Manchester Pride Festival has just announced its day-by-day lineup of artists and events for 2023.
In case you missed it, the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ charity event revealed its highly-anticipated 2023 lineup back in March, and it’s set to be the iconic Festival’s most inclusive roster of local and international queer talent to date.
Undoubtedly back with a bang this summer, and co-created in collaboration with Manchester’s diverse queer communities, Festival organisers say this year’s lineup champions “representation, inclusivity, and community celebration” over the four-day extravaganza.
The legendary Gay Village Party is back, and will light up with performances across three stages – The Village Stage, MancUnity Stage – which is in partnership with Gaydio – and the Alan Turing Stage.
Drag sensation Pabllo Vittar is headlining this year’s Gay Village Party, as is singer-songwriter and Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Danny Beard, and a mystery headliner still yet to be announced.
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Aside from those headline performances, the four-day August bank holiday weekend Festival also includes a whole host of other special events including Queer Asian Takeover headlined by Gok Wan, Trans Filth & Joy headlined by drag artist BIMINI, Black Pride MCR headlined by Raven Mandella, and the Queer Women’s Takeover headlined by Monki.
Here’s a quick run-down of the official Manchester Pride Festival stage splits for 2023.
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Friday 25 August
Village Stage – Headlined by BIMINI, with additional performances from Tito Bone, Midgitte Bardot, Cyro, The BollyWitch, An0maly, Finley Odin, Darnell, Denon, Xzan, and DJ Jess Rose.
MancUnity Stage, in partnership with Gaydio – You can expect an evening of “dancing, partying, showing off and feeling good” with Fat Pride, featuring The Niallist, Ivy Profemme, The Fat Britney, Joe Spencer, Miss Lei-Lei, Sam Buttery, and Joanna Cuddle.
Alan Turing Stage – hosted by Donna Trump, with La Discothèque Orchestra, Queeriosity Cabaret, Pecs Drag Kings, The Enby Show featuring Cyro, Flick, and Carrot.
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Saturday 26 August
Village Stage – Headlined by Pabllo Vittar, with additional performances from Jodie Harsh, Black Peppa, Monopoly Phonic, Tom Aspaul, Violet Blonde, and Jsky – and a special multi-platinum selling headliner soon to be announced.
MancUnity Stage presents Black Pride MCR, all brought together by Darren Pritchard with headliner Raven Mandella, as well as Swagga, Kele Le Roc, DJ Stacy Bee, DJ NKay, DJ KL, Queens in Kicks, Goodie Magnum, and Dymond.
Alan Turing Stage welcomes the Queer Asian Takeover hosted by Lucky Roy Singh, with headliner DJ Gok Wan, alongside Gracie T, Reeta Loi, The Bitten Peach, Bollyqueer, House of Spice, Club Zindagi and more.
Sunday 27 August
Village Stage – Headlined by Danny Beard and Friends, alongside Jake Shears, Natasha Bedingfield, Lisa Scott-Lee, Cheddar Gorgeous, Barb, Kelly Llorenna (N-Trance), Jonbers Blonde, Bailey J Mills, Lady Bushra, Banksie, The BollyWitch, Lill, and Ginny Lemon’s Dog Show.
MancUnity Stage presents the Queer Women’s Takeover with Monki, Kim Lana, Blasha and Allatt (Meat Free + Frixxxion), Mix-Stress and Friends, SWAGGA featuring DJ Stacy Bee, Queens in Kicks, Freequency3, Club Clam, What She Said, Vanilla, and Fat Camp.
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Alan Turing Stage – Cutie-POC Cabaret hosted by Rikki Beadle-Blair, Angie Brown, The Cocoa-Butter Club, NoirTones, and Ghetto Fabulous, as well as Your Manchester hosted by Belinda Scandal.
Monday 28 August
Village Stage – Closing the festival with the Misty Chance and Friends, and Disabled Queer Joy Cabaret.
MancUnity Stage – THE RUNWAY by Banksie, and Firehouse with Dakota Schiffer.
Alan Turing Stage ends the event with Disney Classics performed by The Untold Orchestra.
Day-by-day stage splits for the 2023 Festival have been announced today / Credit: Manchester Pride
Closing the four-day Festival is the Candlelit Vigil with George House Trust, which is a moment of reflection in Sackville Gardens.
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As the home of Alan Turing, The National Transgender Memorial, and the Beacon of Hope, the gardens are set to be transformed into a sea of flickering candles to remember and honour those lost to, and stand in solidarity with, those who are living with HIV.
It also provides the space to reflect on and remember those who have been persecuted in the LGBTQ+ community, both here in the UK and around the world.
Find out more about Manchester Pride Festival 2023 and grab tickets here.
Featured Image – Manchester Pride
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Liam Gallagher says what everyone’s thinking about SNL’s Oasis sketch dubbed ‘the worst skit ever’
Danny Jones
Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher has responded to the recent SNL sketch about the band’s reunion and, like virtually everyone else on the planet, he struggled to find it funny.
