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Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024 [Gisela Szlatoszlavek]

“I HATE to drop this in, but when we won best small festival at the UK Festival Awards last year,” says Andy. “Everyone, like, people who come, or people who volunteer with us, everyone felt they had won, too.”

“I totally got that vibe as well,” says Ian.

“We were up against some big events,” he continues. “We thought we might have a chance to win the ‘best grassroots festival’ or ‘best metropolitan’. But when we didn’t win those, I thought, ‘never mind. We’ve had a good day. We got a seat at the table. The fucking food’s nice.’

The Manchester Punk Festival organisers receiving the Best Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards 2024. Ian is 3rd from the right, backrow. And Andy is 2nd on the right, in blue jacket and heart-shaped sunglasses
Random Hand playing at the Manchester Punk Festival 2024 [Pic: Kristy]
Johnny Foreigner on stage at the Manchester Punk Festival 2024 [Photo: kristy]
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