The city centre is poised and ready for Halloween, with orange pumpkin lanterns already adorning the trees around town and a definite autumnal chill in the air.
As usual, Halloween in the City will be turning our streets into a spooktacular celebration for the occasion, with a weekend of shockingly good family-friendly events on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October.
It’s all organised by Manchester Business Improvement District (BID) and will include some ever-popular events as well as some brand new attractions, with families heartily encouraged to don their best fancy dress.
Giant inflatable monsters will be back looming and creeping over buildings across the city centre, transforming our landmarks with tentacles and googly eyes and pointy teeth.
Halloween in the City. Credit: Supplied
This year it’ll be bigger than ever before, with 14 monsters to spot around town on the trail between 25 and 31 October.
ADVERTISEMENT
Spooky creatures will be on the move too, in the Monsters Rock! Party Procession, which will weave through Manchester Arndale and Market Street.
The roaming performance comes from Walk the Plank, the same creative minds behind the Manchester Day Parade.
ADVERTISEMENT
Expect stilt walkers, monster puppets and a five-piece band mingling with shoppers on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October, with performances at 12pm, 2pm and 3pm.
Halloween in the City. Credit: Supplied
A Creepy Carnival, made up of a carousel, helter skelter, street food and circus performers, is going to sprawl across New Cathedral Street.
Plus, Studiotech and Treacle Studio have discovered a mystical machine made by Queen Elizabeth I’s court scientist and magician – and Dr Dee’s Portal to Another World provides a gateway for all the friendly monsters who arrive in Manchester for Halloween in the City.
ADVERTISEMENT
This interactive light display will invite Mancs to see if the portal works in reverse and could lead to the world where the monsters roam.
Fancy dress is, naturally, encouraged all weekend but particularly for the Fancy Dress Challenge, where Team Trick and Team Treat battle it out to be crowned the spookiest beasties in Manchester.
There’ll be dance offs, screaming competitions, spooky challenges and a costume catwalk to earn points and win special spot prizes, plus VIP experiences for those taking part.
Rock on with your mini monster at the Monsters Rock! Music Festival with live bands and spooky DJs all weekend, like Fat Boy Slime, Grave Haslam, and the Blessed Medusa, as well as air guitar contests, zombie aerobics, and a glow-in-the-dark disco, across three stages.
A massive spooky ice rink is being built in Cathedral Gardens, where skaters will whizz past a huge monster and the ice will be brought to life with Halloween-inspired music and lighting.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Scare Skate rink will open on Friday 21 October and stay in place until Halloween itself.
The full line-up is below, along with times and locations for all the other Halloween in the City events.
Halloween in the City 2022 events
MCR Monsters – 25 to 31 October – Across the city centre
Monsters Rock! Music Festival – 29 and 30 October, 10am-8pm Saturday; 10am-5pm Sunday – Exchange Square, New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square and Market Street
Fancy Dress Challenge: Team Trick vs Team Treat – 29 and 30 October, 10am-4pm – Various locations
ADVERTISEMENT
Monsters Rock! Party Procession – 29 to 30 October, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm – Manchester Arndale amd Market Street
Creepy Carnival – 29 and 30 October, 10am-8pm Saturday; 10am-5pm Sunday – New Cathedral Street
Dr Dee’s Portal to Another World – 28 to 30 October, 4pm-8pm Friday; 10am-8pm Saturday, 10am-5pm Sunday – St Ann’s Square, Manchester
Skate Manchester Halloween – 21 to 31 October, 11am-8pm – Cathedral Gardens
Featured image: Supplied
What's On
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)
What's On
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.
Daisy Jackson -
12th October 2022 
