Alan McGee lines up big names for first Creation Day festival - here are the details

A celebration of the legendary Creation Records label and the legacy of its visionary founder will bring two days of exceptional live music to a special festival next year.

The first Creation Day will be exclusively curated by label founder Alan McGee himself. A bona fide music mogul who has been at the epicentre of the music industry for the last four decades, McGee is opening up his enviable address book to conjure a formidable line-up.

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The first night is headlined by proven party-starters Happy Mondays. Since 1980, the Mondays have been getting people moving with the baggified brilliance of alternative dancefloor anthems like Step On, Kinky Afro and Hallelujah. Now signed to McGee’s Creation Management, the band will be stepping up to the mainstage as the 24 Hour Party People they are.

Their infamous frontman, Shaun Ryder, will also be also performing over the weekend with his other band, Black Grape. This will be the first time Ryder will have fronted both acts at one festival.

One of the Midlands’ greatest musical exports this century, Editors headline the Sunday night. Formed in Birmingham, the band launched into the consciousness of the mainstream with their acclaimed 2005 debut The Back Room. They have released six studio albums with two of them going platinum, consistently sold out major venues and headlined festivals world-wide. The band released their best-of Black Gold in 2019, a record packed with hits including Bullets, Munich, Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, Papillon and An End Has A Start.

Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant of Echo & the Bunnymen

Arguably heirs to the Mondays’ indie-dance crossover crown, Friendly Fires will bring their dancefloor-igniting creations to the party on Saturday night. The band’s self-titled debut and its follow-up Pala saw them take over charts all over the world and earn a Mercury Music Prize nomination in the process.

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Venerated all-time greats Echo & the Bunnymen will take to the main stage. A band who hark back to Alan McGee’s earliest days in music and have crossed paths with him ever since, expect Ian McCulloch and crew to deliver a hits-packed set to rival the best, laden with timeless treasures like The Cutter, The Back Of Love, The Killing Moon and many more.

And marking the 25th anniversary of their All Change album this year, seminal Creation Management signees Cast will be serving up some of its high-octane thrills and much more, with frontman and founder John Power promising to be on typically electrifying form.

Elsewhere on the bill, more acquaintances from McGee’s colourful past will be providing plenty of amplified blasts throughout the weekend, including Sleeper, Echobelly, Ash and Glasvegas, while, longstanding Leeds legends The Wedding Present will see the ebullient David Gedge digging up gold from their hallowed back-catalogue of cult indie-rock.

The festival is scheduled to take place at West Park, Wolverhampton on May 29 and 30. Visit Creationdayfestival.com/tickets to book.