The Louder Than Words Festival of music and writing grows louder each year. Now in its ninth edition, this remains the only festival that truly interrogates that enduring love affair between music and the written word.
After last year’s virtual festival… and now we’re coming through what writer Caitlin Moran referred to as “the Great Unpleasantness”… we are delighted to announce we will be back ‘IRL’ in Manchester, perennial home to the festival.
However, there are two key changes. Firstly, some of what was learnt about operating online has been carried forward, to give our visitors the choice to either attend in person, or join in on-line. Secondly, we have moved home. Suitably, the festival will now happen at the Innside Hotel on Tony Wilson Place, and in the shadow of what was Manchester’s Haçienda nightclub.
There is so much to choose from that it’s hard to isolate highlights, so for full details as well all event tickets, and day and full weekend passes, head to the website. We can tell you that the Festival kicks off on Friday Nov 12 with a typically elastic, eclectic collection of events, from esteemed designer Malcolm Garrett talking all things Buzzcocks through to a junglist panel and DJ set.
Saturday sees Daniel Rachel discussing his best-selling Oasis book; Eleanor McAvoy previewing her new film and playing live, Kevin Cummins discussing his Joy Division photography and Jordan talking about life as one of the original punks. On the music performance side, is it possible to get a more varied selection than one that runs from Frank Bellow from Anthrax to John Illsey from Dire Straits via Will Sergeant of Echo and the Bunnyman?
And Sunday rounds things off in the same spirit, with panels discussing subjects as varied as gender, Shane MacGowan, skinheads and Ravi Shankar, with renowned authors on all those subjects such as Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson, the award-winning Daniel Rachel, Roisin Dwyer, David Hepworth and Paul Morley. If that wasn’t enough, how about tackling Dylan, Lennon and God? Well Sleeper’s Jon Stewart will attempt to do that… all at the same time, within one panel.
And that is merely to scratch the surface, as elsewhere numerous academics and music writers gather for panels, discussions, Q&As, workshops… and even a music pub quiz! As well as hearing their stories, the Festival also offers a unique chance to get up close to people often only seen on the stage; in the much more social, conducive atmosphere of Innside. We have sole use of three adjoining function rooms of the hotel over the weekend, giving visitors the best experience of comfortably moving between rooms. With all three rooms operating throughout the weekend, there is obviously plenty to choose from and we will also have a dedicated bar area, for our pop-up bookshop, signings and … of course… socialising before and after the events.
Since its first incarnation in 2013, audience and contributor numbers have more than doubled at Louder, which in turn has only increased the variety of talks, panels and workshops programmed over the weekend. Over those years the festival has welcomed music characters such as Rick Buckler (The Jam), Guy Garvey (Elbow), Edwyn Collins, Viv Albertine, Mary Anne Hobbs, Woody Woodmansey (The Spiders From Mars), Wolfgang Flur (Kraftwerk), Brix Smith (The Fall), Tim Burgess (The Charlatans), Miles Hunt (The Wonderstuff), Bob Geldof, Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers) and Alan McGee (Creation Records).
Attendees come from as far as San Francisco and Moscow to engage in a weekend that includes panels, Q&As hosted by Louder’s John Robb (amongst others) and some very special performances from all four corners of the musical world: from rave to metal; ska to punk.
As well as looking back with most significant music personalities of past decades, Louder Than Words also celebrates future voices, with a continuing focus on the role of education in music and journalism, whether that be welcoming new, upcoming writers; involving students as volunteers and panellists; arranging workshops on everything from writing and getting published, making music, music journalism and music law. The Wilko Johnson Writing Award will make an extremely welcome return, celebrating young music writers under 25 and there is much to be enjoyed on the Festival fringe.
Expect music… expect conversation… expect laughter… expect things to get loud.
Tickets available here.
