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There are free live music sets taking place all over Manchester city centre this week — here’s where to find them

They're part of a new music festival and conference that hits Manchester this Wednesday.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 10th October 2023

As part of the brand-new global music conference and festival called Beyond The Music, which finally lands this Wednesday, a whole host of live music sets will be taking place in the city this week and, the best part is: they’re all free.

Looking to strike a chord with shoppers, tourists and mere passers-by with a number of pop-ups, including a live music stage in Exchange Square, the main hub at Manchester Central and several local hotels, the city-wide event is completely free to attend and is happening this Thursday and Friday.

The series of special one-off Beyond The Music performances are being brought to the general public with the help of Manchester’s Accommodation Business Improvement District (BID), and the likes of local music collective, The Untold Orchestra, who’ll be headlining the main live stage.

The line-up will celebrate Manchester as the iconic music city that it is, home not only to the likes of Oasis, The Smiths, Blossoms and Aitch, but also world-renowned professional orchestras such as The Halle and BBC Philharmonic.

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Big Society
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The Untold Orchestra
Credit: Supplied

The classical music programme will sit alongside the traditional rock and electronic music acts at the festival as the event seeks to promote Manchester’s hugely diverse music culture and heritage.

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The live music stage is being programmed by Manc orchestra, The Untold Orchestra, a full seven-piece band who are focused on changing the reputation surrounding orchestras and who they are for.

Putting on shows celebrating everyone from Nina Simone, David Bowie and to Drake and local hip-hop acts, as well as hosting creative projects with different artists and communities across Manchester, collaboration is at the centre of what they do. 

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Ahead of their busy season of winter shows, workshops and highly anticipated charity launch, The Untold Orchestra x Beyond The Music takeover highlights the original music and poetry of some of the orchestra’s members and collaborators in an afternoon demonstrating again, how much great music there is in Manchester. 

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Mali Hayes

A total of seven performances will take place on the live music stage in Exchange Square from 12 noon until 7pm on Friday, 13 October, kicking off with smaller ensembles before closing with a full band. The line-up is as follows:

  • 12pm — Indie pop trio, Big Society
  • 1pm — Solo loop cello, Polly Virr
  • 2pm — R&B duo, Mali Hayes
  • 3pm — Five spoken word poets: Esther Koch, Funmi Adeyo, Jack Coverdale & Reneé Stormz
  • 4pm — Electronic pop and soul vocalist, Ellen Beth Abdi
  • 5pm — Electronic pop and soul artist, Yemi Bolatiwa
  • 6.15pm — The Untold Orchestra playing well-known hits, featuring Jenna G and Will Jacquet

Each performance will be around 40 minutes long and, as mentioned, the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District has also commissioned a ‘Dawn Chorus’, where a series of intimate classical performances will be carried out in the foyers of six Manchester hotels on Thursday.

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Hotel visitors staying at the Hyatt Regency, The Midland, Moxy, Yotel, Leonardo Hotel Manchester
Central and the Kimpton Clocktower will be treated to a series of very special shows performed by students from our proud music studies institution, the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).

Whether they know it or not, guests will be woken up by beautiful performances that will take place between 8-10am at the Hyatt Regency and Midland, and from 9-11am at all other venues. Not a bad way to start the morning.

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As for anyone who’s interested in Beyond The Music Festival proper, the brand-new music series kicks off this Wednesday (11 October) and is set to be quite the collection of shows.

Boasting over 150 different up-and-coming artists from the Greater Manchester area and beyond, playing at 11 different independent venues around the city until Saturday, 14 October — we’re talking Castle Hotel, Band on the Wall, The Peer Hat and more — this new festival is going to make a splash.

You can still grab your tickets to enjoy the latest Manchester festival on top of the free live music sets down below:

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Featured Image — Supplied

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What people are wearing at Parklife 2026 – ruffles, cowboy boots, football shirts and bandanas

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall

Parklife weekend is here, which means festival fashion is back, and Manchester has absolutely delivered on its outfit trends once again.

Every year in the fields of Heaton Park, thousands of ravers flock to Parklife festival for the biggest party of the year.

