NEIGHBOURHOOD WEEKENDER may be most well known for providing huge acts such as Pulp, George Ezra, or Courteeners, but arguably it’s greatest strength is being able to hear the next big thing before they blow up.

Everyone loves Sam Fender and Lewis Capaldi, but wouldn’t you have loved to be able to say you saw them before they became the superstars they are now? Keen eyed festivalgoers from previous Weekender’s would be able to make this claim, with both making appearances on stages other than the main stage at the Victoria Park festival.

So, with another Neighbourhood Weekender in the bag we decided to round up the five best acts from the Viola Beach Stage, Victoria Park’s smallest. All five are outstanding up-and-coming acts, more than worth a listen, and performed great sets at Weekender 2023.

Stanleys

The boys from Wigan put on a stunning show at the Viola Beach stage on the Saturday. The home town support could be felt in the crowd, with nonstop Wigan chants.

One of our three tips for bands to watch out for at Neighbourhood Weekender, they lived up to this promise with an energetic set where the singer commanded the crowd.

Their 90s inspired sound and catchy lyrics made for a great show, that had their fans booing when they were rushed off at the end of their set.

Goa Express

These Burnley powerhouses headlined the Viola Beach stage on the Saturday, then followed up a killer set with announcing their debut Album, the self-titled ‘Goa Express’.

This band, lead by a pair of brothers, were formed in the dream origin story for a rock band – involving drugs, breakups, and sleeping on the floor in a car park.

Their set closed off an outstanding first night of Weekender, and set them up perfectly ahead of their first ever headline tour of the UK.

Warrington Guardian:

English Teacher

As the Warrington Guardian’s lead on culture, I went into Neighbourhood Weekender thinking I had a fairly decent awareness of all the bands I was set to see. I had a strict schedule, and had interviewed what felt like half the acts on the Viola Beach stage.

English Teacher was not on my radar.

In the purest festival experience of all, I walked past the Viola Beach stage on the way to acquire a shame-filled deep fried pizza and was stunned by English Teacher’s set.

The band insist they aren’t post-punk despite that being the closest approximation I can gain of their genre, but to take an exact quote from my hurried notes app after seeing them: “great sound, holy sh*t, find out who they are.”

Need any more reason than that? In the ultimate cost-cutting exercise, their inventive new music video was filmed entirely on The Sims.

Dolores Forever

Dolores truly are forever. This female duo made a tongue in cheek promise to me in my interview with them that they would bring ‘Indie ABBA’ to Weekender, and that’s exactly what they did.

Fun, high energy bops with cutting lyrics were plentiful, with ‘Baby Teeth’ being a particular favourite of mine.

It was the kind of set that made you question why this duo were sat squarely in a spot around 3pm on the smallest stage – they are destined for bigger and better things.

Stone

The final are a band called Stone, who are arguable to even be called a ‘hidden’ gem.

Beloved in the north west, particularly in Liverpool, they have opened for huge names such as Sam Fender and Yungblud, who personally requested them for his tour in 2021.

I could make this argument for all five of these acts, but Stone are the band I was most shocked to see on the Viola Beach stage. This, to me, appears to be a band born for the confined spaces of The Big Top, with the overwhelmingly brilliant sound that sees them set for the Main Stage.