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Saturday's closing act at the Victoria Warehouse came courtesy of the incomparable Christine and the Queens who treated us to an electrifying new live show.

Chris debuted tracks from his new album, "Paranoïa, Angels, True Love", including a track featuring Madonna. The eagerly anticipated record is the second instalment of Christine and the Queens' rock opera concept record project based on Tony Kushner's 1991 play Angels in America. True to theme, Chris returned to the stage for his encore bearing magnificent angel wings.

In his words: "What a time to be alive and here."

大象传媒 News - Christine and the Queens on enlisting Madonna for 'weird musical'

Arlo Parks' headline set had everything you could hope for: new music, crowd-pleasing singles, open-hearted messages to the audience, poetry reading... and special guests!

Romy from The xx joined Arlo on stage for a unique rendition of Black Dog, and later Tom Coll from Dublin band Fontaines DC took to the drums for track Sophie.

Speaking about Manchester, Arlo announced: "there's always this special something about the shows that I've had here. There's always an energy, an emotion". It certainly seemed the case on Sunday night.

Friday saw the acclaimed rapper Loyle Carner make a return to the 6 Music Festival stage (his first appearance was in 2017).

Still as enchanting to watch now as he was then, Loyle mixed things up this time with a special collaboration with the AMC Gospel Choir. The trademark intimacy of tracks like Nobody Knows (Ladas Road) was taken to new levels with soaring backing vocals.

While Loyle was busy on stage, artist Chris Lloyd was capturing the scene in a drawing, which made for .

Not ones to be left out, on Sunday The Big Moon were also joined by a choir, specifically Manchester's SHE Choir - a collaborative group made up of female and non-binary singers. Joining for Satellites and 2 Lines, the choir was a glorious centre-point in an already memorable set featuring songs from across their whole catalogue (not to mention a very brief flute duet!).

They closed with the triumphant anthem Your Light and it's still stuck in our heads.

The festival got off to a smashing start with a show hosted by 大象传媒 Music Introducing, which supports unsigned, undiscovered and under the radar musicians. Accordingly, the bill at Band on the Wall was the place to see the headliners of tomorrow, with sets from The Lathums, Antony Szmierek, Afflecks Palace and Phoebe Green. And if you want proof, just remember that Arlo Parks, The Big Moon and Lava La Rue were all supported by Introducing early in their careers.

Phoebe Green

Ryan Durrans of Wigan's rising indie heroes, The Lathums, said 6 Music was "really good, especially for the amount of new talent that is emerging from everywhere across the UK these days".

"They helped us out in the early days, so it's nice to be back and playing."

For bonus new music recommendations, .

大象传媒 News - 大象传媒 6 Music Festival: The Lathums headline opening night in Manchester

From indie bangers to dancefloor slappers to waker-uppers, 6 Music Festival had a sterling selection of DJ sets.

The venue Band on the Wall hosted the Indie Forever clubnight with sets from Tim Burgess, Good Future and Yard Act, alongside Steve Lamacq and Emily Pilbeam.

Victoria Warehouse, on the other hand, had us covered with Rave Forever, deftly soundtracked by sets from Hot Chip and Erol Alkan, alongside Afrodeutsche and Phoebe IH.

For something a bit different, Daniel Avery treated us to an AM refresher in a pizzeria for the Morning After Mix.