Blue Moon is first song played on Parklife 2023 stage in honour of Manchester City's Champions League match

Ahead of Manchester City’s big Champions League match against Inter Milan this evening, the local football team has received the honour of having the first song played at this year’s Parklife be in tribute to them.

As gates to Heaton Park opened at 11am, DJ Rich Reason boomed out Frank Sinatra’s swing classic Blue Moon on the decks of the Parklife stage in dedication to the club’s recent successes whilst 70,000 people entered the park.

Artists including RAYE, Little Simz, and Manchester-based rapper Aitch will be performing on the main stage throughout the day, whilst Fred Again…, Groove Armada, Skrillex, Annie Mac, and Peggy Gou will all be appearing across the festival’s nine stages today.

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This evening, Manchester City will be hoping to win the Champions League and win the treble in Istanbul having already been crowned Premier League champions and won the FA Cup this year.

If they succeed, they will equal Manchester United’s impressive feat back in 1999.

Around 40 direct flights have left Manchester Airport this week for the Turkish city, flying thousands of City fans to watch one of the biggest games in person.

One fan from Manchester told the M.E.N he decided to find an alternative way to flying to Istanbul and instead, along with two friends, chose to drive his 12-year-old Hyundai i20 across Europe to Turkey.

Since setting off on Wednesday, Adam has travelled through Munich, Serbia, Bulgaria and then onto Istanbul to arrive on Friday afternoon. With 35 hours driving, Adam calculates that his party of three will spend £500 between them on travel rather than the £1800 they were facing with flights.

The match will kick off at 8pm, whilst