The details of the huge outdoor light show in Greater Manchester have been revealed as Lightwaves Festival prepares for its ninth year.
Installations this winter will include a huge, glowing slinky tumbling off the landmarks in Salford Quays, as well as fire sculptures, a giant heart-shaped glitterball, and a kaleidoscope of butterflies.
Lightwaves will take place across MediaCity and Salford Quays, transforming the waterways and spaces with dramatic light artworks.
The completely free event will take place this week and showcase both local and national artists.
The headline installation is audio-visual Navvies by Matthew Rosier, presented on the actual water and accompanied by an orchestral composition.
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Visitors will also be able to ‘walk’ through the waters of a digital river that will flow over the bridge, created by Manchester studio idontloveyouanymore, with the virtual water reacting to the movement of people.
LightstreamOnce We Were WaterButterfly ClusterMicroCosmic
The giant neon slinky (called End Over End) comes from Studio Vertigo, who will also create Our Beating Heart, a heart-shaped mirror ball made with more than 11,000 tiles that will slowly rotate.
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Garden of the Deep, by Diane Watson, will turn single-use plastic bottles into 1000 flowers, made with the help of local schools and community groups.
Local legends Walk the Plank will be back again with Roost, creating nature-based fire sculptures in the MediaCity garden.
Kin Visual
Lightstream by Flora Litchfield is going to use sound and colour to draw focus to water’s energy, and MicroCosmic by Paul Miller (a collaboration with the University of Salford) is an installation of video, sound and projection-mapped sculpture.
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Anne Bennett’s Butter Cluster will create a flock (or technically, a kaleidoscope) of butterflies in the night sky above your heads.
There’ll be retro-futuristic design with Normal, an ‘interactive light and sound installation with attitude’ by Monomatic.
The Royal Horticultural Society will get stuck in too, with RSH Bridgewater bringing a taste of its RHS Glow to Salford Quays with Connections.
Then there’s a permanent artwork too by Liz West – THROUGH No.4 will be a six-metre-long wak-through triangular corridor of light and colour.
Lightwaves Festival is totally free to visit with no tickets required.
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There’ll be the Quayside Festive Market running alongside too outside The Lowry.
Featured image: Supplied
Art & Culture
Peter Kay adds MORE Manchester dates to record-breaking arena tour
Daisy Jackson
Peter Kay has just announced brand new dates for his record-breaking arena tour, including even more shows here in Manchester.
The Bolton-born comic legend has already performed 100 stand-up shows at the AO Arena, breaking all attendance and performance records.
He’s also the first artist in the world to perform a monthly residency at The O2 in London.
Demand to see Peter Kay has been through the roof – several ticket sites crashed when the tour was first announced – and now he’s added some new shows to the unbelievable run of dates.
The tour first started in December 2022, with shows all the way into the middle of 2025.
Now with these new dates, Peter Kay will be delivering his side-splitting stand-up show all the way into 2026.
The new shows include two hometown nights in Manchester, plus his first gigs in Aberdeen, Brighton, Bournemouth and the Isle of Man.
And heartwarmingly, Peter Kay has promised to still keep ticket prices low, with tickets starting at just £35.
Peter Kay adds MORE Manchester dates to record-breaking arena tour
In the advert, which you can watch below, he’s seen carrying a golden toilet into his mum’s iconic bungalow.
Peter Kay said: “It’s been wonderful doing what I love most, stand-up comedy.
“Laughter is more important than ever in these challenging times and with the cost of living still at an all-time high, ticket prices for the new dates will start from £35.”
Tickets for the new dates will go on sale at 10am on Saturday 23 November HERE.
Peter Kay new tour dates in full
Friday 7 February 2025 – Manchester AO Arena
Saturday 8 March 2025 – Leeds First Direct Arena
Saturday 3 May 2025 – Sheffield Utilita Arena
Friday 16 May 2025 – London The O2
Friday 30 May 2025 – Aberdeen P&J Live
Saturday 31 May 2025 – Aberdeen P&J Live
Friday 6 June 2025 – Birmingham Utilita Arena
Friday 20 June 2025 – London The O2
Thursday 10 July 2025 – Dublin 3Arena
Thursday 7 August 2025 – Belfast Sse Arena
Saturday 23 August 2025 – Newcastle Utilita Arena
Friday 19 September 2025 – Manchester AO Arena
Thursday 23 October 2025 – Glasgow Ovo Hydro
Friday 21 November 2025 – Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Saturday 20 December 2025 – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Friday 9 January 2026 – Brighton Centre
Saturday 10 January 2026 – Bournemouth International Centre
Friday 23 January 2026 – Cardiff Utilita Arena
Saturday 24 January 2026 – Cardiff Utilita Arena
Friday 20 February 2026 – Isle Of Man Villa Marina
Saturday 21 February 2026 – Isle Of Man Villa Marina
Peter Kay advert announcing new tour dates
Featured image: Publicity picture
Art & Culture
Forget pub crawls – you can now go on a guided cheese crawl around Manchester
Thomas Melia
Manchester is a foodie’s paradise and with so many options at hand why not break it down into individual food groups – starting with the dairy crowd pleaser, cheese.
Long gone are the draining pub crawls of the past, it’s time to make way for the new pioneer in the world of adventurous crawling, ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’.
There’s always lots of food and drink options flowing throughout our bubbly city spanning all cuisines and cultures so it comes as no surprise that the latest way to experience Manchester is via cheese, a staple of many citizens’ diets.
On the tour, there will be insider knowledge on-hand as you wander the streets and sample the creamy delights, assisting you with any dying queso queries and pecorino ponders that you need to get off your chest.
There’ll be plenty of familiar independents on the Manchester Cheese Crawl, including Northern Soul’s impressive grilled cheese sandwiches as well as more traditional cheese samples.
How could this experience get any better I hear you ask, how about a free glass of fizz to accompany those already impressive cheese selections? Yes please!
Guests can expect to sample some of Manchester’s dairy delights while being directed by some of Manchester’s top cheese connoisseurs that are the real big cheese.
Groups who take the tour aren’t just treated to food and drink, they also receive free entertainment from their food guides who are prepared to make you chuckle with their incredible humour.
The Manchester Cheese Crawl will feature plenty of bites for curd nerdsA selection of dairy heaven displayed on a wonderful variety cheese board.Credit: Unsplash
Previous visitors have commented on their experience while taking the tour sharing the names their groups received with highlights such as ‘Shaken not curd’ and ‘Three blind mice’.
They really are serious about their cheeses, another previous visitor who went on the tour revealed their guide even had a name that perfectly fit the occasion, ‘Mel the babybel’.
It’s sure to be a fantastic day with games and activities planned for all as you walk between the shops landmarked on the cheese-filled route.
Everyone on the tour also gets a small taste of the high life as they are treated to a Lancashire cheese handmade by a local star and celebrity.
Starting at the Richard Cobden Statue and finishing on the always vibrant Tib Street, a quick google search reveals this walk isn’t too strenuous taking only 12 minutes but with many cheeses to get your whiskers on it will probably take around an estimated two hours to tackle.
Running this Saturday 16 November and planned to continue until November 2025 and beyond, you’d be emmental to miss out on this cheesy adventure.
If all this cheese talk has left you dreaming about your next foodie fix, tickets for ‘The Manchester Cheese Crawl’ are on sale and available here.
Daisy Jackson -
29th November 2022 
