One of Leeds’ best-loved – and most colourful – events of the year is back for 2023, and it’s going to be bigger than ever before.
Holi Festival – known as the Festival of Colours – is a joyous celebration of peace, love, happiness and equality through live music and bright colours.
Leeds Holi Festival 2022 was a triumphant success and saw 1,200 Holi Lovers making it the biggest Colour Festival in Yorkshire, but this year, Holi Festival are kicking it up a notch and are bringing 2,500 people together to celebrate – making it the biggest open air colour festival in the UK.
The event commemorates forgiveness and peace and is widely celebrated in India and adopted around the world for celebration.
Beloved Holi Festival returns to Leeds in 2023 / Credit: Leeds Holi Festival
Holi Festival celebrates the welcoming of spring and is seen as a time for people, no matter what caste or ethnicity, to get together and enjoy a feeling of togetherness, community and happiness.
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This year’s celebrations in Leeds are set to involve the traditional dry powder paints, as well as the serving of street food, live DJs and performances right in the heart of the city.
Red is the sign of love, yellow is synonymous with healing properties, blue is the colour of Lord Krishna, and green symbolises new beginnings – and through the use of these vibrant colours, Leeds Holi Festival aims at bringing different cultures together with different genres of music under one roof.
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It’s set to be bigger and more colourful than ever before / Credit: Leeds Holi Festival
Eshaan Kapoor, founder of Leeds Holi Festival said: “Our purpose is to bring different cultures together, spread love, positivity through music, colours and food. It is best known around the world for the powder that friends and families throw on each other and it’s the festival of love, peace and happiness.”
Holi Festival’s main sponsor this year is Leeds-based taxi firm Amber Cars – who will be providing festival goers safe journeys to and from the event with no added surcharge.
“We are proud to sponsor such a vibrant, unique festival and be part of Leeds Holi Festival,” said Tarlochan, Regional Director at Amber Cars.
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“Amber cars will be providing safe rides to all festival goers making their journey safe and secured”.
is a joyous celebration of peace, love, happiness and equality/ Credit: Leeds Holi Festival
British-Pakistani singer-songwriter, Zack Knight, will be headlining the event and providing the ultimate party tracks for guests to dance all day whilst being covered head to toe in bright colours from Ministry of Colours.
Other sponsors include Kirkstall Brewery and Slingsby Gin, with Punjabi Heaven from Roundhay providing delicious street food for the day. Through finding Yorkshire-based sponsors, the festival aims to bring like-minded people together to make Holi Festival one of the biggest events in the Leeds calendar.
Holi Festival will take place on 11 March 2023 at Beaverworks from 12.30pm till 7.30pm.
Tier one and two tickets have already sold out for the seven hour event, but remaining tier three tickets are still available to grab.
A massive power ballads club night is heading to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
A club night dedicated to the majesty of power ballads is heading to Manchester this spring.
Power Up – the Ultimate Power Ballad Night will encourage punters to belt out some of the biggest songs in history well into the night.
Tune up your air guitars, round up your mates, squeeze those eyes tight shut and scream your heart out to classic power ballads from the likes of Meat Loaf, Queen, Whitney Houston and loads more.
This beloved power ballads night out will be at the O2 Ritz Manchester over Easter weekend, with an early club night that will kick off at 9pm and wrap up at 1am.
You’ll be able to put the venue’s iconic sprung dance floor through its paces as you bound around to some of the world’s biggest anthems.
The playlist will include artists like Journey, Bon Jovi, Bonnie Tyler, Phil Collins, Belinda Carlisle, and many more.
If you’ve not been to a Power Up night out before, you can expect DJs throwing blow-up guitars and microphones into the crowd, non-stop fist-clenching anthems, and a setlist that’ll leave you hoarse from belting the next morning,
This next installment will be taking place at the O2 Ritz Manchester on Saturday 19 April, between 9pm and 1am.
This is a strictly 18+ event. Tickets cost £10 in advance – you can find out more and grab your tickets HERE.
‘Stories – Brought to Life’ – Massive new immersive art experience confirms ticket prices and famous faces
Daisy Jackson
A major new National Portrait Gallery exhibition, called Stories – Brought to Life, is heading to Salford this year, and it’s just announced some major new details.
The ground-breaking new experience by FRAMELESS Creative will be opening at MediaCity in May, bringing some of the world’s most famous portraits to life like never before.
With tickets on sale today, visitors will be able to step inside iconic portraits including Grayson Perry, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Emmeline Pankhurst, Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare.
Stories – Brought to Life will explore the fascinating lives of these figures, who have shaped the UK’s history and culture all the way since the Tudor period.
The major new exhibition will combine the highest quality digital projection, Hollywood-style visual effects and the latest audio technology, along with specially created musical scores and creative narratives to shine a new light on each individual.
Rich Storton, General Manager at FRAMELESS Creative, said: “Through this first of its kind collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery’s curatorial team, we’ve reimagined each of the portraits, adding a fresh, exciting and emotional dimension to each of the sitters’ stories.
“Through excerpts of speeches, archival photography, original animation and a dynamic soundscape our aim is to entertain and captivate new audiences with these incredible portraits, bringing them to life through unparalleled immersive storytelling.”
‘Stories – Brought to Life’ – Massive new immersive art experience confirms ticket prices and famous faces. Credit: Antonio Pagano
Rab MacGibbon, Cross-Collections Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, added: “The National Portrait Gallery is home to the largest collection of portraits in the world. Featured on our walls are some of the most remarkable people to have ever lived, who have shaped – and are continuing to shape – our nation.
“This immersive experience created by FRAMELESS is enabling the Gallery to share the Collection like never before. From Elizabeth I to Malala Yousafzai, we hope that the stories featured in the experience will really capture people’s imaginations.”
To create Stories – Brought to Life, the National Portrait Gallery granted FRAMELESS’ award-winning team access to its collection.
The experience will open on 2 May and run until 31 August at MediaCity, Greater Manchester, before going on a UK tour (dates to be announced).
Ticket prices for Stories – Brought to Life at MediaCity
In advance – Adult from £21.95 / Child from £11.95
On the day – Adult from £23.95 / Child from £13.95
Flexible entry time ticket – Adult from £26.95 / Child from £16.95
Family Ticket – 2 adults & 2 children from £55
Concessions and discounts for Stories – Brought to Life at MediaCity
Students (via Student Beans): 25% discount
Blue Light Card holders: 25% discount
Pension Credit / Benefits: 25% discount, available on Mondays only
Carer Tickets: free entry for one carer with the purchase of a disabled ticket
£10 ‘Affordable’ Tickets – limited number – available on selected Mondays only
Clementine Hall -
3rd March 2023 
