A New Intergenerational Gathering For Electronic Music To Debut In Manchester On 2nd May 2026

A new festival dedicated to the past, present and future of electronic music culture will launch in Manchester this summer, as Outwards unveils a city-centre, open-air gathering designed to reconnect dance music with its deeper cultural roots.

Taking place on Saturday 2 May 2026, Outwards will transform and connect 5 outdoor spaces in Ardwick into a 5,000-capacity day-into-night festival, bringing together pioneering live acts, foundational DJs and forward-thinking contemporary artists within an environment shaped as much by listening, conversation and community as by the dancefloor itself.

Rather than positioning itself as a traditional headline-driven event, Outwards has been conceived as a cultural meeting point, acknowledging Manchester’s historic role in shaping electronic music while asking what the culture looks like now, and where it might move next.

The inaugural programme deliberately connects originators, underground innovators and emerging voices in a single intergenerational dialogue. Live performances include Orbital, whose work helped define the emotional and political scope of UK electronic music; Detroit techno institution Octave One; acid provocateurs Paranoid London; ambient pioneers The Orb; and Manchester’s own A Certain Ratio and Black Grape, bridging post-punk, rave and contemporary club culture.

Across the DJ programme, Outwards foregrounds artists whose influence has shaped dance music’s language itself, from a rare Detroit meeting between Moodymann and Carl Craig, to acid house originator DJ Pierre, alongside deeply respected selectors including Midland, Josey Rebelle, Pearson Sound, OK Williams and Suze Ijó, with further names spanning current and future generations of the global underground.

Speaking on this new addition for Manchester’s cultural scene, Outwards festival director Olli Ryder shares: “Electronic music has always been about more than nightlife. It’s about the music, the communities, the places and the people who carry culture forward. Outwards is an attempt to create a space where the past, present and future of that culture can exist together, in Manchester, where so much of this story began, and where there is still so much to be written. We hope it becomes a moment of reflection, inspiration and connection that celebrates the full breadth of electronic music - open, inclusive and shaped by many voices, while opening the door to what is still to come.”

Beyond the dancefloor, Outwards offers a rich cultural program that extends the festival experience. The event transforms car parks and streets into a DIY-spirited environment, while artist talks, cultural discussions, and workshops provide space for education and reflection. Visitors can explore exhibitions celebrating electronic music history, browse independent record fairs, and enjoy a dedicated hi-fi listening bar alongside carefully curated local food and drink. After parties will connect multiple venues across the city to ensure the festival continues into the night, positioning Outwards more as a temporary cultural campus than a conventional event. This approach reflects a wider shift in electronic music toward depth, listening, and shared experience as audiences evolve.

Manchester itself is a city whose influence on modern music culture is unparalleled, from post-punk experimentation to rave and club culture. Outwards arrives at a moment when electronic music globally is entering a more self-reflective phase, with artists and audiences increasingly focused on heritage and lineage, community over spectacle, and meaning over scale. By creating a new festival in this context, Outwards aims to establish an annual cultural marker for the North of England, rooted in local history yet connected to the wider international underground.