25 for ’25. The ATB team scratch their heads over what they’re looking forward to over the next twelve months in the world of music.

DAMNATION TURNS 20

Damnation Festival is one of the leading lights in extreme metal festivals. Since its inception, it has moved through a few venues but has found its home recently at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester. This has allowed an increased capacity and has seen the festival thriving even more. This year, they have already sold a huge clutch of tickets without a band announcement.

Electro masters Perturbator will perform with Swedish metal vets The Haunted also performing atop the bill. Stampin’ Ground provide links to the very first Damnation Festival, as they were on the bill then. In 2014, the played a monumental show at the festival that went down in the annals of Damnation history. It will truly be a glorious celebration over the weekend of the 8th/9th November, 2025.

You can buy tickets for the event here.

OASIS

Has there been a more talked about reunion? The brothers Gallagher will return to stages in 2025. The humungous shows slated for the summer will undoubtedly be mega events; if you have a ticket.

The tour will be a global event. 41 dates, starting in Cardiff in July and closing in Sao Paulo in November. As of writing, the only tickets available via Oasis’ website are for November 4th in Melbourne.

On their day, Oasis are one of the greatest rock bands ever. Liam Gallagher has shown repeatedly that he is one of finest rock and roll singers of the modern age. His Definitely Maybe celebrations in 2024 were testament to that. Add in the nostalgia of a reformed Oasis, and this promises to be huge. Let’s hope it all runs smoothly.

SUNNY WAR – ARMAGEDDON IN A SUMMER DRESS

Originally from Tennessee, Sunny experienced homelessness at 14, spending her teenage years in hardcore bands, before finding herself in rehab at 20 by court order. She’s since released several solo albums, working with Dave Rawlings on her breakthrough album, Anarchist Gospel. The album earned spots on numerous “Best of the Year” lists, including Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Mojo, and Paste. We loved the album and have followed Sunny for several years. Check out our thoughts on previous albums here.

Armageddon In A Summer Dress’ first single, Walking Contradiction, is a duet with Steve Ignorant of Crass, whose influence has been pivotal for Sunny. “When I started listening to Crass, it changed everything about how I thought about everything,” says Sunny. Also featuring collaborations with artists including Valerie June, John Doe (X), Tre Burt, Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs), Kyshona Armstrong, and John James Tourville (The Deslondes), it will be a highlight of ’25 for sure.

AMELIA COBURN HITS THE ROAD

Between The Moon & The Milkman was one of our favourite records of 2024. Her storytelling in her songs is exceptional and the musicianship is first class. If Amelia is not treating her Patreon members to exclusive songs, she is going to be on the road. In January, Amelia Coburn plays support to Jim Moray on his headline tour. Then, in May, she heads out on her own headline tour up and down the country. There is a mention of new music too; this is a particularly exciting prospect! All of Amelia Coburn’s tour dates are here.

Amelia is also heading into ’25 with intent, providing the support on the Jim Moray tour in January. Opening dates in Liverpool and at Gullivers in in Manchester, we’re on the case!

OPETH TO DELIVER THEIR LAST WILL & TESTAMENT

Opeth’s The Last Will & Testament (our Album Review) was one of the picks of the year. It is arguably their best for a while. Nothing to do with the return of Mikael Åkerfeldt’s death metal growls of course. They’re just one part of a top notch Metal album combining a story of evil and the vagaries of human behaviour with a demonic Opeth soundtrack.

How they present the album – one suggestion is that they play the whole album in sequence or drop a handful of tracks into the setlist – will become clear when they head out on tour in the Spring of ’25. They hit our locale at the atmospheric Manchester Albert Hall with support from Grand Magus.

BLUES CLUES

Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram impressed us no end with the Live In London album. His new album will be the first released on Kingfish’s own label, Red Zero Records. We also have wind that fellow Blues artiste, Katie Knipp is readying new music for January. Her Me album came out earlier this year and after hearing her let rip on the Live At The Green Room Social set, we’re excited about what ’25 has in store.

RADAR FESTIVAL 2025

Quickly becoming a mainstay on the festival circuit, Radar Festival takes place at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse over three days.

2025 will see darkwave legend Carpenter Brut perform as a UK exclusive. The uniquely exhilarating Zeal & Ardor will join them and Swedish melodic alternative heavyweights Normandie and instrumental prog luminary Intervals will also perform.

