D:Percussion 05, Manchester

Manchester’s free music festival D:Percussion will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2007, after it received three-year funding from Manchester City Council.

Returning to its Castlefield home on August 6 this year’s festival will host five stages, 100 artists and over 40,000 people, and looks set to reach its 10th anniversary in 2007.

Mark Bell, who sent us the tip, told us, “Last years event had a really c**l atmosphere, so it is worth getting involved in…”

The Artistic Director Steve Smith recently explained to City Life magazine:

“They give us the seed money – they don’t pay for the whole thing –but it’s a real commitment by them that gives us surety that the events going to happen.

“It means we can look – for the first time ever – at more than just the one that’s in front of us. Three years takes us to our 10th anniversary, which I don’t think anyone in ‘97 imagined in their wildest dreams.

“Hopefully it’ll be a sunny Saturday – we’ve only just started thinking about the 10th birthday, but we want it to be something special that goes back to it’s roots.”

This year’s line-up so far includes:

Domu
Broke N English
Stephen Fretwell
Domino Bones (Bez’s band)
Performance
Alfie
The Longcut
Fear of Music
My Computer
Durutti Column
Black Twang
Mitchell Brothers