ITC founder Tony Wilson, and legendary boss of Factory Records, explains why Manchester is the only city for In The City . . .

Why does ITC work so well in Manchester?

''The British music industry is happy that Manchester is their annual focal point. There's a music business infrastructure that is in Manchester, and that's what no other city outside London has.

''Every other city in Britain has its bands, it occasionally has management, but only Manchester has accountancy firms, law firms, promotion firms. There's a dark red sign outside Liverpool that says 'welcome to the music city.' They should have that sign up in London, because most Liverpool music companies are based in a small industrial estate in Battersea. The history of Rock'n'Roll is the small cities. And the small city that took punk to its heart was Manchester.''

Your famed 13-year cycle of youth revolution theory is just about due. Any signs?

''It's already happened. It's youth metal. Strangely.''

Aren't all those bands American?

''When I saw The Music, my line was 'I've seen the future and it plays guitars.' And I was shocked. I was surprised, but it does. I thought the revolution would come out of jungle. My son, who is 17, is very bright and a junglist, but when I saw The Music in October last year, I was kind of horrified, because here is a band who were playing Prog Rock, that awful cultural bore. But the excitement that one felt watching them and listening to them was equivalent to a youth revolution.''

Pick up the programme at the Dr Marten's store in the Triangle.

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