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McDonald’s to hand out FREE fries and merch at Parklife in Manchester

That should fuel your party nicely.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 3rd June 2024

McDonald’s will be fuelling Parklife-goers in Manchester this weekend with free fries.

The tens of thousands of people piling into Heaton Park on 8 and 9 June will want to look out for a red food truck to grab a free portion of Maccies’ iconic spuds.

Parklife will be the first festival of the summer to get a visit from the McDonald’s van.

As well as the free fries, they’ll be handing out exclusive merchandise, like bum bags, bucket hats and Wayfarer-style sunglasses.

These never-before-seen merch items are decorated in a French fry pattern and will be completely free.

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There’ll be more than 2,000 free portions of fries handed out every single day of the huge Parklife festival, set to take place this weekend.

You’ll find the fast food legends in both the main arena and the VIP area, celebrating what they’re calling ‘Very Important Potatoes’.

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Watch out for the glimmering Golden Arches statue, ready to make the perfect photo backdrop.

Once it’s done here in Manchester, the Maccies van will head on to other festivals including Leeds Festival.

It’s all to mark the brand’s 50th anniversary in the UK and Ireland.

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Parklife will return to Manchester on 8 and 9 June, and will also have an alcohol-free bar for the first time.

This year’s line-up includes Doja Cat, Disclosure, J Hus and loads more talent, with around 80,000 people expected to attend the city’s biggest part of the year.

Find out everything you need to know about Parklife Festival 2024 here.

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Featured image: Supplied

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Co-op Live announce unreal trio of gigs as debut calendar hots up even more

Danny Jones Danny Jones Co-op Live gig calendar Manchester

Music fans, strap in because Co-op Live has just confirmed a frankly ridiculous trio of gigs, and all in the space of a few hours as their first year of events only gets tastier.

The brand-new music and entertainment venue, the biggest indoor facility of its kind anywhere in Europe, only opened back in April and has already attracted some ridiculous names but they’re not slowing down with the announcements. Not even one bit.

After barely taking a beat between welcoming the Eagles, Liam Gallagher, Smashing Pumpkins and The Killers just to name a few, Co-op Live has revealed that iconic 80s singer Cyndi Lauper would be coming to the arena early next year.

Then, before even getting the chance to catch our breath, they followed that up by revealing that hip-hop and R’n’B legends Lauryn Hill and The Fugees will be arriving in just a few months, along with rock and pop-punk veterans Sum 41 just a couple of later.

Insanity.

To make things even more special, not only will it be Cyndi Lauper’s farewell tour following a career spanning nearly 50 years but these will also mark Sum 41’s final ever shows after confirming their split ahead of their new album.

And there’s The Fugees – an equally legendary trio in their own right – who they have decided to extend their current ‘Miseducation Anniversary Tour’. It’s music Christmas all come at once.

It feels like we get a whole of new acts announced for Co-op Live pretty much every week but it’s so rare you get a run of gigs dropped on you pretty much in go. The atmosphere in the immensely impressive space hasn’t disappointed even once just yet either.

Exhibit A:

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Although you’ll have to wait until 9 February next year to scream your heads off to ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ at the top of your lungs, Lauryn Hill and The Fugees arrive in Manchester on 12 October, while Sum 21 says their goodbyes just over a fortnight later on 28 October.

Presale tickets for all three events go live to Co-op members at 10am on Wednesday, 26 June and general admission will follow at the same time on Friday, 28 June.

At least in Lauper and Sum 41’s case, this is your last chance to see them live in Manchester, so don’t sleep on lining up for tickets in the morning.

You can book yours via Co-op Live’s events page HERE.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Press Images

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Troye Sivan at AO Arena, Manchester – a celebration of self-expression

The Manc Audio The Manc Audio

In the seven years since Troye Sivan’s sexual awakening on 2018’s semi-explicit ‘Bloom’, the Australian has emerged as a sex-positive powerhouse.

He’s been soundtracking queer nightclubs across the globe with the dancefloor-ready earworm ‘Rush’ – the lead single from his third studio album ‘Something To Give Each Other’, itself a further step into self-embrace and expressionism and one that has seen Troye embark on a global tour endlessly spilling out online videos of brilliantly sexy and sultry dance routines and on-stage playfulness.

His Manchester outing at the AO Arena is no different, oozing with sensual choreography that wouldn’t be out of place on the Magic Mike Live stage, yet set to make those with a more reserved outlook blush.

But that’s largely the point here, the third step in a chronological journey that carefully treads from the self-questioning of ‘Heaven’ on his 2015 debut ‘Blue Neighbourhoods’ through to his unapologetic onstage gyrating, a symbol of his self-acceptance.

Anybody uncomfortable in tonight’s crowd is undoubtedly at the wrong show, an open celebration of all-round gayness and its culture.

It’s inherent in everything he says, informing the crowd that he made a b-line direct to Manchester’s iconic Canal Street the night before, and tantalisingly hinting that he may do the same after the show, before immodestly suggesting that this may cause some type of stampede.

Perhaps it’s the reason why the show both starts and ends unusually early, and why at just 17 songs, it’s one of the shorter headline sets an arena is used to.

It’s also telling that Troye doesn’t go further back than ‘Bloom’, with the title track, the anthemic ‘My My My!’ and the Ariana Grande-featuring ‘Dance To This’ just about making the cut.

The song choices are in-keeping with the mood of the evening, more mature and more adult than anything off his debut, or ‘Bloom’s retrospective numbers that failed to make the setlist.

Tonight is evidently an acknowledgement of lust, love and sex; a call to live in the moment and not to look back, and a hedonistic masterclass.

With that, each set piece is brilliantly positioned, the performance split into six acts each broken with Troye running off stage for an outfit change or for structures to be seamlessly assembled or disassembled.

Fan favourite ‘One Of Your Girls’ sees him don a lacey corset as he shares an intimate lap dance with one of his dancers, while the sultry ‘STUD’ glides like silk both in its vocal and on-stage performance.

But the biggest reaction is saved for the Charli XCX featuring (although sadly not on stage) ‘1999’, which rounds out the main set with a party befitting its lyrics, and gay anthem ‘Rush’ – complete with full dance routine and mesmerising light show to bring the decadent thrill ride to a close.

As Pride Month draws to a close, and with Salford’s Pink Picnic acting as the show’s pre-party for many, Troye Sivan delivers easily one of the biggest and most freeing celebrations of queerness Greater Manchester has to offer – via Perth, Australia, of course.

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Featured image: Stuart Winecoff

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