Manchester-based band Courteeners to headline Lytham Festival 2024 with support from The Kooks and Nieve Ella

The Manchester-based guitar band are the first headliner to be announced as the North West’s biggest live music festival prepares to return for five unforgettable nights from Wednesday, July 3 to Sunday, July 7.

One of the most successful UK bands of the last 15 years, Courteeners – made up of Liam Fray, Michael Campbell and Daniel Moores – will bring their unmissable show to Lytham Green on Friday, July 5.

They will be joined with support from English pop-rock outfit The Kooks and indie pop riser Nieve Ella.

Frontman Liam Fray said: “We are very much looking forward to making our debut and joining the illustrious list of acts that have performed at the Lytham Festival.

“We made the short pilgrimage from Manchester last year to watch The Strokes and were blown away by the buzz of the locals and the beauty of the scenery.

“What a Friday it’s going to be on July 5th. See you down the front, x”

Formed in 2006 and lauded by Q Magazine as one of “the world’s biggest underground acts”, all of Courteeners albums have gone Top 10.

Earlier this year, their 2008 debut album St. Jude reached Number 1 for the very first time with its 15th anniversary edition and became the album with the longest time between release and charting at Number 1 in UK chart history.

The band also played their third sell out 50,000 capacity headline show at Heaton Park in June to celebrate the anniversary of the album.

Lytham Festival co-founder Peter Taylor added: “Courteeners are without a doubt one of the country’s biggest and best-loved bands.

“This is an exclusive performance for the North of England so if you want to see them next summer you need to head to Lytham Festival.”

Tickets for Courteeners go on general sale at 9.30am on Friday, November 24 at www.lythamfestival.com.

It was revealed the five-day festival in June created a massive boost for local and UK businesses in an independent report published on October 19, 2023.

Organisers Cuffe and Taylor jointly commissioned the survey of businesses, residents, visitors and contractors working at the festival with Fylde Council to investigate the economic and social impact during the annual live music event.

Headline figures from the report show Lytham Festival created £16.8million of incremental income for UK businesses this summer, equating to a gross added value of £9.2million.

Of that, £3.8million was spent with businesses in Fylde and around £2.3million of that was spent on eating, drinking and shopping ahead of attending the events.

Hotels and accommodation also saw a boost, with 4,500 nights booked across Fylde borough and a further 10,500 room nights in Blackpool and other local areas.

Coun Jayne Nixon, Fylde Council Lead Member for Tourism, Leisure & Culture, said: “It is heartening to see such positive responses from people across Fylde in this independent impact assessment.

“The opinions of residents and business owners are immensely important to us, and this report both illustrates how fondly the festival is viewed locally and quantifies the financial benefits it brings to the borough.”

Following the granting of a one-year extension to the existing licence to 22,500 for two nights this year, Cuffe and Taylor submitted an application to Fylde Borough Council’s licensing committee to extend the site capacity to a maximum of 25,000 per day for 2024 onwards.

They have also agreed a Park and Ride option for car parking that will take pressure away from the road infrastructure in Lytham.

Speaking about the licence increase for 2024, Cuffe and Taylor fellow co-founder Daniel Cuffe said: “We were able to demonstrate to the authorities this year that we could run a safe and well managed event for 22,500 people.

“Our improved partnerships with Blackpool Transport and Northern Rail to get the audience back home safely after the event worked well.

“We’re proposing to roll this out further in 2024 and, taking into account a larger capacity, add a Park and Ride scheme using land in St Annes to accommodate additional car parking numbers should our license application be successful.”