Parklife Festival 2024 once again demonstrated why it remains a titan of Manchester's music scene. Over two days, Heaton Park was transformed into a hub of sound and excitement, welcoming a capacity of 80,000 music lovers across the weekend (8th &9th June). Known for its extensive lineup spanning multiple genres and generations, Parklife unveiled a word of music, culture, and community. The festival featured an plethora of stages, installations, and food vendors, offering a complete festival experience in the heart Heaton Park, Manchester.
Watch our Vlog below and read what we had to say about Parklife 2024!
Will:
The seasons can be measured easily in Manchester. From the start of the year, it's cold and rainy. Then, cold and snowy. Afterwards, also cold and rainy climaxing in one or two days of mild weather which at the time feels tropical and signals a change in the year.
Summer is coming.
Then it's cold and rainy.
This uncertain cycle continues every year as reliably as the re-growth of leaves on the trees, however, since 2010 a new herald has arrived to signal the coming of Summer. Parklife Festival.
Parklife 2024 was my first, which upon reflection is absolute madness considering the pedigree of acts that we've had the pleasure of hosting in Manchester in the last few years. I suppose, in retrospect, that my first exposure to Parklife was in 2014/2015 when I started College in the city centre studying Music Tech & Performance. The general vibe I got at the time was one of a cautionary tale, any story I heard seemed to be some horror story about rain, transport (or a lack thereof) and their insidious relationship. By which I mean of course, walking back to the city centre in the pouring rain after playing in the mud for two days.
I can now say after my first Parklife this year that it was an absolute pleasure. I shed my inherited bias and saw for myself what Parklife offers. Let's break it down:
The site:
When Acid Rain had our location recce a month or so before Parklife, I couldn't imagine the transformation ahead of Heaton Park. After just one outing in the festival proper, all the stories of the different stages and their characters clicked into place. Be it the Valley, with its slope leading into a usually packed plateau of acts that, at least this year, may not be more popular than the average person's taste nonetheless commanded the attention of the 2024 Parklife goer; (more on this later) to the Magic Sky stage which I knew to be the "drum and bass pit" from previous tales I’d heard and the more intimate Ghosts of Garage and Palmhouse stages.
I'll take this moment to talk about the weather and its impact.
Apparently, in 2023 it rained all weekend and it was a real battle. 2024 however held off almost completely on the first day, it was near perfect conditions. Yet, the Palm House stage was a mud pit. Like, seriously, something out of Takeshi's Castle made to be an obnoxious obstacle. It gripped your feet and pulled, threatening to de-shoe the under prepared raver. Not that you'd know they were a raver since skanking was nearly impossible. This, inexplicably, was on the first and completely dry day. I dread to think what became of it on the second day when for the first half of the day was intermittent showers and the last half an almost constant downpour. Luckily, we never found out.
I think on the end of that second day there was probably 4 hours of heavy rainfall after the showery afternoon. It was enough to turn the main path out of Parklife into a replica of the Saddleworth Moors peat bogs. My poor Acid Rain co-host, Lys, wore trainers to Parklife that barely survived the anomalous palm stage one dry day prior and promptly binned them at the end of that second day. It's true, if it's gonna rain at Parklife, (which by all accounts it usually does) then don't be caught unawares. Be prepared. Bring boots.
The Music:
I felt like I had to get that part of my Parklife review out the way since it so closely resembled and put into perspective the feedback I'd been hearing since I was 16 but it's my honest duty to remind our dear constant readers one thing: Parklife 2024 was absolutely mint. Leading up to both my first ever and Acid Rain's first ever media pass access I heard rumblings on the quality of the line-up.
And yet.
It looked awesome to me. From my understanding, the festival has always had an element of the "raver" culture. This makes sense considering (Ex) co-owner Sacha Lord's pedigree regarding the Hacienda of the Madchester days to Warehouse Project, the now record holder for largest nightclub in the world. (Which, if we're still following the shifting of seasons metaphor, is the herald of autumn in Manchester since 2006 and the venue of some of the best gigs of my life) So my love of this year's line-up, which was too niche for some, makes sense.
