The now sold-out Sounds From The Other City festival returns to Salford for its 15th year this May Bank Holiday.

The festival that celebrates unique art, new music and performance, will be held on Regent Trading Estate, just off Oldfield Road, on Sunday May 5.

Previously having hosted performances from Alt-J and Marina and The Diamonds, this year the festival line-up features “the most talked about new band in the country” – DIY, Black Midi, SFTOC returners, indie-pop royalty The Orielles, Manchester’s own Ménage à Trois, Sounds debut of Factory Floor co-founder Gabe Gurnsey plus many more.

It also welcomes the BBC Philharmonic for a special commission, this time to collaborate with recent favourites Young Identity.

Launching in 2004, ‘SFTOC’ began with the intention to celebrate the work of independent promoters in Salford and Manchester, giving new music and new artists a spotlight to perform.

The festival has been said to draw attention to Salford through embedding live music, art and performances into locations ranging from a doctor’s surgery, to a railway station to numerous pubs.

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Another video from another awesome band! Performing in Le Cassis now is Solis #SFTOC #livemusic

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Sounds prides itself on cramming as much in as possible into as little time and space as possible. In the past Andrew W.K. has done a gig in a telephone box with the audience being a single person.

This year SFTOC has even provided entertainment for the public in the queues for the portaloo’s.

The festival will be held at Regent Trading Estate, rather than the multiple venues along Chapel Street.

It is believed to be more intimate than the years before with not as many tickets being up for grabs and the number of stages decreasing.

SFTOC is basing the entire festival around the numbers 1 and 5, to celebrate the 15th birthday.

For example, 15 promoters have been invited to choose the bands, the festival is based on one site with 5 venues and has a 1,500 capacity.

They are also working with five of the previous art directors who are each taking on a different theme, from outer-space, to fictional towns.

The 2016 art director, Him Hallows, will be returning with On The Shores Of The Strange.

He said the theme is a place between normality and the unreal.

The Mancunian artist and illustrator explained: “I’ve become a little obsessed with the angel Ophanim, the multi-eyed, interlocking wheels of God’s chariot, and wanted to build my representation of what that would even look like.”

He also said: “For my part I like to build the costume and see where that takes me, whether that’s dancing on stage with an act or mingling with a crowd, I like the idea of presenting something a bit other worldly to the audience!”

 

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Eyeball fitting! 13 days to @sftoc ? #sftoc #cardboard #costume

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Food and drinks will be available throughout the day with Honest Crust providing fresh sourdough pizzas all day long, along with Cantonese and Chinese bite-size food made by Dim Sum Su.

Freshly made hot-dogs will make an appearance for you meat lovers thanks to Diamond Dogs, and vegan options will be available if you fancy a twist on a late night takeaway with Seitanist kebabs.

Magic Rock Brew Company will keep you hydrated all day with IPAs and lagers.

Dance until the sun comes up with the legendary after-parties at The Pint Pot and across all four floors at the new venue YES.

Everyone’s favourite basement dance party, Kiss Me Again, newcomers Me Gusta and a one-off collaboration between So Flute x High Hoops plus more, will be making sure the dancing never ends.

Tickets are priced at £27.75 (inc. booking fee), but are currently sold out. You can click here to find out more.

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