Neighbourhood Weekender

Neighbourhood Weekender is still the indie weekend at Victoria Park in Warrington. SJM Concerts put it on. The Warrington Guardian calls Simon Moran, a former Woolston High pupil and the founder of SJM, the person behind the idea. Luke Temple and Jack Dowling announced it in 2017 for the May bank holiday of 2018, on three stages. The same paper, in 2025, says it was back after a blank year, and that James closed the Saturday on Sit Down. The weekend walked now is 23 and 24 May 2026. John Earls, in Classic Pop, writes 22-24 May: the evening before, The Human League and ABC played in the tent. The two counts stay side by side. The council prints noon to 10.30pm. Northern Exposure closes by saying the weekend will come back to the same park. That date is not copied.

On the Friday, Martin Fry with ABC plays Show Me, (How To Be A) Millionaire, The Night You Murdered Love and Poison Arrow, with screens of the eighties looks. The Human League, Philip Oakey through several costume changes, pass through Soundtrack To A Generation and Seconds. Don't You Want Me is not the last song: they come back with Being Boiled and close on Together In Electric Dreams. On the Saturday, Lucy Holden and Amanda McEachen walk half an hour from Warrington Central. In the tent, Nxdia, British-Egyptian, with no title noted. On the Viola Beach stage, The Cheap Thrills, from Walton Vale, pack it past the sound desk with Codependence. Sophie Ellis-Bextor stops for a fault. Earls sees her twirl a ribbon while it is fixed. Crying At The Discotheque and Murder On The Dancefloor are heard. The other note writes that she runs an ABBA song into that last one. The Kaiser Chiefs: Ricky Wilson climbs the speaker stacks. Earls hears Ruby and I Predict A Riot halfway, and the Na Na Na Na Naa chorus. Holden puts Everyday I Love You Less and Less early, Ruby midway and Oh My God at the close.

The K's, near home, arrive after seven months without a full gig. Earls hears The Bends, Helen Oh I and Hoping Maybe, with flares. Richard Ashcroft headlines the Saturday and starts low. Part of the crowd drifts toward Example, in the tent. The turn is The Drugs Don't Work, which he introduces for «the ones we lost amongst the way». The encore brings Sonnet and Bitter Sweet Symphony. Earls, instead, picks out Music Is Power, dedicated to the «Warrington legend» Ian Brown, and Break The Night With Colour. There is no single list. The photos are by Amanda McEachen and Liam Maxwell.

On Sunday the thermometer reads 29 degrees before ten. Melanie C plays Who Do You Think You Are, and acoustic versions of Spice Up Your Life and When You're Gone. In the tent, The Fratellis mark twenty years of Costello Music with Whistle for the Choir and Chelsea Dagger. DMA'S, a spelling the note also writes as DMA's, open with Timeless, Lay Down and Delete, and play a version of Believe. Earls specifies that it is Cher's, and that the first half marks ten years of Hills End. Backstage, guitarist Johnny Took says they cannot say anything just now. Matt Mason says breaking through is harder than before. Tommy O'Dell closes with «we love ya honestly from the bottom of my heart».

Blossoms, with Tom Ogden, take about ninety minutes. All five play drums on If You Think This Is Real Life. In the fake ending of Oh No they hold still. Myles Kellock is on the keyboards. I Like Your Look and Joke About Divorce are heard. Northern Exposure notes At Most a Kiss and Honey Sweet. Before The Keeper, Ogden asks for a sea of shoulders and there are flares on the horizon. The encore stretches My Favourite Room, dedicated to Viola Beach, the Warrington band who were due to tour with them. The festival stage carries that name. A Greek gyros, £13.50, is the food Holden puts ahead of the rest. The same Saturday, Arkayla open with Fortune Teller and the chorus You'll never survive this weather. Cast, John Power in a jacket, come in on Free Me and Poison Vine. On Sunday, Shed Seven: Rick Witter jokes about the park's patchy reception and Chasing Rainbows is heard. The Guest List make a main-stage debut. The Royston Club fill the crowd with band tees, with no title in the note.

The weekend, as it stands, is still that park: the tent, the Viola Beach stage and the main one, the walk from Warrington Central and Blossoms closing on the song for the local band. The May 2026 one is the one that got written down.