New Summer of Love Festival announced in Manchester

The new Summer of Love Festival will take place in the heart of Manchester, in an abandoned warehouse, over the August Bank Holiday weekend – Saturday 21s and Sunday 22nd August.

The team behind the festival are Animal Crossing promoters, who have firmly imprinted themselves as one of the city’s most exciting party organisers in recent years, having also hosted takeovers at Gottwood and Glastonbury festivals, further cementing them as one of the most exciting part brands not just in Manchester but the UK.

They have become renowned for their colourful stand-out branding and their nous for picking out unique party locations from car showrooms to railway arches, not to mention their carefully curated line-ups centred around left of centre underground talent.

Naturally, given their creative approach to party organisation, it is no surprise to see the festival will include some special collaborations with Basement Wax and Vinyl Pimp hosting a record fair, a wellness hut by Mind Manchester and Blok, a food market curated by Eat MCR and an artist’s corner hosted by Smolensky Gallery.

The Gottwood team has been invited along for a Saturday takeover. You can also expect to see Dyed Soundorom, Shonky b2b Traumer, Onur Ozer, Priku, and Cristi Cons b2b Vlad Caia. In addition, homegrown UK highlights include Bobby O’Donnell and Annie Errez of Leeds’ Mint, Ethel, Josh Baker, MOTUS DJs, and Into The Woods. Plus Animal Crossing organisers and residents Joey Jackson and OLLi Ryder.

We sat down with the co-founder of Animal Crossing and The Summer of Love Festival, Olli Ryder, to find out more about The Summer of Love Festival:

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Olli – for those who might not have heard of Animal Crossing or The Summer of Love Festival, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about the brand/s?

Thank you so much for having us! Yes, of course, it would be my pleasure… 

Animal Crossing is a music & arts collective founded in 2019 by five amigos who had a shared vision of creating something new within the underground sphere. We always felt there was an opportunity in Manchester and a story to tell. As a crew, we’re a creative bunch who like to laugh; we love music, the arts and felt this combination of things would naturally blend well. 

A reflection of the above is seen within our branding. The illustrative artwork plays such a pivotal role in giving people a sense of the party experience. Putting Arapu’s name next to a cartoon Lama is always going to put a smile on people’s faces. 

The ambition with the parties from day one was to create experiences that weren’t available elsewhere. It was key for us to be different, and the idea to source previously untouched locations was born, from railway arches to abandoned car showrooms, rooftops, and underground bunkers. These environments are all paired with bespoke creative concepts to complement the musical experience. Your five senses deserve to be tantalized. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Summer of Love Festival (@summeroflove_festival)

Every time you come to an Animal Crossing party, it will always be your first, no matter how many times you’ve been. The narrative will forever evolve. We’ve only been on our feet for a short period of time, but the moments, connections, and memories we’ve already lived inspire us to keep ongoing. Our mission is to create adventures across the globe, and our next stop is The Summer of Love 🙂 

You have built quite a name for yourselves over the past few years with Animal Crossing – How did the Summer of Love Festival concept come about?

This period has provided us with a lot of time to reflect, take a step back, and really think about the bigger picture. We felt it was our duty to pull this together, to create our very own Summer of Love. A moment, a weekend, whereby we can come together, connect, and make the memories we’ve missed dearly. 

Looking back in time, you understand and take inspiration from the previous Summer of Love narratives, and there’s always beauty at the end of the tunnel. 

You have become known for picking unconventional spaces for your events – What has drawn you to the location you have chosen for the festival, and can you tell us a little bit about it?

I honestly can’t tell you how much of a buzz we get of finding new spaces. We’ve found some absolute belters, but this takes the crown by quite some margin. The second we found it, everything else just fell into place. 

You walk in and get this feeling; you’re lost in time. It aligned perfectly with the Summer of Love.

The Love Factory, as it’s been christened, will be undergoing sme serious transformations ahead of the event, which we can’t share with everyone!

Anything else you might want to add / exclusives we’re always happy for an exclusive scoop? : ) 

Well, as ARPIAR are playing in Manchester for the first time in over a decade, we felt it would only be right for them to get four hours to close up on Sunday night…

There will also be two very tasty after-hours in our brand new cultural event space, The Loft. 

We can’t wait for The Summer of Love, see you there 🙂

For more information on the Summer of Love festival and to buy tickets click here.