We all know Halloween is right around the corner, and there’s a little cinema in our city that’s celebrating the spooky season in style.
STAB Film Season is back and “bigger than ever” this year.
The much-loved frightening film event is taking over Manchester’s home of cult cinema, video games, and “cool nerdy events”, Cultplex – which is tucked away within the award-winning venue GRUB in Cheetham Hill – throughout October, and is first kicking things off by showing a full day of Wes Craven’s finest slasher satire, Scream, one after the other right up until midnight.
But one of the other stand-out showings on the packed lineup is a singalong screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Oh, and did we forget to mention there’ll be bottomless drinks? Now we’re talking.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Bottomless Rocky Horror Show is taking over GRUB and Cultplex this Halloween / Credit: GRUB
Taking place on the weekend before Halloween, with not one, not two, but three screenings of the classic 70s flick across both Friday 28 and Saturday 29 October, GRUB says this is your chance to dress the part, sing the night away in style, and be “chilled, thrilled, and fulfilled”.
Kicking-off in GRUB’s downstairs bar first, anyone who grabs tickets for one of the three screenings will be treated to bottomless fizz, mimosas, beer/cider, or non-alcoholic equivalents and soft drinks, for 90 minutes before the screening begins, all before you head on over to Cultplex and carry on sipping for another 100 minutes while the film’s on.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Bottomless Rocky Horror Show is just one of the many events on GRUB’s Halloween Week lineup this year.
GRUB’s Halloween Week has so many activities for the whole family to get involved in / Credit: GRUB
If a singalong cinema isn’t quite your bag, then there’s so many other activities for the whole family to get involved in – with everything from pumpkin carving competitions and SFX makeup masterclasses, to Halloween life drawing sessions, Spooky Sip and Paint, a Weird History Walking Tour, a Freaky Family Fun Day, and so much more on the lineup just announced this week.
Plus, as this is all happening down at what is one of the UK’s biggest street food and social hubs, you can also expect to tuck into a wide range of street food and Halloween-themed drinks specials from local independent traders to tuck into.
ADVERTISEMENT
There’ll also be lots of sweets and candy to satisfy your sugar cravings too.
The funds will help improve the already incredible music scene in Manchester, benefitting staples likes Night and Day Café, Matt and Phred’s Jazz Club, SOUP and more.
All of the donations will be distributed across six independent music venues and will be used for various instruments, PA equipment, backline technology and other necessities depending on the requirements of each site.
Elbow have teamed up with Co-op Live in aid of supporting Manchester grassroots venues.Credit: Supplied
This initiative has been keeping Manchester’s Northern Quarter in the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to live music as well as the impressive Co-op Live.
Alongside providing vital resources for these local institutions, Elbow teaming up with Co-op Live also helps cement the North West as one of the main powerhouses in relation to live music.
The latest efforts from the largest indoor arena in Manchester fall in line with celebrating one year of bringing some of the best live music to the city, being officially open for 12 months in May.
Co-op Live have made a commitment to the people and the planet, promising to donate £1 million annually to the Co-op Foundation.
The stunning Co-op Live venue, Manchester’s largest indoor arena.Elbow performing at Co-op Live, marking history as the first act to grace the venue.Credit: Audio North/Supplied
Manchester’s latest live music venue also contributed significantly to selected charities, including Happy Doggo – chosen by Liam Gallagher and Eric Clapton’s addiction recovery centre, Crossroads.
As Elbow teams up with Co-op Live, even more money is making its way to necessary resources, this time in the likes of crucial live music establishments.
Elbow front-person Guy Garvey says: “Playing Co-op Live’s opening night will stay with us for a lifetime, not least because of how incredible the room sounded.”
“When the venue donated funds in our name to support the city we love, it made complete sense to carry that through to the Northern Quarter and to venues that have meant so much to my bandmates and I throughout our career.”
Guy Dunstan, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Co-op Live, adds: “In the past year, I have been proud to see Co-op Live become an integral part of such an incredible city.”
“Teaming up with Elbow to directly support the venues that first put Manchester on the map, and to share something so intrinsic to us as venues – proper sound – is something truly special.”
Award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon to kick off UK tour in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Multi award-winning musical Sunny Afternoon is set to kick off its UK tour here in Manchester later this year.
Following a sell-out run at Hampstead Theatre, the musical production featuring all the hit songs by legendary rock band The Kinks opened to critical acclaim at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, where it ran for two years ahead of its sensational UK and Ireland tour throughout 2016/17.
It also collected four Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical and Outstanding Achievement in Music for Ray Davies, along the way.
Award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon is kicking off its UK tour in Manchester / Credit: ATG Tickets
Set against the backdrop of Britain on the cusp of the rebellious 60s,Sunny Afternoon is described as being an ‘exhilarating and moving’ celebration of the music, life, and the band that changed it all, The Kinks.
Sunny Afternoon celebrates The Kinks’ raw energy, passion, and timeless sound.
Charting the ‘euphoric highs’ and ‘agonising lows’, the smash-hit production tells the band’s story through an incredible back catalogue of chart-toppers – including ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘Lola’, ‘All Day and All of the Night’, and of course, ‘Sunny Afternoon’ itself.
Tickets are on sale now from just £15 each / Credit: Kevin Cummins
Producers Sonia Friedman Productions and ATG Productions announced last week that the show would be returning for another UK tour later this year, and it’ll be opening right here on one of Manchester‘s most iconic stages.
The hit musical will open at Manchester’s Palace Theatre on 10 October 2025 and it will run right through until 18 October.
Sunny Afternoon has music and lyrics, and an original story, all by the band’s frontman Ray Davies, along with a book by Joe Penhall, direction by Edward Hall, design by Miriam Buether, and choreography by Adam Cooper.
Emily Sergeant -
29th September 2023 
