Manchester Pride 2022: underground parties, brunches and fringe events for your diary
Alongside the official parties, there are some great fringe events taking place across the city for Manchester Pride. (This article contains affiliate links)
Whilst the rest of the UK celebrates Pride month in June, here in Manchester we like to stretch it out all summer long – culminating with a huge celebration on the last weekend of August.
Every year, thousands come together for Manchester Pride to celebrate love in all its forms with a dazzling parade through the city and a weekend-long street party in the Gay Village.
Beyond that, there are loads more Pride parties and events in Manchester to discover.
From the decade-long queer club night Bollox, famed for its widely eclectic music policy, to The F*ck Pigs, an off-shoot of discontinued gutsy gothic club night Body Horror (featured in the 2019 Boiler Room short film Queer Raving in Manchester’s Twilight Zone), there’s somewhere for everyone to celebrate being themselves – if you know where to look, anyway.
This list will be regularly updated as new events become available.
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Bollox Queer Pride
Image: Bollox
Image: Bollox
Cost: TBA
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Date: 28 August
Promising ‘seven savagely proud hours of clubbing’, long-running queer night Bollox will return to its home at The Deaf Institute over the long August weekend for its annual Pride party.
Spanning all three floors of the venue, this hedonistic party consistently sells out – so don’t hang about on tickets.
Escape to Freight Island is going all-out this August bank holiday with five days of Pride parties bringing some of Manchester’s best queer selectors and performers to the fore.
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Across the course of the long weekend, head down to catch sets from She’s in Control, Ghetto Fabulous & Mix-Stress, The Little Disco by La Discothèque, Homohangover and Homopicnic from the team at Homoelectric, plus a Pride family party with crafts, a raffle and more.
The free-of-charge Come as You are weekender at The Refuge is one of Manchester’s favourite Pride parties – going all-out with a range of performers and appearances from fabulous queens Cheddar Gorgeous and Liquorice Black.
This year’s event will feature headline sets from The Reflex and John Morales, alongside support from The Hush Club, Julie Willis, Jimmy Turnbull, Supernature Disco, Sticky Heat, The Colonel and Steve Conrey – all flaunting the energy and unity that Pride brings to the Manchester LGBTQA+ community.
With an all-trans, non-binary and POC line-up featuring some of Manchester’s best-known queer artists and Influencers, this new Inclusive 90’s style techno rave sounds like it will be a blast.
Organised by male gogo dancer Ali after he noticed an absence of trans, NB and POC working in venues in and around the Gay Village, it will bring together trans influencers and models, non-binary performance artists and DJs at one of Manchester’s most iconic venues.
With sets from Meme Gold and ‘This Guy DJ’ who plays at some of Manchester’s coolest raves, plus a 5,000mw laser show, this is definitely one to put on your list.
A host of pride events come to Kampus this bank holiday, running from Thursday to Sunday. Saturday afternoon sees the return of LOVE PARTY in the bungalow from 2 – 10pm.
Returning to party in the Kampus Bungalow and gardens, once again the line-up is stacked full of local queer talent including Kiss Me Again, Good Afternoon, Love Party resident Thom Docking and the return of Pumping Iron to Manchester.
Elsewhere across the weekend, there’ll be a BarkPRIDE fancy dress dog show in the gardens on Friday and an Ancoats Pop-Up market on Sunday.
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Drop The Mic and Queersat the Old Abbey Taphouse
Cost: From £7 Date: 25 August
Image: Queers in Manchester
Image: Queers in Manchester
Manchester-based arts communities Drop The Mic and Queers In MCR are hosting a Pride Celebration Event at The Old Abbey Taphouse in aid of the LGBT Foundation, featuring an incredible lineup of LGBTQ+ poets, musicians and DJs, as well as a queer art exhibition.
The night will include a special DJ set from an icon of the Manchester queer scene Jess Rosa, a ferocious performance from all non-binary punk band Taurine and a beautiful visual arts presentation entitled ‘Queer Joy’ curated by the illustrious Mr E.
