Skyline Festival Sheffield: Student’s side hustle could be the 'next Tramlines' after spectacular rise

When an 18-year-old undergraduate begrudgingly took on a part time job handing out flyers to West Street revellers to offset spiralling student debt he could have never have imagined the chain of events that followed.

Within months Phil McCue, a University of Sheffield politics student who moved to the city from Kent to study, was operating his own promotional company with a team of 23 staff doing PR work for some of Sheffield’s biggest venues.

And whilst Covid called time on many operators, he pioneered socially distanced club nights in key venues across the city.

His success gave him the confidence to launch the pioneering Skyline Festival less than two years ago.

Phil McCue’s concept – an inner city dance festival that provided a launchpad for ‘bedroom’ DJs performing across a cluster of venues – was a massive hit from day one with many tipping it to becoming dance music’s answer to Tramlines.

In fact he has had eight consecutive sold-out events since the festival’s launch in April 2022, with Skyline regularly pulling in audiences in excess of 2,000 people  and counting.

The scale of the event has continued to increase and this Easter Bank Holiday, Sunday March 31, sees the most ambitious festival yet.

Phil McCue said: “It has all been a bit of a whirlwind to be honest – but a highly enjoyable one! It was Sheffield’s reputation for producing artists like the Arctic Monkeys and having amazing nightlife that brought me here in the first place. To be a part of it has been a dream come true.” 

Skyline is set to showcase a wide-range of musical genres across its five Neepsend stages – Peddler, Factory Floor, Yellow Arch Studios, Happy’s & Parrot Club – including tech-house, disco, garage and unplugged performances from some of the city’s most promising young acoustic musicians.

They’re bringing in ex-Warehouse Project and Creamfields lighting techs to take the production to a whole new level with stunning laser shows, LED visuals and a cutting-edge runway stage into the crowd.  There’s also additional live music in Happy's Bar – a collaboration with student events team, Tuned In, who have unplugged sets from bands like The Northern Smokers Clubs, Anya Lace and Woodseats Live founder Ciaron Elm.

The iconic Yellow Arch studios will be keeping the party going until 3am, whilst Parrot Club will feature a collaboration with ‘Some Say Disco’, with ex-Gatecrasher DJ Paul Metcalfe teaming up with Johnny Hawkins for a day of non-stop feel good anthems.

First release tickets have already sold-out in record time and general release tickets are available exclusively on FIXR at https://fixr.co/event/skyline-easter-sunday-neepsend-takeover-tickets-908277890 .

More information from: https://www.skyline-sheffield.co.uk