The xx, Massive Attack, Mogwai, Goldfrapp, Nenah Cherry, Rob da Bank, Delphic, Money.
Manchester International Festival is a vast highbrow melting pot of music, art, performance, theatre and talks for those who crave creative culture. Some of the many innovative shows on offer include Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja working with filmmaker Adam Curtis to create a unique audiovisual performance, The xx playing 18 intimate shows across the festival in a special 60-capacity room, Goldfrapp performing with the Royal Northern College of Music's String Orchestra, a series of DJ sets by Bestival founder Rob da Bank traversing 'The A-Z of Manchester', and local trio Delphic reworking their 'Collections' album in a variety of global music guises. Most of the acts and shows on offer are performed on multiple nights over the two-and-a-half weeks of the event, and you can also catch bigwig actor Willem Dafoe starring in Russian play 'The Old Woman', a 'pulsating sensory landscape' installation, and bearded luvvie Kenneth Branagh hamming it up in Macbeth.