‘Freedom to Be’ parties with Gok Wan at Ducie Street Warehouse
Cost: Free
Date: 20 August
Image: DSW
Image: DSW
Ducie Street Warehouse kicks of its new ‘Freedom to Be’ party series with a free-to-attend dance featuring a DJ set from the one and only Gok Wan.
Kicking off from 5pm until late, the warehouse will welcome the sensational national presenter and DJ Gok Wan with a supporting set from Manchester queer collective Queer Latifah.
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The party then continues on August Bank Holiday weekend with spectacular BIG disco brunches, plus an all-weekend line-up featuring some of Manchester’s best DJs and performers including The Niallist, High Hoops, Ghetto Fabulous, Girls On Film and Fat Camp.
Sonata will celebrate Manchester Pride with an intimate cabaret of classic hits and musical theatre, with a headline set from Nicole Faraday (Bad Girls, Casualty, Emmerdale) on Saturday night, well known for her portrayal of Eva Cassidy in Over the Rainbow.
Sunday night will feature an performance of the award-winning Bette: Bathhouse to Broadway!, a loving tribute to the life and career of Bette Midler. Elsewhere, Friday will bring jazz and musical theatre cabaret from Vivienne Lynsey.
Cottonopolis
Cost: Bottomless brunch from £30
Date: 27 August
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Cottonopolis will hold a special bottomless drag brunch in honour of Pride. Hosted by queens Narcissa Nightshade and Lilly Snatchdragon, there will be a free Cirôc Vodka cocktail on arrival for those who pre-book. As for the food, think sushi rolls, rice poke bowls, stuffed baos and Japanese toast.
The party then extends across the weekend with sets from Queer Latiffa, Deb Jump, Mixtress, Joy Social, Laura Jackson, DJ Duckdown, and J’Adora.
Running from 11am – 3pm across the long weekend, Salford gastropub The Black Friar has created a one off brunch menu in honour of Manchester Pride.
For £35, you’ll get 90 minutes of non-stop fizz and lager, plus a brunch dish of your choice. £2 will be donated to LGBTQ+ Youth Charity AKT.
Image: Supplied
Keller Queens at The Bierkeller
Cost: Free entry
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Date: 26 August
Darling diva Dame Fanny De Faux will be joined by sensational starlets for a special Pride event at The Bierkeller. Expect a ‘lashtastic evening of live performance, games, giveaways, high jinks and gratuitous gorgeousness.’
Manchester
Jane McDonald at AO Arena, Manchester – tickets, times and more for UK tour
Thomas Melia
The lovely people of Manchester are ‘Living The Dream’ because Wakefield wonder-woman Jane McDonald is bringing her tour to AO Arena.
Making her British TV screen debut nearly 30 years ago on The Cruise, before joining the Loose Women panel and going on to present a whole host of travel shows including Cruising with Jane McDonald, now this Wakefield legend returns to AO Arena.
This latest tour, named after her 2026 LP Living The Dream, will see Jane singing hits from both past and present including a couple of covers too.
Earlier this year, Jane’s Mighty Hoopla performance went viral online after she commanded the stage in a red leather jacket, donning a singular rainbow hair extension while belting out RAYE’s ‘Where Is My Husband!’
Audio North even got the opportunity to interview this legendary lady when she visited her hometown HMV store in Wakefield for an exclusive album signing – Oh look, it’s me!
The Wakefield wonder-woman’s latest album Living The Dream was released in March and considering the tour is named after this impressive LP, we’re sure fans can expect to hear quite a few tracks from this album.
Living The Dream
I’ll Not Be Beaten
You Don’t Know What You Got
Don’t Mind If I Do
The Hand That Leads Me
Ain’t Gonna Beg
I Will Always Love You
Islands in the Stream
Jolene
9 to 5
You’re My World
Where Is My Husband!
Let the Light In
Cake by the Ocean
Jai Ho!
APT.
