Playing to a smaller crowd than expected due to lower ticket sales perhaps due in part to Snow Patrol performing two last minute shows in Manchester three weeks prior to the event and withholding permission to use the band's name for promotional purposes, until their own shows had been completed.
The decision to still hold the event was apparently not an easy one although Snow Patrol, Happy Mondays, Tim Booth, Jim Glennie, Larry Gott from James, The Twang, Kid British, Peter Hook with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and Joe Duddell (who composed the Elbow concert with the Halle Orchestra and Youth choir for the Manchester International Festival) performed exciting sets.