Picture this: you’re at a festival, your wellies are sinking deep into the mud. It’s been steadily drizzling for the past ten hours and you just paid over the odds for a little bit of Pimms and lemonade in a plastic cup.
Summertime really doesn’t get much more British than that. Unless perhaps you add in rained-out BBQs that need to be finished off in the oven.
With last summer one of the weirdest on record, we’re getting a bit nostalgic. So, it seems, is The Lawn Club – who’ve just revealed some giant Pimms cocktails served in welly boots.
The Lawn Club
Combining two of British summer’s most iconic elements, the new sharing cocktail holds four servings of the Wimbledon favourite – a mixture of Pimms’ no.1 secret blend, lemonade, cucumber, lemon, orange, mint and strawberries. Priced at £20, that makes it just £5 a glass.
A quintessential part of summer in Manchester, whether you like to hang out in Spinningfields or not everyone has been to The Lawn Club at some point or other.
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Over the years it’s changed a fair bit, adopting various guises as its moved around Hardman Square – hosting all sorts over the years, from giant film screenings to an ice curling rink.
Now sitting next to The Ivy, it’s undergone some extensive renovations for 2021 with new features including a fully enclosed interior area and outdoor terrace.
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The bar is also bringing back its nifty little Lawn Pods and Lawn Houses, which resemble mini greenhouses and offer private space for groups of up to six, as well as its ever-popular deck chairs which will be strewn across the lawns.
For those looking to dine, there’s also new spring/summer menu from the kitchen featuring some tasty burgers, bagels and bowls.
Booking is recommended, with just a few tables held back for walk-ins. When booking the Lawn pods and houses, a card authorisation of £30 is required in the event of a no show.
High School Musical at Lowry, Salford – a night spent reliving our childhood | Review
Amy Williams
What a night spent reliving our childhood.
Now, I don’t want to exaggerate or seem biased, considering this is one of my favourite film trilogies of all time, but this could be the best stage show I’ve seen in a long while.
We all know how High School Musical goes, right? Set at East High, we follow Troy and Gabriella (the star basketball player, and the geeky new girl) who meet over New Year, and then become ‘star-crossed lovers’ when back at school as they’re part of two different ‘cliques’.
The duo mess with the ‘Status Quo’ when they audition for the school musical. But will they stick to what they know? Or become stars of the stage? I’m sure you know the ending.
High School Musical is currently on stage at Lowry, Salford / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
From the costumes and the characters, to the memorable songs (there’s actually 52 songs in this production, including a mega mix at the end), they’ve kept right to the script of the films – and that’s exactly what we wanted to see.
Of course, the biggest throwback of them all is Kaycee Stroh – who originally featured as Martha Cox in the film trilogy – taking the role as Ms Darbus, and she was just as incredible as we expected her to be. And to see her do the iconic dance in the finale was unbelievable, 13-year-old Amy was screaming.
Also featuring Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton, Tobias Turley as Troy, Leonor Correia as Gabriella, Caitlin Tipping Sharpay, and Luke Bayer as Ryan, it was a proper impressive cast all round.
It’s a night to properly relive your mid-00s childhood / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
There was crowd interaction right from the off, as they taught the crowd a cheerleading routine to be included later in the show, plus for the finale, they had the lyrics on the big screen too so everyone could sing-along.
If we could go and see this show every single night, we would – it is absolutely brilliant.
Fontaines D.C. announce massive return to Manchester on new European tour
Daisy Jackson
Fontaines D.C. have just announced their biggest headline tour to date, including a massive arena gig here in Manchester.
The wildly popular Irish rock band are set to play a whopping 20 arena shows across Europe and the UK this autumn.
The tour has been announced in celebration of their upcoming fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber, which is set for release this October.
Fontaines D.C. will hit the road just five days after the album drops, kicking off their European tour in Lisbon on 21 October.
Then they’ll make their way over to the UK, with shows in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham and London.
Fans in their home country of Ireland are told to stay tuned for live news very soon.
As we speak, Fontaines D.C. are warming up to play one of the country’s biggest festivals, with headline slots at Reading & Leeds Festival.
They’ve already released Marianne, the first single from their new album, and frontman Grian Chatten says of the album: “The album itself is a dopamine chamber. You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”
The new record has been recorded between London, the English countryside, and Palermo, where Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.
He said: “There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity.”
Tickets will go on general sale at 10am on Thursday 3 September, with pre-sale live from 10am on Tuesday 1 September.
You can access tickets for Fontaines D.C. in Manchester HERE.
Fans who pre-order Dopamine Chamber from the official store by 6pm on Monday 31 August will gain access to the UK pre-sale.
Fontaines D.C. UK tour dates in full
Friday 20 November – Liverpool, UK – M&S Bank Arena
Saturday 21 November – Manchester, UK – AO Arena
Sunday 22 November – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Tuesday 24 November – Leeds, UK – First Direct Bank Arena
Wednesday 25 November – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
Georgina Pellant -
13th May 2021 
