Manchester: The Heaton pull

The Manchester Evening News has got itself terribly excited over the prospect of a two-day festival in Heaton Park next year:

Big hitters in the Manchester music scene are already in secret talks to establish the inaugural music festival next summer and are confident that the event could become a regular feature on the calendar to rival the Carling Festival in Reading and Leeds, the V Festival in Stafford and Chelmsford, and T In The Park in Scotland.

Or Summer Sundae. It could definitely rival Summer Sunday.

Given that this is still a vague idea, the News is surprisingly detailed on the line-up:

If they get the official green light, bands such as Elbow, Ting Tings, Doves and the Happy Mondays are expected to be on the bill alongside the most popular international and chart-topping rock and pop acts from around the world.

If we didn't know better, we'd suspect that the paper has just written down the first bands it thought of there. But who wouldn't want to see a bill featuring Doves and the most popular bands in the world. We look forward to seeing if U2 or Madonna get the top billing.

Even the School of Sound Recording, who are pushing for the festival, are a little vague about the chances:

Wendy Breakall, from SSR, says: "Manchester is regarded as the heart of the UK music industry. It's about time this city had its own established music festival to match that reputation and to rival all the other established festivals across the UK. I am certain, given the right conditions, this event would attract interest from music fans across the UK."

You've got to love that "given the right conditions" caveat, which effectively removes the certainty of the statement in one go.

By the way - who actually regards Manchester as "the heart" of the UK music industry? Really? It has some great bands, and a lot of enthusiastic people working in the city, but is it really the centre for the industry?