With word from Boris that clubs can finally open from Monday 19 July in what’s being dubbed as ‘Freedom Day’, what better way to spend your first week out of lockdown than in a different club each night of the week?
Bit ambitious? Maybe, but it has been a while.
Either way, we’ve taken the opportunity to plan out our perfect week of club nights anyway. Here’s our pick of bunch from 19 – 25 July to celebrate getting our music scene back on its feet. All tickets are available on Skiddle as we speak and selling fast.
A bassy Levelz reunion on Monday
How about starting the week off with Levelz’s Lockdown Lift-off at Mint Lounge on the big day itself?
Get ready for the usual Levelz crew consisting of Skittles, Chimpo, Chunky and the rest of the lads there, providing bars and beats for an atmosphere they definitely won’t let you forgot. They’ve been gunning for this night for 16 months since their last visit to Mint Lounge in March 2020 – and so have we.
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If you had tickets to the rescheduled June date, they’ll roll over. Otherwise, last remaining tickets are on Skiddle here.
Three floors of music with THREEDOOM on Tuesday
When Hit & Run took over WHP in 2019. Image: gbmultimedia/IG
Three of Manchester’s biggest student nights will come together under one roof at Factory on Tuesday 20. Hit & Run, Ghosts of Garage and Lean & Bop will join forces to provide three floors with three different genres of music.
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For Hit & Run, we’ll have drum and bass heaters from the likes of Poison Ivy and Mystix alongside Truthos Mufasa and Sparkz, and the B2B from Sabrina and Kira will be their Manchester debut.
Representing Ghosts of Garage will be Hit & Run’s own Rich Reason, ThtGrl, Warped DJs, Offbeat DJs, Area 808 DJs and Emanate Audio DJs, with T-Man on the mic.
And on the final floor, resident Lean & Bop DJs will provide some grime, hip-hop and RnB sounds, joined by DJ Yami.
Urban music platform Origin will take over the Northern Quarter’s Off The Square on Wednesday 21. The team is renowned for showcasing the very best emerging hip-hop and RnB talent from the city – and this latest Origin event will be no different.
Manchester powerhouse Motto Estate are set to headline. The nine-strong collective represent a variety of backgrounds, making their music all-embracing and rich in different cultural and social influences.
It’ll all be hosted by radio presenter Emma Rose, with support from Dunamis, Ace Cxbain and Webbo to complete the lineup.
For a more groove-fuelled evening, get down to Stage & Radio for ‘Out The House’ on Thursday for local lads Mandalo. The Manchester DJ duo have family ties to fellow Mancs Solardo and now being signed to the Sola label we can only expect the same success for this pair.
For their own productions, Mandalo merge their wide range of dance music influences – including 808 State and Jamie Jones – to craft their own sound. As for their DJ sets, just know your feet will be sore by the end.
There’ll be music from 7pm from CAIT, DJAAL, Boy Sean, BabaNoot as well. So, you might as well get down early. Skiddle still has tickets for this one here.
Feel-good disco vibes at The Bread Shed on Friday
Presented by Antwerp Mansion, the acclaimed Discopia returns on Friday 23 July, back and bigger than ever. Bring in your first weekend of freedom with the funky house and disco sounds of Dom C. Taylor, Wallace and DJ Ray for a bit of music escapism. Expect to hear everything from Purple Disco Machine and The Shapeshifters to Fat Boy Slim and Mella Dee to put you in the party mood. Good vibes only.
An empty Joshua Brooks as the new team prepare for a huge refit ahead of the club’s relaunch. Credit: Joshua Brooks
You might have seen that Joshua Brooks is back and under new ownership. With this, a complete overhaul and redesign of the club inside and out – and you’re in for a treat.
Its relaunch features a double-header weekend of big names. On Friday 23, Darius Syrossian will return to Joshua Brooks with his Moxy Musik event which has been at South in recent years.
But on the Saturday, house legend Mark Knight will round off the opening weekend. You’ll be in good hands with the Toolroom Records bossman. He knows how to fill the dance floor with the best house music around. It’ll be an all night long set so strap yourselves in.