And of course, you can’t attend a festival without wearing a fire fit and boy oh boy have we seen some.

Gone are the days when you’d throw on a t shirt and jeans to a festival, and although you may see a few tracksuits and flimsy rain ponchos (we are in Manchester after all), the people of Parklife are dressing to impress this year.

Images: The Manc Group

The main theme of the weekend is…ruffles.

We’re talking ruffled shorts, ruffled boots, ruffled skirts – if you can ruffle it, the Parklife people are buying it. We’d say the vast majority of girls are wearing ruffled hot pants, and we are absolutely here for it.

Another trend is not practical in the slightest but of course looks absolutely fab, and that is cowboy boots.

Images: The Manc Group

We dread to think of the blisters that are going to crop up after the weekend, but as the old saying goes…beauty is well and truly pain.

You may mistake yourself for being at Coachella due to the amount of girls absolutely rocking a bandana this year, a trend which is both stylish and practical with the sun blaring down on Heaton Park this weekend.

And last but not least, maybe it’s the World Cup fever but we’ve spotted both boys and girls sporting football shirts and looking class whilst doing so.

Images: The Manc Group

All in all, Parklife weekend is flooded with fashionistas this year but are we surprised when Manchester is a hive for the coolest cats in the game? We think not.

There’s also a couple of pop-ups onsite this year for if you’re looking to level up your fit, including Suzy Loves Milo selling vintage garms and The Mothership providing all the perfect accessories.

Read more: Parklife 2026 – stage times, line-up, tickets, travel, and everything else you need to know

Featured image – The Manc Group

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Take That at the Etihad Stadium – the Manchester boys are ‘back for good’ | Review

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall

We’re not saying this was the ‘Greatest Day’ of our lives…but it was certainly up there.

Take That have been taking us all on a trip down memory lane over the past few weeks, bringing The Circus Live back to stadiums across the UK and recreating their record-breaking 2009 tour.

Last night they kicked off their four night run at the Etihad Stadium, and it’s safe to say the much-loved pop trio have absolutely still got it.

In fact, I’d go as far to say that this is the best Gary, Mark and Howard have ever looked, sang, and above all else, danced.

Maybe it’s because this is their first hometown gig in two years, or maybe it’s because I’m extremely biased having grown up listening to Take That in my mum’s car on the way to school.

Either way, I said what I said.

Now as the name suggests, The Circus Live isn’t your average show. There’s a gigantic hot air balloon, a huge mechanical elephant, clown face paint, acrobats, unicycles, fireworks, sparkly costumes, you name it – they’ve got it.

It’s an aggressive assault to the senses, a fantastic fever dream, overstimulation of the highest degree, and I lapped up every single moment. 

It’s what I imagine taking a tab of acid feels like before a gig, and if that’s the case then I would recommend doing so.

Of course the boys open the show with ‘Greatest Day’, and from the get go Gary Barlow’s vocals are just as smooth as ever.

After a brief Barry Manilow cover they then showcase their exceptional synchronised choreography during the dance break of ‘Pray’, to which I could almost hear the audible gasps from hundreds of mums in the audience.

All of which, I assume, were transported in that moment back to 1993 when Take That debuted the moves on Top of the Pops.

After a brief pause, Mark Owen leads the lads in ‘Shine’ as they make their way to the second stage in the centre of the stadium. Top hat in hand, Gary on the keys, Howard there purely for vibes – it’s no wonder Morrison’s chose this banger for their advert.

From then on it is simply banger after banger, and it’s clear that they feel very grateful to still be filling out stadiums as Howard particularly gets teary eyed after ‘Never Forget’ is met with roars of applause.

Take That have three more shows left at the Etihad Stadium, and you can still grab some last minute tickets here.

However, if you fancy not moving from your sofa but still want to be a part of the fun – Saturday’s show will be livestreamed across the globe via Amazon Music, so no matter where you are in the world, you can still visit The Circus. Find out more here.

Read more: Take That to livestream sold-out Manchester stadium show this weekend

Featured image – The Manc Group
































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