Put it this way, his reaction was much more short and sweet than most people’s.
In case you missed it, the legendary US comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live (more commonly known as SNL) recently tried to hop on the bandwagon of the worldwide Oasis buzz following the announcement of their comeback.
With no exaggeration, it’s one of the biggest pieces of news not only in music but that the entertainment industry has seen in a long while so, naturally, the long-standing satirical comedy show felt like they had to comment on it. We just kind of wish they hadn’t…
There is a very good chance that this Oasis skit from SNL is the worst thing you will see today, perhaps this week and quite possibly ever. It is grim.
The Saturday Night Live Oasis sketch is bafflingly and embarrassingly bad. I implore you not to watch it, as I did, thinking people were exaggerating its awfulness. Forget the lack of any humour, what were those accents? Essex?
Let us caveat this by assuring you that there have been plenty of genuinely great SNL sketches down the decades and there’s a reason the series has been going for nearly half a century – this just sadly isn’t one of them. Brace yourselves.
Panned by both native and British viewers alike, the attempt to tap into the excitement and poke fun at the ever-amusing Gallagher brothers wasn’t just a swing and miss, it was a complete strike-out as the Yanks would say.
As just one of countless people put it on social media: “Don’t even know where to start with this. Legitimately one of the worst skits I’ve ever seen. Even worse than that Sydney Sweeney dog cheerleader one they did, and that’s saying something.” Seriously, people hate it.
Despite the fact that there’s always been a rich vein of comedy around Oasis – be it the Burnage boys’ perpetual squabbling and unwavering egos, the caricatured look plus the almost overly performative Mancunian persona of the band and their fans – they couldn’t tap into it any of it convincingly at all.
Naturally, Liam Gallagher himself obviously saw the sketch, which has now been dubbed “excruciating”, “beyond cringe” and perhaps “one of the worst ever” online, and when asked his opinion replied in typically dismissive LG fashion:
Put in the nicest way possible, the whole thing just feels like a skit written by someone who clearly isn’t much of a fan and has very little real knowledge of Oasis whatsoever, but who also fundamentally has no real grasp of any real British culture, let alone anything to do with Manchester.
Nevertheless, the Oasis reunion has seemingly brought joy to most of us here in the UK and indeed many other countries around the world including the US, as Manchester’s most famous sons have also sold out all over their North American tour dates despite never quite making it quite as big there.
You can watch all three minutes and 27 seconds of the now infamous Oasis SNL sketch down below but we will warn you now, as good as some of their skits have been over the years this one is genuinely like pulling teeth…
Featured Images — SNL (via YouTube)/Stefan Branding (via Wikimedia Commons)
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PlayStation ‘The Concert’ is coming to Manchester’s Co-op Live next year
Danny Jones
Coming to Manchester and the rest of the world for the very first time, PlayStation™ ‘The Concert’ descends upon the Co-op Live in 2025.
The industry-leading entertainment venue is the largest of its kind in Europe and is already welcoming a whole host of incredible events in its first full calendar year, with countless gigs, the UFC, WWE Live and even Salford poet John Cooper Clarke set to play the arena.
But now Co-op Live is expanding its debut programme with even more variety, including Sony and PlayStation’s ‘The Concert’ World Tour, which will see live orchestras perform some of the platform’s most soundtracks in front of your very eyes.
Landing in Manchester next April, this is one of just six UK dates named as part of the landmark new show and whether you love gaming or simply enjoy a good movie/TV score, this one is for you.
Kicking off in Dublin, it does exactly what it says on the tin: each evening will see the music and soundscapes from some of the most iconic games ever made brought to life by fully-fledged live orchestras like never before.
Bolstered by a state-of-the-art sound system and the level of high-fidelity visuals gamers have come to expect from Sony Entertainment and generations of PlayStation titles, they’re promising a groundbreaking experience.
The first iteration of this live event came with an initial one-off event at the Royal Albert Hall back in 2018 and after growing concept and production value since then, PlayStation The Concert is now coming to over 200 different cities around the globe.
An innovative multi-screen design, combining advanced LED and projection technologies, will enhance the event and deliver the most iconic moments and imagery from these games. Coupled with surround sound, the show delivers breathtaking visual and audio depth, creating an immersive experience that will allow the audience to relive their gaming adventures like never before.
Set to deliver legendary scores from composers like Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us), Joris De Man (Horizon), Ilan Eshkeri (Ghost of Tsushima), and Bear McCreary of the rebooted God of War franchise will reach new heights, offering fans a unique, deeply immersive live concert experience.
An example of the iconic PlayStation sounds you’ll see played in person.
2025’s PlayStation The Concert world tour starts its British leg in Birmingham before arriving here in Manchester on 22 April.
General admission tickets for the tour go on live this Friday, 18 October at 3pm but, as per with events at this venue, Co-op Members can access pre-sale from today (Wed, 16 October).
VIP packages are also available. You can get ready to grab yours HERE.