It’s been a mad busy couple of months for Manchester’s clubs as our calendars are filling up rapid with gigs and club nights.
And whilst we’re nearing the end of festival season, music events are still coming in thick and fast.
Here, we’ve pulled together a selection of the club nights taking place this Friday. From garage tunes with DJ Q, to a Mike Skinner DJ set, there’s loads of house, techno, minimal and drum and bass in between.
And the best thing about going out on a Friday? Two whole days to recover…
Read on to find out our top picks.
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The Streets Afterparty
Earlier in the evening, The Streets will be playing Castlefield as part of this year’s Sound of the City event series.
But if you didn’t manage to get down to the Bowl for it, YES’s Pink Room will be hosting The Streets afterparty from 11pm, with a DJ set from the man himself, Mike Skinner.
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He’ll be spinning all the best in drum and bass, hip hop, house and UK garage.
Tickets are £15 on Skiddle right now. Get them here.
The Libero crew are putting on their last Manchester night of the year.
Manchester-based label, Libero, will take over Gorilla on Friday too, in what will be their final show of 2021 here in the city before the brand focuses on their upcoming UK-wide project.
Founders Luke Welsh, Mike Morrisey and Dan Costello will all be playing, of course. And they’ll be joined by Joseph Emmanuel who’ll set the tone beforehand.
Running until the early hour of 6am, there’ll be plenty of house, minimal techno and tech house to go at, if you can last the night.
Tickets will only set you back £6. Skiddle has some here.
Andy C playing WHP back in 2018. Credit: Metropolis/IG
The 12-week long Warehouse Project series kicked off this month with some serious lineups filling out the 10,000 capacity Depot Mayfield.
On Friday, Metropolis will take over the former train depot as part of the season, with one of the biggest drum and bass lineups you’ll find in Manchester all year.
Heavyweights Andy C, Sub Focus and Wilkinson will headline the show, with a huge list of other big names who’ll be warming up for them throughout the night, like High Contrast, North Base, Mark XTC, Mollie Collins and Friction.
If you fancy some house and techno, popular Manchester club night and record label Haus 22 will be joined by Slam at Joshua Brooks. The pre-party will kick off at 7pm in the bar with things moving downstairs to the revamped basement from 11pm.
Scottish duo Slam will be playing a rare all night long set until 4am. The producers have been making music and putting on their own club nights for decades and so have a load of experience in creating top class nights.
Tickets are a tenner. But student and group tickets come a bit cheaper. Find all the info here.
Calling all students: this one is a rite of passage.
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Ghosts of Garage has been making moves in the student scene for the past couple of years. And coinciding with Manchester’s freshers week the popular garage night will visit Hidden on Friday.
Clothing brand turned music label Dr Banana will be appearing, whilst Soul Mass Transit System will make his Manchester debut.
DJ Q will also play an extended UKG set. Plus, expect to see some Ghosts of Garage faves like Tht Girl, and of course Rich Reason, with B2Bs from Mattik and NG.OMA too, all hosted by T-Man.
Originally planned for March, organisers managed to confirm a new date and a new venue, now taking place at Hidden. All previous tickets remain valid though. And early bird tickets are already gone. But you can get first and second release tickets on Skiddle here.
For more music and events head here. And make sure you’re following The Manc Audio to stay up to date.
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After All 2026 – the affordable grassroots music festival happening in Northern Quarter
Danny Jones
Grassroots music event After All Festival is returning to Manchester this weekend, with rising local artists and affordable tickets.
Now well over half a decade since it was founded, All All Fest takes place in the heart of the Northern Quarter, and this year they’re proving that their slow and steady approach to backing the best new up-and-coming bands at core intimate venues is more important than ever.
With plenty of previous acts having impressed in recent years, we’re looking forward to seeing how 2026 stacks up in comparison to its predecessors.
Increasingly prolific native group Dirty Laces are set to headline the whole thing, Manilla Times are locked in, and Bolton’s very own James Holt also stands out on the lineup, just to highlight a few.
As the festival continues to grow in size and popularity, they have obviously had to scale things up even further this year.
That being said, beloved live music spot and Manc institution, Band on the Wall, is among the chosen arts spaces for this latest iteration.
BoW will be offering up their 500-capacity main room to the organisers for the very first time, serving as the de facto main stage of After All Fest 2026.
Joining them will be the Rose and Monkey next door, as well as cult favourite pub, Gullivers on Oldham Street, who have a long history of supporting local musicians and the arts in general.
And would you look at that, now you’ve got all the stage splits and set times, too.
Labelled by Dead Records’ Rob Fiddaman as “one of the UK’s most exciting new music festivals”, homegrown DJing legend Dave Sweetmore has also described it as “unique in so many ways”, hailing it as a “brilliant event with a great atmosphere to discover new music.”
Having been ourselves on multiple occasions since its inception in 2019 – both as Audio North off-duty and as punters before then – we can’t recommend it highly enough.
The latest edition takes place at 12 noon onwards this Saturday until 2am on Sunday, 17 May, and while the cheapest early bird tickets (£16.50) are long gone, general admission tickets are still available, with prices starting from just £20. Grab yours HERE before they sell out.
It’s not the only live music event worth being a part of this month…
Global girl group Katseye add Manchester to huge new world tour
Daisy Jackson
Katseye have announced a major arena world tour for this year – and the global girl group are coming to Manchester for the first time.
The pop superstars will be performing at the Co-op Live as part of their WILDWORLD TOUR, which is taking them right across the UK, Europe and North America.
Katseye formed through The Debut: Dream Academy, which narrowed 120,000 applicants down to just six talented singers and dancers – though the group will be touring as a five-piece this time (Manon Bannerman has taken a hiatus from the band).
The Los Angeles-based global girl group, formed by HYBE and Geffen Records, merges K-pop dance training with Western pop sounds, with members hailing from across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and beyond.
The group is currently made up of Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza, and Yoonchae Jeung.
Katseye have not yet released a full studio album but have achieved major commercial success with songs like Gabriella, Pinky Up, Gnarly, and Internet Girl.
The group have already performed a major slot at Coachella, as well as taking the stage at the GRAMMY Awards this year where they were also nominated for two awards (including Best New Artist).
Katseye will be releasing their third EP, WILD, this summer ahead of their world tour, which reaches Manchester in September.
Tickets will first be on sale via a Weverse Artist Presale from 11am on Wednesday 20 May, followed by the Katseye.World presale from 3pm.
Fans can also register for presale access by pre-ordering Katseye’s new EP WILD or by signing up – no purchase necessary.
General sale will begin at 3pm on Thursday 21 May HERE.
Katseye WILDWORLD Tour – UK and European dates
1 September – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
3 September – London, UK – The O2
6 September – Manchester, UK – Co-Op Live
9 September – Paris, France – Accor Arena
11 September – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
Hannah Starkie -
23rd September 2021 
