Festival Watch: Pixies and James to headline new Manchester event Summer in the City

Joining the festival calendar for the first time this year, Manchester's Summer In The City (10-11 July) will be taking place at the Castlefield Bowl, and they have an impressive double-header for their main acts - re-formed 90s alt.rockers the Pixies will headline on the Thursday, with James playing a homecoming gig as headliners on the Friday. Also confirmed so far are Royal Blood and Starsailor, with more names to be announced. The festival's website is yet to be unveiled - as soon as you can buy tickets and check details, we'll let you know.

Jumping across to Liverpool, this year's Sound City (1-3 May) have confirmed a new batch of artists for their in-the-city showcase, including Action Bronson, The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr., The Hold Steady, ex-Doves front-man Jimi Goodwin, Drenge, Royal Blood, The Wytches, Fat White Family, Superfood, Lyla Foy and San Fermin. Details and tickets can be found here.

More of the lineup for Bilbao BBK (10-12 July) has been announced today – the Spanish festival will welcome Future of the Left, Foster the People, John Newman, Conor Oberst, Kuroma, Allen Stone, Bleachers and Vetusta Morla, joining already-announced acts The Black Keys, Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, MGMT, Imagine Dragons, The Lumineees, Crystal Fighters and others. See the full lineup and book tickets here.

In other festival news, the electronic music-focused one-day festival Eastern Electrics (2 Aug), which last year took place at Knebworth House in London, has confirmed it will return in 2014 – no lineup announcements have yet been made, but last year's event saw sets from Richie Hawtin, Ben UFO, Dave Clarke and a who's who of bass music, techno and house legends and rising stars. We'll keep you posted as the lineup is confirmed.