With plenty more artists still to be announced, the Radar line-up will be one to keep an eye on. The festival takes place at the start of July and tickets are on sale now, here.

IRON MAIDEN CELEBRATE THEIR GOLDEN JUBILEE

Since 1975, Iron Maiden have been constant trailblazers of heavy metal. In 2025, they will play their biggest UK show ever at The London Stadium. The Run For Your Lives Tour will feature songs culled from the bands output up to, and including, 1992’s Fear Of The Dark. In what is sure to be an epic setlist, one can dream of hearing Holysmoke or Be Quick Or Be Dead.

One thing that will be different is the man behind the kit. Nicko McBrain bid an emotional farewell to touring with Iron Maiden at the back end of 2024. Steve Harris’ British Lion rhythm man Simon Dawson will take over drumming responsibilities for the East End legends.

Up the Irons!

IN THE FOLK CLUBS

Being regular at local clubs we would love folk music enthusiasts and or folk club attendees to look towards their local/community radio stations. Maybe see if they would take a regular programme to include plugs for local folk events alongside a fine selection of new and classic music (both are important). Or if more widely focused, introducing new releases!  Hurrah to everyone who already does this as it can help independent artists get their music out there and attract people to events.

We’d also like there a new law that floor singers and open mic performers MUST announce who wrote the songs they sing and where they can be found if people like them!  Some of us are too shy to demonstrate our ignorance!

CONTINUED GRASSROOTS SUPPORT – KEEP LIVE MUSIC ALIVE!

More than ever, it is vital that independent venues get our support. So many venues have had to close due to funding problems. Whilst there are a declining amount of venues, there are plenty that need our help.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if people either continue to or start a new habit of supporting grassroots venues and grassroots music? That we can continue to encourage more people back out again, buying tickets and enjoying live music at venues and smaller festivals. Surely people want to discover new music and also support their favourites? Customers play an important role in the continuation and growth of the grassroots music scene. Smaller artists are increasingly encouraging people to buy tickets in advance so that they can plan accordingly. Keep live music alive!

We attended a handful of gigs at Barnoldswick’s excellent Arts and Music Centre. A cosy venue with top class acts, often sold out and managed beautifully by a real enthusiast in Peter Barton. In Bury, you will find The Met; Bolton recently became home to The Ramp and gems like Night & Day in Manchester are all putting on great shows. We also have Independent Venue Week in early 2025 and will be looking at what’s coming up in the North West in a planned feature.

Let’s also see either (a) a return to sensible and affordable pricing – if Paul Heaton can do it, everyone can! or (b) a mass refusal to pay extortionate prices and bring an end to the nonsense that is ‘dynamic pricing’.

The latter is less than likely – ‘sell it and they will come’ and all that – but how sad is it to see that people in the current economic climate have to forgo their fixes of live music, particularly in the arenas and stadia as pricing outstrips means. Granted, gone are the days when you thought a fiver was a dear do to see a gig (some of us here at ATB have forty plus years of stubs in our souvenir boxes). Maybe a strong case for supporting the smaller venues and more reasonably priced tickets… As we’ve already suggested, back to the roots?

Coldplay will embark on UK shows in London and Hull in 2025. Recognising the importance of such venues, and the storied path that they took, they’ve confirmed that 10% of  the band’s proceeds from the shows will be donated to the Music Venue Trust – helping to keep UK grassroots music venues open and fighting for the survival and development of upcoming artists.

Let’s add a wish for the musicians, that European touring will become easier, more accessible and less costly again for artists. The UK music scene is far too impressive to be restricted to our own island – and there are loads of bands we’d love to see in the UK who can’t afford to tour here.

To find out more about Independent Venue Week, you can click here.

SPRINGSTEEN. INDOORS. MANCHESTER.

Not quite in the same league as The Apollo in 1981 or the same venue on the solo acoustic Ghost Of Tom Joad tour in 1996. Having also been at the MEN Arena in 1999 for the return of the E Street Band but then enduring a series of outdoor football/cricket ground shows in the city ever since, the chance to see Bruce under a roof again is impossible to ignore. Could it be his last time on our shores? He’s hinted that any sort of retirement is far from his mind but May will be a cause for the North West to celebrate as Bruce visits both Manchester and Liverpool.

