Blackpool Pleasure Beach has announced that late-night riding is returning once again for three nights only this summer.
With the summer officially here, the temperatures hotting up, and the nights staying lighter for longer, the Lancashire seaside town’s beloved theme park has announced that it will be bringing back its popular Late Night Riding hours for the next three Saturdays.
On Saturday 23 and Saturday 30 July, and Saturday 6 August, Blackpool Pleasure Beach will be open from 10am until late, so thrill-seekers can enjoy their favourite rides throughout the warm evenings.
With schools across the North West now out for six-week summer holidays, and the theme park gearing up for what is always one of its busiest times of the year, Late Night Riding means that there’s now more hours to ride into the night on the UK’s tallest rollercoaster, the Big One, check out the twists and turns of ICON at twilight, enjoy a night race on the Grand National, and ride on the the Big Dipper at dusk.
Younger riders can also meet up with Paw Patrol and other characters at the UK’s-only Nickelodeon Land with its 12 amazing rides.
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They can also check out the world’s first Wallace & Gromit ride, Thrill-O-Matic.
If riding thrilling rides late into the evening wasn’t enough, SLIMETIME is also taking place at the FY4 area of Blackpool Pleasure Beach daily between midday and 4pm throughout July and August, and it means you can join the Slime Squad for slime games and competitions, while the resident Slime Sounds DJ provides the tunes.
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And in true Nickelodeon tradition, you can even get totally covered in green slime in the Slime Tank too, if you fancy it.
If you need a break from the summer heat, guests can cool off with a visit to Hot Ice – with this year’s show, Rapture, being the world’s longest-running ice show, and starring a cast of world championship performers, complete with stunning costumes and mesmerising special FX.
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The spectacular show will be running on selected dates until 10 September.
The fun always shines here @Pleasure_Beach so make the most of the warmer weather and celebrate your summer with us!
Booking 7 days or more in advance online saves £5 pp, including all of our remaining LATE NIGHT RIDING events!
Taking advantage of Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s ‘Celebrate Summer’ offer means guests can receive £5 off an eTicket when they book at least seven days in advance of their visit – which is a saving of up to £14 on the gate price.
All you’ll need to do to redeem this limited-time offer is simply select a date seven or more days in advance and book on the Blackpool Pleasure Beach website here.
The discount will automatically be added to the booking.
Manc music legends James announced MASSIVE hometown show
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester music legends James have just revealed a massive hometown show here in the city centre as part of a landmark domestic arena tour.
Daisy bucket hats at the ready.
James is arguably the epitome of what it is to be the understated, underdog British band; they’ve gone about the business of making quality music somewhat quietly for several decades now, but they’ve had a fresh wave of interest over the past year or so
Having opened up for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback shows, not to mention playing multiple big festival slots in recent months alone, they’ve now announced a huge run of UK arena shows – and nowhere does a James crowd quite like us Mancs.
Details have been announced for our 2026 UK arena tour, and we’re delighted to be joined by very special guests @dovesmusicblog with tickets going on general sale this Friday at 9:30am. Access the ticket pre-sale on Wednesday via our official store: https://t.co/DwpGrAUESZ NBL x pic.twitter.com/A4CWVpCooL
Announced as part of the celebrations around their Nothing But Love ‘best of’ LP, which pulls tracks from James’ whopping 18 studio albums, the new run of UK arena shows in 2026 follows on from numerous noteworthy shows this calendar year.
In addition to the aforementioned outdoor gigs, like their stunning sold-out night at The Piece Hall in Halifax – not too far from frontman Tim Booth’s hometown in Yorkshire – the indie veterans also celebrated a huge landmark in 2025.
Surpassing the milestone of 40 years as a band, with a lineup that’s remained largely intact and only really grown in terms of live session players and touring bandmates.
The new “definitive” greatest hits record also includes two brand-new songs in ‘Wake Up Superman’ and ‘Hallelujah Anyhow’, both of which are produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with the band on their long-awaited number one album Yummy in 2024 – a feat loooong overdue if you ask us.
As evidenced by the sheer amount of new material they continue to put out and the almost non-stop touring, they remain one of the most prolific artists in the country. FACT.
You can see the rest of James’ upcoming tour dates, including a healthy number of Northern stops in the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and more.
James UK arena tour dates 2026
Fri 2 Birmingham Utilita Arena
Sat 4 Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
Tues 7 Aberdeen P&J Live
Wed 8 Glasgow OVO Hydro
Fri 10 Newcastle Utilita Arena
Sat 11 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Mon 13 Cardiff Utilita Arena
Tues 14 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 17 London The O2
Sat 18 Manchester Co-op Live
With James returning to Manchester for their Co-op Live arena debut next April, along with a sensational support slot from fellow local legends, Doves (I know, how lucky are you lot?!), you can bank on this one selling out quickly.
General admission goes on sale this Friday, 10 October at 9:30am, so you’d better be ready to grab yours in a flash.
You can find the ticket link HERE, and we’ll see you in the crowd for a good ol’ singalong.
Featured Images — Ehud Lazin/Press shots (supplied)
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Electronic icons Kraftwerk announce first Manchester gig since 2017
Danny Jones
Pioneering German band Kraftwerk have announced their first UK tour since 2017, with fans having to wait almost a decade for another Manchester gig.
Thankfully, they’ll be heading back down the Autobahn and across the channel for a return to our shores soon enough with a long-awaited list of British and Irish live dates.
Kraftwerk remains one of the most groundbreaking groups in the electronic scene to this day, having paved the way for generations of new artists to keep experimenting with the genre in the 50+ years since their formation.
Heading back to Manchester early next year, die-hards will no doubt snap these tickets faster than you can say ‘Das Model’.
For anyone unaware of these veritable legends of electronica and the world of alternative/Euro-synth pop, Kraftwerk formed all the way back in 1970 and went on to shape the modern music industry, bridging the gap between music and the digital age.
Best known for tracks like ‘Computer Love’, ‘The Robots’, ‘Pocket Calculator’ and the aforementioned on named after the national motorway network, they spearheaded futurism in the musical landscape from the outset.
It seems only fitting, therefore, that their upcoming highly anticipated return to the UK comes as part of their ‘Multimedia’ tour.
While they have played a number of live shows all over the globe this year, including an extensive run in the US, next spring will be our domestic visit from Kraftwerk in nine long years.
Credit: Press shot (supplied)
You can see the full list of UK and Ireland tour dates – including a handful of Northern gigs – down below:
Spanning a total of 15 UK dates, as you can see, there will also be tickets to see Kraftwerk nearby in the likes of Liverpool and with our mates over in Sheffield.
Kraftwerk legend Ralf Hütter famously played a set inside our city’s velodrome at the National Cycling Centre for Manchester International Festival (MIF) back in 2009, and has collaborated with the event on multiple ocassions.
In fact, that very performance was seen as a turning point for MIF, so the Manc Kraftwerk connection speaks for itself; O2 members can obviously get pre-sale, but general admission tickets go live from 9am this Friday, 10 October.
Emily Sergeant -
21st July 2022 
