Psych Fest Diaries: The Review
Celebrating its tenth edition, or anniversary as the organisers called it, Manchester Psych Fest 2023 was always destined to encompass everything that's made the all-dayer the sonic and cultural tour de force it's become over the past decade.
From its early beginnings in Night & Day Cafe, it has become a yearly staple on the North West music calendar, but in recent times, Psych Fest has bent the genre rules to create a real modern, multi-venue, city festival that encompasses the best of the UK music scene has to offer alongside a slew of European and international talent. Whilst MPF started with one venue in 2013, it now boasts nine and a festival hub that takes over Manchester’s Circle Square.
Image: Tom Preece
It was there we began our psychedelic voyage through the Oxford Road Corridor; the aptly named area in which all of the festival's venues sit, stretching from the Albert Hall all the way down to Manchester Academy. After perusing the wares at Cactus Square, we quickly debunked to the aforementioned Hall to catch London rockers Sorry. In what can only be described as a sweaty setting, they played through album hits to a packed-out crowd. Quickly meandering over to the Ritz, art-pop outfit Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage were next on the list; a band that you could tie to the festival's true origins, the New Yorkers rocked out slackly while psychedelic patterns provided the perfect visual backdrop.
Pray For Mojo and Trout tickled our fancy in Canvas before we nipped back to catch Bodega of the US of A at The Ritz; the Oxford Road venue seemingly becoming a temporary home to New York's finest alternative artists for the day. After The Murlocs went off with a bang, we headed back to Canvas and into the air-conditioning, with Manchester's newest venue's technological advancements paying dividends on what was a scorcher of a day. Say She She followed with what was arguably the set of the whole festival, or at least it is if you ask our Co-Editor Bib, but one thing we agree on, is the fact the nomadic all-female three-piece had the Manchester crowd firmly in the palm of their hands. Dreamy.
Image: Tom Preece
A few well-deserved beers were immediately sunk and then The Brian Jonestown Massacre soundtracked the start of the evening's twilight hours in fine style. Having just arrived by the skin of their teeth via “Edinbro” as frontman Anton Newcombe affectionately called the Scottish capital; he quickly set the tone for the rest of the evening when he declared that he'd like the stage lighting “a little more drug den... a lot less like a fucking interrogation.”
After sweating some more for good measure at BJM, we headed to MPF's almost unofficial HQ, YES, on Charles Street. As we wound our evening down, or maybe up would be a more apt turn of phrase, London's DEADLETTER and home act Nightbus closed off what was yet another stellar Manchester Psych Fest. The rest is history, as they say, and this spectacular tenth-anniversary edition of MPF can safely stake its name in Manchester's sonic and cultural folklore. See you next year.
Main Image: Sinead Ferguson
