Damon Albarn for BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in Manchester

Damon Albarn tops the line-up for the first BBC Radio 6 Music Festival has been announced and will take place at Manchester's Victoria Warehouse (home of The Warehouse Project) on Friday 28th February and Saturday 1st March 2014.

The first acts confirmed are The National, Franz Ferdinand, HAIM, The Horrors, Midlake, Jake Bugg, Kelis, Bombay Bicycle Club, Wild Beasts, Metronomy, Drenge, Jagwar Ma, James Blake, Luke Sital-Singh, Nick Mulvey, Jimi Goodwin, Lykke Li,Kiran Leonard, and Outfit.

And 6 Music’s Funk and Soul Show presenter Craig Charles will close the festival with a DJ set on stage at the end of the night.

The silent disco will also feature sets from Groove Armada (DJ set), Tim Burgess, X-Press 2, and 6 Music presenter Mary Anne Hobbs on Friday night. And on Saturday night, New Order’s Peter Hook, and 6 Music spin-meisters Gilles Peterson, Nemone, and Don Letts will be taking their turn on the decks.

For the line-up details, day and stage splits, as available, click here.

Expect more than 30 acts across three stages on both days. The line-up will be announced throughout the day on 6 Music and the artist/band names will be added to this page as they are announced.

Tickets to each night of the Festival will be available from midday on Friday 24th January and will be priced at £25 (plus booking/P&P fees). eFestivals will have links for you to buy them then. 

6Music said of the announcement, "With more than 30 artists and DJs across three stages, the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival brings together a stellar line up of bands and artists who share the alternative spirit of the network.

"From indie to electronica, folk to rock to soul and beyond, the line-up features major and established acts and current and emerging artists championed by the network and its presenters."

As well as the acts performing each night, there will also be a Festival Fringe which will reflect the variety and alternative spirit of BBC Radio 6 Music in musically themed zones.

This is a separately ticketed event running from midday to 7pm on both the Friday and Saturday at the Victoria Warehouse Hotel, which is next door to the Victoria Warehouse. Tickets for the Festival Fringe are free and will be available via a BBC audience ballot. The Festival Fringe will run in two sessions on each day between 12-3.20pm and 3.40-7pm.

Registration to apply will be open from Wednesday 29th January to Monday 10th February at bbc.co.uk/6music; one pair of tickets per application. A greater number of tickets to the Festival Fringe will be allocated to those from the North West region.

The Festival Fringe will run in two sessions on each day between 12-3.20pm and 3.40-7pm. More details will be revealed on BBC Radio 6 Music on Wednesday 29 January, but it will feature:

Cornershop: a record fair bringing together independent record shops from across the North West and beyond.
Talking Heads: a spoken word stage featuring talks from artists from the Festival line-up ‘in conversation’, plus appearances from 6 Music’s favourite poets, 6 Music DJs, and more.
Public Image Ltd: a photographic exhibition featuring images taken by Jason Joyce who documented the station’s most important moments of 2013.
Silent Cinema: a film screening area curated by BBC Radio 6 Music presenter and Grammy Award winning film and music video maker, Don Letts.

BBC Introducing will also be at the event. A number of the most promising new and undiscovered artists in the North, put forward from the local BBC Introducing shows, will take the stage delivering live sets. Further information to follow in the coming weeks.

Jason Carter, BBC Head of Live Music and Events said, “BBC Introducing in the North is one of the hotbeds for discovering fantastic new artists, and the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in Manchester – itself a proven hub of musical talent - is going to be a brilliant opportunity for some of these artists to have exposure to potential new fans.”

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