Parklife: Manchester festival pushed back 'to ensure we get to dance'

The festival has been moved from its usual date in June

The next edition of Parklife festival has been moved from June to September to "ensure we get to dance together in 2021", its organisers have said.

The event at Manchester's Heaton Park, which was cancelled in 2020 because of Covid-19, will be preceded by a show by the band New Order at the same venue.

It would be "a return to the fields and good times we all love," Parklife said

Welcoming the news, night-time economy advisor Sacha Lord said it "feels good" to have the shows in the calendar.

The show will be New Order's first in Manchester for four years

A spokesman for the festival said it would be "a party two years in the making that we all deserve".

"It's why, with that in mind, that we have decided to move next year's festival to the new dates of 11 [and] 12 September, so we can be sure of the good times coming," he said.

He added that the event's "huge line-up" would be announced in January and was "going to be worth the wait".

The show by New Order on 10 September will be the band's first hometown show in four years.

The band said the "connection between ourselves and Manchester has played a pivotal role in who we are as a band" and the show would "bring a celebration like no other to Heaton Park in 2021".

Responding to the Greater Manchester night-time economy advisor on social media, BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Mary Anne Hobbs said it was "wonderful, hopeful news".