Manchester Evening News

In the sun!

- By SAIMA AKHTAR

THE boss of Parklife expects this year’s event to be ‘really special’ – with the sun set to shine over the weekend.

Greater Manchester’s night time economy adviser Sacha Lord, who co-created the festival, spoke to the M.E.N. hours before the music spectacula­r gets underway at Heaton Park tomorrow.

Sacha said: “I am pretty stressed, if I’m honest but everything is ahead of schedule. The thought of 80,000 people descending, this Saturday and Sunday, it kind of gives me the fear, so I have pre-match nerves. Already, we have planned for Parklife

2023, so it takes 12 months to plan an event on this scale.

Parklife was quite rushed last year because we moved it from June to September due to Covid.

“I’m looking forward to seeing all the faces who helped put on the event last year – a lot of them were freelancer­s who didn’t have much work over these past couple of years, so it’s like a family feeling. It’s a full team effort, everybody has a role to play. There will be 110 people who will work on the main stage over the weekend, from crew, to lighting to security – they all have to work together. It’s going to be a really special weekend. Everybody can enjoy themselves, rock on, queue up – they don’t have to have Covid tests or vaccine passports.

“It’s a real rarity for Parklife, but we are going to have sun this year. It’s going to be dry and sunny and warm. That’s a rare occurrence, so 2022 is going to be a good year!”

US rappers 50 Cent, Tyler the Creator and Megan Thee Stallion headline the festival. Musicians and DJs from many genres including pop, rock, house, dance, grime and hiphop, such as Lewis Capaldi, Joy Crookes, Annie Mac, Jessie Ware, Mahalia and Arlo Parks will also be performing.

● Let the festival season begin: See CityLIfe

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 ?? SEAN HANSFORD ?? Preparatio­ns being completed at Parklife and, left, Sacha Lord
SEAN HANSFORD Preparatio­ns being completed at Parklife and, left, Sacha Lord

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