PERFECT POP

2024 saw Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour rule. 2025 sees some of the biggest popstars in the World heading back to the UK. Norwegian star Sigrid has already announced a slew of festival dates and Robbie Williams will be putting on some big gigs in the summer.

Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish are arguably offering some of the hottest tickets on the planet right now. Each of them will head to Manchester in 2025, all sure to put on a great show. It is March for Sabrina Carpenter, May for Olivia Rodrigo and July for Billie Eilish. Olivia Rodrigo recently released a concert film to Netflix; if you want a taster of what to expect, you know what to do.

Busted Vs McFly is scheduled for later in the year for those that want a hit of nostalgia in the guitar pop. McFly will also follow Busted in playing at Download 2025. The reformed Sugababes also have a jaunt around the UK slated for April.

FESTIVALS OF FOLK

So, 2025, where to now? 2024 saw ATB grace perhaps more festivals than ever before, between the purity of Sidmouth and the simplicity of New Forest, with a fair few additional as well. It being ATB, Cropredy clearly figured large. Cropredy 25 will see Plumhall, one of our favourites, perform with a full band at the weekend shindig. Their One Star Awake record (review here) was one of our highlights of last year.

Sadly, a few bit the dust, with Under The Stars perhaps the most missed here, along with Towersey, each closing their doors after their 2024 shindigs. But this leaves a lot more, still having to dice with never more challenging books to balance. Towersey is set for a phoenix-like return, smaller and more select, as Found Festival.

Folk is, of course, a broad church, and can encompass, side by side, 12 piece big bands with brass and electronica, with unaccompanied broadsheet balladeers from trad.arr. (Praise be). But it seems the biggest revival, of sorts, is in hand for the dance tent experience. Morris is surging again, and ceilidhs threaten to remove punters from their bottoms and onto their feet, in ever increasing numbers. This is good both for tradition and the refashioning thereof.

Line-ups are being formulated and finalised. This is as good a repository of what’s on offer as any, and is constantly updated, changing from week to week. With the aim being to avoid revisiting too soon and too often, decisions have yet to be made where my sleeping bag will take me. Wherever, and we’ll be at the same places and maybe even some new ones, we’ll see you there!

MANCHESTER FOLK FESTIVAL – ON OUR DOORSTEP

Manchester Folk Festival goes from strength to strength – was it really back in 2012 when the inaugural English Folk Expo/Homegrown was launched in Bury where it became a fixture before a shift to the city in 2017?

Loads of ‘ATB approved’ musicians are on the bill this year – The Deep Blue (just played atThe Lottery Winners’ Burning House Party), Josienne Clarke (live review), The Magpies (album review), Katherine Priddy and Lily Lyons (who we saw at Cambridge Folk Festival in 2024) plus Stockport’s Heather Ferrier and RE:VULVA who both played at the WOMEX launch event in Manchester in October 2024.

NEW MAZ O’CONNOR MATERIAL

Maz O’Connor is one of our favourite artists of recent years. Whilst her early work is primarily rooted in the folk world, her more recent work saw her branching out her sound. 2022’s When It Comes For You was a delight of a record and the last time we saw Maz was at a show in Leamington in 2023. New music is rumoured to be seeing the light of day in 2025, and Maz has been working on her musical project, The Wife Of Michael Cleary. The latter saw some public workshop performances in 2024 however the full show could be on stage in 2026. Watch this space!

BARBARA TO RELEASE THEIR DEBUT

Fingers crossed that after tow EPs – Mildly Entertaining and Happy Days – the duo of John and Henry Tydeman and their trusty sidesmen will launch a debut album in 2025. We’ve seen enough of the band over the past few years to regard them highly and constantly head for repeat viewings either on their own headline tours or high profile support slots.

What else ’25 will bring in terms of touring remains to be seen, but the Tydemans have a hard working philosophy so we’ll hopefully catch them on the road in some town soon.

ARCH ENEMY – BLOOD DYNASTY ALBUM & TOUR

Arch Enemy will release their new album, Blood Dynasty, in 2025. 2022’s Deceivers was a brilliant record, and the subsequent tour with Behemoth, Carcass and Unto Others was superb. This time, Arch Enemy top the bill outright and bring Amorphis and Eluveitie with them, as special guests. Supporting them all will be Gatecreeper. It is a pretty stellar bill if you ask us.

As a live act, Arch Enemy are one of the best around. Their impeccable musicianship and slick live shows are always a spectacle. In October 2025 they’ll be a well oiled machine with early 2025 seeing them in America.