Right Where I Belong
How Do I Move On
Beautiful Soul
All By Myself
You Still Lead Me
Of course, Jane also loves to cover a tune or two, and we’ll never forget her renditions of ‘Cake By The Ocean’, ‘Jai Ho’ or ‘APT.’.
What are the stage times for Jane McDonald in Manchester?
The doors for Jane McDonald’s Living The Dream Tour in Manchester are set for 6.30pm with the event set to start at 7.30pm.
AO Arena has a curfew of 11pm meaning you have enough time to dash home and eat ‘Cake by the (Sofa)’ before ringing in the new day.
Getting to AO Arena
Tram
For those of you heading to AO Arena, luckily, it’s connected to Manchester Victoria Station, and it has an integrated Metrolink stop to make your life even easier.
Head along the pink, light blue or yellow lines directly to the Victoria stop, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Train
Considering this live entertainment venue is situated right in the middle of one of Manchester’s most frequented stations, concertgoers should find no problem getting to the arena, wherever they are.
Bus
A variety of buses cover AO Arena andVictoria Station on their route, such as the 2 bus, which stops just a one-minute walk away from the venue.
A full list of buses and their routes can be found HERE.
The Arena has its own official CitiPark, with 958 car parking spaces, including 40 Blue Badge parking bays, which can be booked in advance.
Alternatively, anyone attending a gig can park at their nearest train station and jump on a train service or the various Metrolink park and ride facilities.
Walk/cycle
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes through the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app.
Fontaines D.C. add second enormous Manchester gig in Heaton Park
Daisy Jackson
Fontaines D.C. have just announced yet another Manchester gig – and this time, they’re heading to Heaton Park.
A run of arena gigs went on sale last week, including a show at the AO Arena, but tickets sold out within minutes.
Then the Irish rockers went and announced a run of outdoor summer gigs for next year – and demand again has been so high, they’ve added a second Manchester date.
Fontaines D.C. will perform two nights Heaton Park, along with massive venues in Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow and London.
Their Manchester show will take over the stage at Heaton Park the weekend before next year’s Parklife festival.
The band will play Heaton Park on Saturday 3 July 2027, as well as the newly-announced date of Sunday 4 July, as part of a huge run of outdoor headline shows across the UK.
They’ll kick off the UK leg at Blackweir Fields in Cardiff on Tuesday 29 June, before heading to Newcastle’s St James’ Park on Thursday 1 July.
After Manchester, they’ll head to Glasgow Green on Tuesday 6 July, before bringing the run to a close at London Stadium on Friday 9 July.
And if that wasn’t enough, the band will also play two huge shows at Slane Castle in Ireland on 26 and 27 June.
It’s another major milestone for Fontaines D.C., who have rapidly gone from cult favourites to one of the biggest rock bands around.
The new outdoor dates come just hours after the band sold out their entire UK arena tour, including their Manchester show at the AO Arena on Saturday 21 November.
The Heaton Park show will also see Fontaines D.C. joined by two seriously big support acts, with Little Simz and Viagra Boys set to appear at every UK outdoor date.
It’s set to be a particularly busy period for the band, who are currently gearing up to release their fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber.
The record is due to arrive on 16 October 2026 via XL Recordings, following the release of lead single Marianne.
The album follows 2024’s critically acclaimed Romance, which reached number two in the UK Albums Chart and helped propel the band even further into the mainstream.
Fontaines D.C. have also just headlined Reading & Leeds Festival, another sign of just how far they’ve come since forming in Dublin.
And now they’re preparing to take on some of the UK’s biggest outdoor stages yet.
Fontaines D.C. 2027 UK dates in full
Tuesday 29 June – Blackweir Fields, Cardiff
Thursday 1 July – St James’ Park, Newcastle
Saturday 3 July – Heaton Park, Manchester
Sunday 4 July – Heaton Park, Manchester
Tuesday 6 July – Glasgow Green, Glasgow
Friday 9 July – London Stadium, London
Tickets for the new outdoor dates go on presale at 10am on Tuesday 8 September, with general sale opening at 10am on Thursday 10 September HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
18th August 2022 