Originally planned for 17 July, the Jika Jika Presents Denis Sulta party at the brand-new open-air venue Square One has been rescheduled to Sunday 25 July.
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Sulta is known for his enigmatic energy behind the decks. Plus he manages to pull off the most random of selections in his mixes. You won’t want to miss this one.
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Featured image: Factory Manchester. Thumbnail image: The Bread Shed
Audio
Akon speaks on his connection to Manchester after run of Co-op Live gigs
Danny Jones
Music veteran Akon has recently discussed his connection to our city following his run of live shows here in Manchester.
In fact, he went so far as to say he feels much more affinity here than he does with ‘The Big Smoke’.
The seasoned Senegalese-American rapper, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and humanitarian, teamed up with fellow chart-topper Ne-Yo for not just one, not even two, but three whole nights at Co-op Live this May as part of their co-headline tour across the UK and Ireland.
Chatting with Simone Riley on BBC Radio Manchester before the third and final gig of the trio, Akon admitted that there’s “something about Manchester” that he loves way more than London.
As you can see, while he couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly is about it in the North compared to the capital, he said simply that “it’s crazy here”, and he loves it.
Same, mate. Same.
Admitting that he feels “more attached to Manchester than London” and labelling the energy from the crowds as “stupid” up here (he meant it in a good way, we promise), Simone couldn’t help but confess her joy over his comments.
He’s not the only global superstar to have recently shouted out their affection for 0161, either, as Billie Eilish also said something similar.
Speaking to the mainline BBC at the premiere of her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), she said that while the dates lining up were certainly a key factor, there were other reasons why she chose Manchester to film her new movie.
Our Audio North team were also lucky enough to chat with Akon’s touring partner Ne-Yo recently, too, who also had nothing but good things to say about us as a place to play.
As for Akon, the 53-year-old has obviously played here plenty of times over the decades, with last year’s tour being his first return in a decade.
That being said, given how glowingly he’s spoken about us and how popular these joint performances were, we reckon it won’t be that long before he comes back.
Last but not least, we obviously couldn’t resist going along to at least one of the nights for ourselves; listen to what we had to say about the tour in our full review down below.
Antony Szmeirek announces second album along with biggest UK tour dates yet
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester spoken word artist Antony Szmeirek has finally revealed the name, cover art and release date for his second album, along with his biggest run of UK tour dates yet.
The Tameside teacher turned full-time artist dropped his maiden record, Service Station at the End of the Universe, back in February 2025, and now, just over a year on from its launch, he’s getting ready to deliver his highly anticipated follow-up.
Entitled Decoding Birdsong, the sophomore studio project is scheduled for this summer, with a series of live shows booked for the following autumn.
Having already dropped lead single ‘The Heron’ earlier this year, Szmeirek has just released the opener from his upcoming LP, which is simply called ‘Chalk’; he’s also unveiled the rest of the tracklist and a rather striking bit of album artwork.
The Hyde-born artist is making big moves not only within the spoken word space but across multiple genres, with his music blending everything from indie, hip-hop, electronica and more.
His latest song, for instance, is more of an acid-house-esque meets contemporary EDM outing, and has quickly gone down as a popular addition among fans.
On the album name itself, he’s never one to shy away from a weird title or two – case in point, ‘The Great Pyramid of Stockport’ from his debut and ‘Dave’s Angling Superstore’ on this new record.
The 34-year-old carries that same idiosyncrasy throughout his lyricism and creative concepts, as well.
‘Chalk’ is a perfect example of this, as the song is inspired by The Edge of Everything documentary: a film about the career of legendary British snooker player, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Here’s the music video…
As for his latest raft of live shows, these will be some of the biggest domestic gigs that the local lad has played in his career so far.
In addition to a pair of hometown shows here in Manchester, he is set to play a dozen different cities across Great Britain and Ireland.
Antony Szmierek UK/IE tour dates – October 2026
We’ve highlighted the Northern stops for you, too:
Hannah Starkie -
9th July 2021 