SLEEP TOKEN ON TOP

It has been a while since Download Festival had three brand new names atop the bill. Korn deserve their chance after years and years of plugging away. Green Day are a sure fire hit too. They have the songs and the pageantry for nailing a festival headline slot.

Sleep Token on top is bold move though. Very much going with the zeitgeist, the organisers clearly have a lot of faith in the metal act. Last time they played the festival, it was impossible to get into the tent they were playing in.

They have a real crossover appeal that spans metal, pop, dance, and many more genres. The forward thinking production and use of newer styles clearly appeals. They also have a devout fanbase and recently stepped up to playing arenas in the UK. It will be a big job, but we feel that Sleep Token will nail it. Maybe Ghost for 2026?

We’re also really excited to see Venus Grrrls on the bill too. We’ve followed the Yorkshire quintet for a while and it is great to see them making bills at huge festivals.

GLASTONBURY’S EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION RETURNS

Once again – our sixth time actually – we’ll be part of the Glastonbury Emerging Talent judging panel. Hoping that we can break our duck and have one of our three choices (usually from a list of approximately 200) that makes the 90 strong long list, progress into the final top ten shortlist.

Incidentally, one of the bands we tipped (in 2022) was Mandrake Handshake (genre – ‘Flowerkraut’) have their debut album, Earth Sized Worlds, out in early ’25. Look out for some instore appearances – Bury’s Wax & Beans is in the diary.

YOUNG’UNS 20

When three lads went to the folk club and realised they could sing in the pub, The Young’Uns couldn’t have foreseen a two decade career.

The Young’Uns 20 tour will be a must see. Expect choice cuts from the back catalogue as well as a raft of traditional songs. All this will be delivered with rare gusto and with bags of wit and humour. You can check the dates below and get tickets here.

STEVEN WILSON – ALBUM + TOUR

March sees Steven Wilson release The Overview; his first solo album since 2023’s The Harmony Codex. More significantly, both that album and 2021’s The Future Bites were never toured. Porcupine Tree’s Closure/Continuation album and tour providing a slight diversion.

The promise is of two long form pieces and fans will anticipate a return to more traditional progressive values. A couple of months later he also takes off on tour under his own name for the first time since playing in the US at the start of 2019. The usual suspects are in the backing band and as the per the new album title, we’ll see an overview of his solo legacy. Could be intriguing.

LARKIN POE – BLOOM ALBUM + TOUR

The Lovell sisters blew us away at the 2024 Cambridge Folk Festival. Bloom, set for release in January 2025, will be an early highlight. They’re on tour too; it hits the UK in October. Probably warming up a chilly Manchester Academy if it’s anything like as raw and raucous as it was last Summer.

Over the past decade, Larkin Poe have really risen through the ranks moving the needle on their sound to the aforementioned rockier sound. They have a raft of big fans, including Elvis Costello, and in 2024 they won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. A continued path to the stars is the only route for this duo.

PL25

In a break from tradition, Parklife have announced some acts early. Unmistakably ‘bratty’ PL25 posters are popping up around Manchester denoting that Charli XCX will headline Parklife 2025 at Heaton Park.

Charli XCX has been treading a path to global domination and a return to Manchester at one of its flagship events is going to ensure that 2025’s iteration will be bigger still. Throw into the mix Aussie party starters Confidence Man and you have a recipe for a line up that whets the appetite for the full line up to be announced in January.

PHYSICAL PRODUCTS

A wise man once said: “You don’t own an album until it’ s on the shelf.” How important is it that people continue to understand the importance of buying copies of the band’s physical CD or LP rather than just streaming the music? Especially if you go see a band in a smaller venue and you can buy it from the musicians themselves. Support your local record shops too. They’re starting to pop up all over the place and what can beat the thrill of thumbing through the racks and finding a gem.

U2

Could this be the year that U2 return? After their mind blowing UV:30 shows at The Sphere in Las Vegas, there have been sporadic reports that the band are recording new material. Notoriously meticulous workers, the Dublin quartet haven’t released a new record in seven years. Talk of a more ‘rock’ oriented album that goes back to four fellas in a room is mooted. This could have been scrapped several times over and we’ll get an Eno inspired ambient album! U2Songs.com has a collection of reports/rumours etc if you would like more information, here.

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube