The annual BBC 6 Music Festival is once again rolling back into town – after making Manchester its permanent home back in 2023 and bringing with it its singular cross-section of British alternative music.
As ever, there’s a host of headline gigs taking in everything from indie legends to cult DJs, and this year it’s spreading to more and more venues too, including the glorious Eccles Town Hall Ballroom, while collabs are happening with the likes of Homoelectric and FaT OuT.
So without further ado, here are our picks for ’26…
Bloc Party and The Horrors at Band on the Wall
Friday 27 March
If you were around for the early-2000s indie explosion, this pairing feels like a homecoming. These two – who will have undoubtedly sat on the same festival line-ups back in the day – have spent the intervening years playing much bigger stages that the bijou Band on the Wall. So it will be a joy to see them back in a spot where you can actually feel the amps vibrating through the floor.
Yard Act and Sorry at YES
Friday 27 March
Across town at YES, the Friday bill offers a further flavour of British indie evolution. Leeds lads Yard Act bring their sly, spoken-word post-punk to a venue that suits them perfectly. Their songs have always felt like overheard conversations in pubs and bus stations, full of sharp observations about modern Britain.
Sharing the night are Sorry, whose hazy, genre-blurring indie sits somewhere between grunge, dream pop and late-night melancholy.
Indie Forever club night at YES
Friday 27 March
If the guitar nostalgia kicks in earlier in the evening, the afterparty leans fully into it. The Indie Forever club night pulls together DJs including Steve Lamacq, Gossip icon Beth Ditto and Nick Grimshaw for a midnight session built around the records that defined alternative dancefloors over the last couple of decades. Expect exactly what the name suggests: a loose, joyous mix of indie classics and cult favourites. Dance like you’re still logged into MySpace.
Courtney Barnett and Jacob Alon at Band on the Wall
Saturday 28 March
Saturday’s main show leans into songwriting rather than nostalgia. Courtney Barnett has built a reputation for razor-sharp lyrics and dry storytelling, delivering songs that feel conversational but land with surprising emotional weight. Alongside her is rising singer-songwriter Jacob Alon, whose introspective folk-leaning sound has been gaining serious traction. Pairing the two in a small venue setting feels deliberate: a reminder that great songwriting often lands best when the room is quiet enough to actually hear it.
The FaT OuT showcase at Eccles Town Hall Ballroom
Saturday 28 March
One of the more interesting additions to this year’s festival is the afternoon showcase in Eccles, curated with Manchester promoter FaT OuT. The lineup brings together artists like Lauren Auder, Naima Bock and R.AGGS, all operating in that slightly hard-to-categorise space between indie, experimental pop and art-leaning songwriting. It’s the sort of bill that perfectly captures what the festival does well: spotlighting artists who may not headline arenas yet, but who are shaping where alternative music is heading next.
Olof Dreijer closing party at YES
Saturday 28 March
If you want something more nocturnal, the closing party at YES is where the festival ends properly. Headlining is Olof Dreijer, best known as one half of cult electronic duo The Knife. His DJ sets tend to move across leftfield techno, electro and experimental club sounds. Expect things to get wonky. The event, presented with local queer party legends Homobloc, runs late into the night in the Pink Room at YES and closes the festival with a full club-floor energy rather than a polite finale.
The 6 Music Festival happens from 25-28 March, at venues across the city…
