Metrolink passengers are set to get a surprise this week as Liam Gallagher announces the trams stops on his favourite line.
The Manchester music legend will take over the tram announcements in celebration of the Bee Network, Greater Manchester’s integrated public transport system, and Beyond the Music festival.
Beyond the Music is a new music festival and change-making conference that takes place across Manchester from 11–14 October. The spotlight is on new music, grass roots venues and developing talent and infrastructure support for the city region that will make an impact on the music and content sectors across the UK and Beyond.
More than 100 artists will be performing at 17 grassroots venues across the city – including an entire day of free concerts in partnership with Lush, titled ‘Music for Everyone’ – culminating in a secret gig sponsored by The Face.
Beyond the Music organisers are urging the people of Greater Manchester to make most of the new Bee Network system to travel into the city to enjoy and support the incredible music heritage Manchester has and continues to have.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said it was ‘truly wonderful’ to see the inaugural ‘Beyond the Music’ finally taking place with such a strong line-up in venues across the city.
The founding member of the Beyond the Music co-operative, alongside Manchester City Council, CityCo and the city centre BIDs AO Arena, Coop Live and Factory International, added: “We are supporting it all the way and are confident that it will become a fixture in the city’s calendar.
“True to Manchester’s traditions, Beyond The Music is a cooperative endeavour which aims to give all players in the music industry an equal voice and equal say on the change it needs. By doing that, our aim is to strengthen one of Manchester’s, and Britain’s, most important exports.”
“There surely can’t be any better way of marking the launch of the Bee Network and the first Beyond The Music than getting one of Manchester’s most famous voices announcing the stops on his favourite Metrolink line.”
The Bee Network has taken a huge step forward with last month’s launch of Greater Manchester’s first locally controlled bus services in nearly 40 years. Bus franchising signifies the start of the plan for an integrated, ‘London-style’ transport network across the region, combining bus, tram, active travel and eventually rail.
Image credit: Transport for Greater Manchester
