SUNSHINE AND SOUNDS... THE PERFECT MIX!
FOUR PAGES OF NEWS AND PICTURES FROM HEATON PARK
Dean Kirby and Chris Slater
THOUSANDS of music fans partied in glorious sunshine as the weather gods smiled on the Parklife festival.
Around 140,000 festivalgoers poured into Heaton Park over the weekend.
Middleton band the Courteeners had kicked off three days of music with a stand-alone gig for 20,000 fans on Friday night.
The temperature soared to 16C - a far cry from last year’s Parklife when parts of the site were turned into pure mud by torrential downpours.
The line-up for this year’s festival - the biggest yet - was rammed with top artists, DJs and bands.
They included Rudimental, Disclosure, Grace Jones, James Bay, WuTang Clan, Fatboy Slim, Mark Ronson, George Ezra and Ben Howard.
Singer Ella Eyre declared as she took to the main stage: “This is one of my favourite festivals of the year.”
She told the M.E.N: “I love Parklife. The crowd are just up for having a good time.
“It doesn’t matter if they know your songs or not. They appreciate the music. The atmosphere is brilliant.”
The big wheel also made a welcome return, as did the log flume and the Big Top tents, and Coronation Street star Craig Charles showed off his skills as a DJ on the main stage.
An unforgettable performance from Grace Jones included body paint, pole dancing and hulahooping.
More than a dozen suspected drug dealers were arrested at the festival this year after a police crackdown.
Police said there were 25 arrests in total on Saturday.
Another 21 people had been arrested by 6pm yesterday.
The vast majority were for drugs offences - particularly possession with intent to supply.
Chief Insp Gary Simpson said the number was up on last year after they launched an operation to target offenders.
He said: “We are likely to make more arrests than last year but that is due to a change in our approach and our tactics. Most of the arrests so far have been due to proactive police work, stopping and searching and targeting individuals.”
Festival director John Drape said a handful of people had been taken to hospital with others treated for minor ailments.
He said there were no major incidents.
‘The crowd are up for having a good time... they appreciate the music. The atmosphere is brilliant’