The time has finally come for the return of the much-loved Manchester Pride Festival 2023, with the city ready to welcome a huge parade, a line-up of massive music, and loads of celebrations across the Gay Village.
The charity’s annual LGBTQ+ celebration is one of the highlights of Manchester’s events calendar, drawing thousands into the city.
This year, there’ll be the Gay Village Party, the parade, and loads of smaller events like Superbia Weekend, Family Pride, and more.
If you’re heading down to Manchester Pride Festival 2023, here’s everything you need to know, from travel to tickets and more.
Manchester Pride 2023 Parade
The Manchester Pride 2023 parade route. Credit: Supplied
This is arguably the most popular and well-attended part of the entire Manchester Pride Festival weekend – the parade.
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Thousands will take part in the march through the city centre, with tens of thousands usually coming to watch.
This year’s theme is Queerly Beloved, marking 10 years since gay marriage was legalised in England and Wales.
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The parade will set off at 12pm from Liverpool Road, navigating its path through the city centre via Deansgate, Peter Street, Oxford Road, Portland Street, Princess Street, Whitworth Street.
It’s expected to wrap up on Fairfield Street around 3pm.
Manchester Pride Festival tickets and wristband exchange
Manchester Pride Parade. Credit: Supplied
Manchester Pride Festival will run from Friday 25 August until Monday 28 August, with all events apart for the Gay Village Party free to attend.
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Weekend and day tickets are still on sale with Ticketmaster, though VIP and low income tickets have sold out.
Manchester Pride ticket prices are as follows:
Saturday day tickets – £33.85
Sunday day tickets – £33.85
Monday day tickets – £2.50
Weekend tickets – £41
You’ll need to swap your ticket for a Pledge Band at the Pledge Ban Exchange Point before heading into the Gay Village Party. You can find the exchange point at the Aytoun Street Car Park, with the opening times below.
Friday 25 August: 12pm – midnight
Saturday 26 August: 12pm – midnight
Sunday 27 August: 12pm – midnight
Monday 28 August: 12pm – 6pm
Manchester Pride Festival line-up
This year’s line-up is Manchester Pride’s most diverse to date, with 96% queer performers; 54% women, 51% people of colour and over 42% from trans and non-binary communities.
The music will take place across three stage; The Village Stage, MancUnity, and the Alan Turing Stage.
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Headliners include drag sensation Pabllo Vittar, singer-songwriter and Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Danny Beard, and electronic music icon Alison Goldfrapp.
The full stage splits and set times are on the Manchester Pride website, but there’s a tidy summary below too.
The Village Stage: Trans Filth & Joy, hosted by Milk Presents and Trans Creative. Featuring BIMINI, Tito Bone, Cyro, The BollyWitch, and more. 18:30-23:00.
MancUnity: Celebrate Fat Pride, in partnership with Gaydio, with artists including The Niallist, Ivy Profemme, The Fat Britney, and Miss Lei-Lei. 18:30-00:00.
The Alan Turing Stage: Hosted by Donna Trump, and includes the Human Rights Forum, La Discothèque Orchestra, Queeriosity Cabaret, and more. 17:00-23:00.
Saturday
The Village Stage: Notable appearances by Alison Goldfrapp, Pabllo Vitar, Jodie Harsh, and more. The stage will open from 12:00 with a Parade screening, with main acts from 16:30-23:00.
MancUnity: Black Pride MCR / Swagga, headlined by Raven Mandella. 13:30-00:00.
The Alan Turing Stage: Queer Asian Takeover, hosted by Lucky Roy Singh, featuring Gok Wan, Gracie T, and more. 12:00-23:00.
Sunday
The Village Stage: Join Danny Beard and Friends, Jake Shears, Natasha Bedingfield, Lisa Scott-Lee, and more. 12:00-23:00.
MancUnity: Queer Women’s Takeover, with Monki, Blasha and Allatt, Mix-Stress and Friends, and more. 13:00-00:00.
The Alan Turing Stage: Cutie-poc Cabaret, hosted by Rikki Beadle-Blair, with Oneda, Angie Brown, and more. 12:00-23:00.
Monday
The Village Stage: Revel in community collaboration and enjoy performances from George the Dragon Disabled Queer Joy Cabaret and Cuppa T. 12:00-18:00.
MancUnity: The Runway by Manchester’s own 7ft drag artist Banksie, 14:00-17:00.
The Alan Turing Stage: Enjoy the melodies of the Disney Orchestra. 12:00-16:30.
Family Pride
Family Pride 2023.
Family Pride is the part of Manchester Pride Festival that aims to provide an exciting, inspiring and celebratory day for LGBTQ+ families, parents/carers, and children alike.
The completely free event will be held at the Great Northern Warehouse on Saturday 26 August, between midday and 6pm.
The programme includes music, crafting, party games and sing-a-longs, as well as a rainbow disco, showcasing performances and artists that champion love, self-expression and individuality.
There’s a rail strike on this weekend… yep, again. Oh, and there’s a First Bus strike on too.
So if you’re planning to get public transport in to town, you’ll need to plan carefully, especially as the Manchester Pride Festival is on at the same time as a Manchester United game and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ gig at Wythenshawe Park.
Mancs are being urged to leave their cars at home due to the road closures and diversions around the city centre.
As per the weather forecast for the entire summer so far, it’s not looking like a heatwave is imminent.
According to the Met Office, Friday will have highs of 17 degrees and lows of 12 degrees, and will be cloudy but dry.
On Saturday, there’s a 60% chance of a thunderstorm at 12pm (right at the time the parade starts, which is nice), then it will be cloudy with sunny spells after that.