My highlights include:
Sammy Virji b2b Interplanetary Criminal:
The first on our must see list after we cleared our administrative duties and headed out to the Valley. Easily one of the most packed out acts we saw. The atmosphere for an act so relatively early on the first day was excellent; as we arrived CASisDEAD was just finishing up and I give them much respect but it was obvious the atmosphere was one of anticipation for veteran Virji and newly established veteran Interplanetary Criminal. Also, we had the unexpected pleasure of running into Interplanetary Criminal and Main phase just chilling outside the festival by the road along Heaton Park. He was lovely, and approachable! Their set was dynamite - check them out below:
Hedex (w/ Eskman):
I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to the Magic Sky stage on that first day of Parklife. Absolutely huge, awesome and downright girthy noises delivered to a crowd that knew the assignment. This was probably my best sounding stage of Parklife, either due to the filth that the acts threw out or the sonics of the sound system and the stage itself.
I mean, Hedex is KNOWN for filthily dirty DnB, but on this stage - Chefs kiss - 👌
Sugababes:
I would be the first to admit that when I saw Sugababes on the Parklife line up, especially when surrounded by the rest of the acts this year, my reaction was one of novelty. You can imagine how happy I was when their set turned out to be surprisingly heavy. Their band was given enough space to make the most devout pop fan headbang and the crowd was absolutely lovely. Sugababes were a pleasure to watch and a welcome palette cleanser.
Sub Focus (w/ID)
Wow. Any pre-conception I had of Sub Focus got blown out the water upon hearing them through a huge sound system at Magic Sky. They brought absolute power in tone combined with spectacular visuals and have become one of those acts that I will simply always go and see. Thankfully for me, I’ll be seeing them very soon at Beatherder! (Watch this space)
Day 2
Shy FX:
Speaking of acts I will always go and see… (...Also at Beatherder this year!) Either time really is a circle or the Parklife planners knew exactly what they were doing as day 2 started for us with another massive act, Shy FX were simply powerful in the Valley. The crowd was also incredibly interesting, a mix of old and new school ravers that reacted best to different songs. The really interesting part was where that venn diagram intersected most, the songs that made the entire crowd pop. Check out one here from the Acid Rain socials:
horsegiirL:
I will admit to you now dear Acid Rain readers that I am not the most prolific user of TikTok. So, when Alyssa described the popularity of horsegiirL as she found it, through Tik Tok, I was sceptical.
horsegiirL slaps.
I’ve never seen so many people gathered in one place for donk… Especially gathered there and loving it. Five stars.
Badger b2b PJ Bridger, DJ Jackum w/ Chunky:
This was probably Lys and mine’s favourite moment of the festival. We’re close friends and bonded over a love of Badger for a while now so to see him, let alone with such excellent complimentary acts was a lot of fun! Check us out making the official insta story below:
The finale:
So.
My finale was Hamdi x P Money x Sparkz. It was hard. Like diamonds. It was a very ‘Will’ finale and I can gush on how heavy it was, even while going alone, all day but I simply must mention the elephant in the room that split me up at the end of Parklife to the rest of the Acid Rain crew:
Doja Cat.
I only saw the last ten minutes of her set from the hill overlooking the valley but it was easily the loudest, most outrageous gig of Parklife. Due to the rain, she probably commanded less of a crowd than she deserved and don’t get me wrong, I was very grateful to have been watching Hamdi in a tent! Much respect to those who stuck around to see what looked like an awesome gig, though no doubt my editor has more to say on the matter.
Footnotes:
The toilets were generally pretty good. Those who have been to festivals like Leeds fest know what I mean when I say they can be so much worse. The food was decent enough, shout out to free Maccies fries for those who wished to wait for them!
I will say that I only ever bought food or booze in the VIP area and I don’t regret it, as the queues in the main Parklife area were generally massive apart from the latest, rainiest times. If that's the feedback you were waiting for to splurge on VIP tickets next year, then go for it.
Also, I heard throughout my life that Parklife was a rough festival. I also acknowledge that I heard feedback that it’s been better in recent years. All I can say from my personal experience this year is that I didn’t encounter any out of the ordinary roughness and perhaps the reputation of the festival comes from a misunderstanding of rave culture, which was thoroughly embraced by the selected line up this year and was an absolute pleasure to be around.
So guys, Parklife 2024 in a Nutshell - if you liked the video and article, please give us a like and follow on the below socials!
As always, we will see you at the front!
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