The annual multi-venue festival returns to the Northern capital for a packed Saturday of music, boasting one of their strongest lineups to date.

As summer draws to a close, music lovers up and down the country will no doubt be looking to squeeze those last shimmery droplets of the festival season into their event-branded plastic cups for one last hurrah before the winter darkness starts to creep in. Perhaps one of the defining end-of-season UK festivals – so much so that it has branched out into Brighton and Edinburgh for sister events – Manchester Psych Fest has been steadily leading the charge for its focus on the burgeoning psych scene in the UK, championing grassroots music and continuing to book cutting edge new acts each year. The 2025 instalment of Psych Fest promises to be veritable buffet of sensory delights: beyond their stacked music bill, ticket holders will be privy to a plethora of additional activities, such as film screenings upstairs at Lass O’Gowrie, Yoga workshops, industry panels, and even a poetry reading with Anthony Szmierek.

Topping the bill, Sweden’s premier psych-rock oddities Goat will be heading up the main stage at Manchester Academy for a spiritual eruption of heady and vibrant lysergic maximalism – expect to lose yourself so hard that you find yourself even more enlightened (and sweatier) once you emerge at end of it. Preceding their slot on the main stage, Nadine Shah will be cooking up her signature blend of featherlight indie, jazz and alt pop, a worthy palette cleanser for a busy bill of music. The only headliner not appearing on the main stage, London post-punk sextet Warmduscher, will be on hand over at the Cyco Vision stage to rock your socks firmly off and into the beer-soaked oblivion of the mosh pit.

Beyond the headliners, there are some real diamonds hiding in this bill for the more enlightened psych lovers in attendance too. Eccentric psych-prog pioneers Gong are one such act that stands out, founded in the 1960s by Soft Machine’s Daevid Allen who led the band until his untimely passing back in 2015. Spaced out, cult cosmic shoegazers LSD and the Search for God will also be making an appearance over at the Wide Awake stage, alongside Dutch psych-funk luminaries Yin Yin later on in the evening for a feast of Thai-inspired grooves and disco elation. National treasures incumbent Getdown Services will be headlining the MPF stage over at the O2 Ritz, too – I’d recommend getting there early as it will rightly be packed. And bring everyone you’re with. Including your mum (but she needs a ticket too).

Lower down on the bill, there’s no shortage of high quality emerging talent for festivalgoers to discover on their musical excursions across the day. Representing the rich local scene in Manchester, certified ‘band of the moment’ Westside Cowboy will be opening the Wide Awake stage; industrial noise punk purveyors SILVERWINGKILLER are closing out the Pink Room stage; synth punk trio Yaang will be headlining the FAC251 stage, and dream-pop singer songwriter Yasmin Coe will be appearing at the Hot Take stage over at the Deaf Institute Lodge. Some other artists worth catching if you’ve got the guts: Canadian new-wave extraordinaires La Sécurité will be making a welcome return to the UK over at the Sour Grapes Stage; crafting an ethereal, angelic dream-pop magic, Deary’s performance over at The Pink Room will no doubt have you shedding a tear (or three); psychonaut seven-piece Mandrake Handshake will catapult you into a brand new cosmic dimension over at FAC251, mere hours after Brighton risers Goodbye unfurl their enigmatic, jangly shoegaze pleasures that somehow defy simple categorisation.

Tickets and further information available at https://www.manchesterpsychfest.com