Temperatures will reach 18 degrees, with lows of 11 degrees on Saturday.
On Sunday, there’s again highs of 17 degrees and lows of 12 degrees, with a chance of rain showers in the afternoon.
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And for the Candlelit Vigil on Monday, it’s cloudy and 18 degrees all day.
Featured image: Manchester Pride
What's On
Manchester’s new real-life Pac-Man experience is coming soon and you can grab early bird tickets
Danny Jones
Manchester already boasts a whole host of interactive games bars and activity destinations to boast, but we feel pretty confident in saying that there are very places on the planet where you can find a place to play a real-life version of Pac-Man.
First announced back in October and now scheduled to debut in March 2025, the Pac-Man Live Experience is the newest addition to Manchester’s growing entertainment scene and it’s promising to be a popular one too.
This brand-new life-sized immersive experience plunges players into the nostalgic world of the iconic video game we all know and love, only instead of using joysticks on an old-school arcade machine, they’ll physically sprint, dodge, and chomp their way through a maze.
Although the launch itself is still a few months away, the team behind this ingenious idea are getting ready for the frenzy and putting early bird tickets on sale ahead of opening day.
Credit: Concept Image (supplied)
So how does it work?
Good question: participants can gear up in a PAC vest and step into the role of the instantly recognisable yellow chomper, collecting power pellets, dodging the classic ghost characters – BLINKY, PINKY, INKY, and CLYDE – and racking up points on their way to victory.
Guided through an epic 12-level adventure, players will be led by the ‘PAC-MASTER’: a lively gameshow host who serves as commentator and referee; players will also be accompanied by immersive in-game effects like sound bites, lighting, and haptic (vibration) feedback to elevate the experience. Cool, right?
The striking Arcade Arena will feature two massive PAC-MAN courts projected onto the floor, while dynamic visuals transform the walls, fully immersing participants in the retro arcade universe. There’s no need for headsets either, so players can embark on a multi-sensory adventure, seamlessly blending the real world with augmented reality.
Created by Tom Lionetti-Maguire, the CEO and Founder of Little Lion Entertainment – the same team behind The Crystal Maze Live Experience, Tomb Raider, and Chaos Karts to the likes of London and more recently Manchester –
The whole thing has been brought to life in partnership with Bandai Namco Entertainment, lending the proper licensing to make the experience feel both fun and authentic. It’s the real deal.
Credit: Supplied
Early bird tickets for Pac-Man Live Manchester
If you’re not sold on playing a human-sized, real-life game of Pac-Man in a huge augmented-reality arena right here in Manchester then we don’t know what to tell you, to be honest – all we know is that we’ll be first in line when it arrives.
The Pac-Man Live Experience comes to the Arcade Arena on 22 March next year in line with the game’s 40th anniversary, and they’re inviting players of all ages and providing engaging gameplay for younger participants while delivering a nostalgic throwback that parents and grandparents will cherish.
Better yet, if you book during the early bird window, you can access discount ticket prices from just £25 per person too.
Early bird tickets go on sale at 12 noon today (Thursday, 21 November) – you can grab yours HERE.
Blood Brothers at Palace Theatre, Manchester – a timeless classic
Greg James
Bill Kenwright’s production of Blood Brothers surpassed 10,000 performances in London’s West End making it one of only three musicals ever to achieve that monumental milestone – and now it’s visiting us here in Manchester.
“Oh Bright New Day”, Blood Brothers has just landed back at the Palace Theatre. This musical written by Willy Russell is a British piece of theatre that is a staple in the musical theatre tapestry of our country.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with this iconic story, it is an emotional tale of two twins who are separated at birth and grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with the most fateful of consequences.
The story’s central character, Mrs Johnston is the linchpin in this whole story and carries us through the show.
This role has been played by many superb women over the years including Mel C, Kiki Dee, Barbara Dickson and nearly all of the Nolan Sisters. This time, Mrs Johnston is performed by Vivienne Carlyle who provides a lovely maternal performance.
The other two lead roles are Mickey and Eddie, played by Sean Jones and Joe Sleight respectively.
These are really complex roles to play as the actors have to portray the characters from early school years to grown adults.
The cast of Blood Brothers in Manchester. Credit: Jack MerrimanSean Jones, Gemma Brodrick and Joe Slight in Blood Brothers in Manchester. Credit: Jack Merriman
Sean Jones has been playing the role of Mickey now for nearly 25 years and so he is no stranger to this character. And I must say, he still fantastically plays the part, even when playing young Mickey, and the show really takes off when he enters the stage.
Joe Sleight is someone who I had not seen in the role of Eddie before and he gave just as strong a performance as Jones. He offered a real contrast to his counterpart with a really beautiful, touching performance.
The whole ensemble did a gorgeous job of helping to carry these characters throughout the musical, showing a real flair for multi-roling and beautiful musicality in the group numbers too.
Something which elevates this already gripping story though is the music. There are many recurring musical motifs throughout the show that on the surface may come off as repetitive but they offer perspective on how things can evolve and change over time.
Of course the song though that everybody is perhaps familiar with is the power ballad, ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’. This is the climax of the show and what a climax it is. There’s not a dry eye in the house when we reach this point of the story, I can assure you!
So, whether you are returning to watch this show again, perhaps know the story from studying it in English GCSE or seeing it for the first time, it will always be an absolutely timeless classic.
Blood Brothers is on at the Palace Theatre in Manchester until Saturday 30 November. Tickets are available HERE.
Daisy Jackson -
25th August 2023 
