus news of a date for Dukinfield for next year. Thank you so much to everyone involved, and everyone who came and partied the day away in the sun. What a day. Bring on 2024!

Images by Nigel Wood