The major Jurassic World exhibition that’s been mesmerising Mancs for the past couple of months now is sticking around for a little longer.
After initially launching in Melbourne, and then going on excite dinosaur fans in numerous other cities globally, such as Toronto, Chicago, Paris, Shanghai, Berlin, and now Greater Manchester over at the Trafford Centre, it’s fair to say that Jurassic World: The Exhibition has become a global success.
The official award-winning experience based on the beloved blockbuster film franchise officially roared into the region’s biggest shopping centre back in August.
Billed as being a “family-friendly exhibit of massive proportions”, Manc visitors are able to walk through the iconic Jurassic World gates, explore some richly-themed environments, and encounter a life-sized Brachiosaurus, Velociraptors, and the most fearsome dinosaur of all, the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex.
You can imagine what it would’ve been like to roam amongst these breathtaking creatures, and even interact with baby dinosaurs like Bumpy from the popular animated series, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous – which is currently streaming on Netflix.
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If all of that didn’t sound brilliant enough as it is, the Manchester event even features some additional fan-favourite dinosaurs from Jurassic World that haven’t been at previous exhibitions too.
Manchester’s major Jurassic World exhibition is sticking around until the new year / Credit: Supplied
The exhibition’s run at the Trafford Centre was originally for a limited time only, but now it’s been revealed that its stay has been extended until mid January.
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Jurassic World: The Exhibition is now open at the Trafford Centre, on the Peel 7 car park opposite John Lewis, up until 12 January 2025, and tickets start from just £13 for children ages three up to 14 – with family and group tickets also available, as well as specially-priced tickets for senior citizens and students.
Blood Brothers at Palace Theatre, Manchester – a timeless classic
Greg James
Bill Kenwright’s production of Blood Brothers surpassed 10,000 performances in London’s West End making it one of only three musicals ever to achieve that monumental milestone – and now it’s visiting us here in Manchester.
“Oh Bright New Day”, Blood Brothers has just landed back at the Palace Theatre. This musical written by Willy Russell is a British piece of theatre that is a staple in the musical theatre tapestry of our country.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with this iconic story, it is an emotional tale of two twins who are separated at birth and grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with the most fateful of consequences.
The story’s central character, Mrs Johnston is the linchpin in this whole story and carries us through the show.
This role has been played by many superb women over the years including Mel C, Kiki Dee, Barbara Dickson and nearly all of the Nolan Sisters. This time, Mrs Johnston is performed by Vivienne Carlyle who provides a lovely maternal performance.
The other two lead roles are Mickey and Eddie, played by Sean Jones and Joe Sleight respectively.
These are really complex roles to play as the actors have to portray the characters from early school years to grown adults.
The cast of Blood Brothers in Manchester. Credit: Jack MerrimanSean Jones, Gemma Brodrick and Joe Slight in Blood Brothers in Manchester. Credit: Jack Merriman
Sean Jones has been playing the role of Mickey now for nearly 25 years and so he is no stranger to this character. And I must say, he still fantastically plays the part, even when playing young Mickey, and the show really takes off when he enters the stage.
Joe Sleight is someone who I had not seen in the role of Eddie before and he gave just as strong a performance as Jones. He offered a real contrast to his counterpart with a really beautiful, touching performance.
The whole ensemble did a gorgeous job of helping to carry these characters throughout the musical, showing a real flair for multi-roling and beautiful musicality in the group numbers too.
Something which elevates this already gripping story though is the music. There are many recurring musical motifs throughout the show that on the surface may come off as repetitive but they offer perspective on how things can evolve and change over time.
Of course the song though that everybody is perhaps familiar with is the power ballad, ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’. This is the climax of the show and what a climax it is. There’s not a dry eye in the house when we reach this point of the story, I can assure you!
So, whether you are returning to watch this show again, perhaps know the story from studying it in English GCSE or seeing it for the first time, it will always be an absolutely timeless classic.
Blood Brothers is on at the Palace Theatre in Manchester until Saturday 30 November. Tickets are available HERE.
Blossoms’ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ residency – everything you need to know
Danny Jones
The Blossoms boys are ramping up for their ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ residency to round off their UK tour of Gary, the fantastic fifth studio album which released earlier this year to critical acclaim.
Set to play not just one or two but five certifiably fantastic-looking gigs at five different Manc music institutions, each with a special place in our hearts and theirs, the incredible run of nights kicks off this Tuesday, 18 November and will see them play tracks from the album along with their biggest hits.
If you managed to grab yourself a ticket to at least one of these sell-out shows, you’re likely already trying to get things organised in your head to stop yourself from simply tail-spinning into an excited frenzy, so we thought we’d help you out where we can.
From the support acts to stage times, setlists and more, here’s everything you need to know ahead of Blossoms‘ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’.
Blossoms Manchester residency – all the important info
First up on the list is Manchester Academy on Oxford Road, where Blossoms will be starting their Manchester marathon of shows on Tuesday, 19 November – it will be the first time they’ve played the 2,600-capacity room since 2016.
Next up is the O2 Ritz on Wednesday (20 Nov), which many of the band members have said is their favourite venue of the lot given the number of acts they themselves have seen there and arguably their breakthrough hometown gig back in 2015, returning multiple times since then.
In at number three is the historic Albert Hall, where they’ve also taken the stage on a number of occasions, but this time their gig on Thursday, 21 November will see them perform their most polished and sprawling set yet.
The penultimate place hosting Blossoms’ Man residency is the O2 Victoria Warehouse over in Stretford, which will see them start the weekend in style this Friday (22 Nov). A big gig space made for big bands, so they’re a perfect fit.
And lastly, the Stockport boys round out the ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ mini-tour at one of the city’s very best venues full stop: the O2 Apollo. That sloping sprung floor, the stocks and the angle from the top tier – if you don’t know why this place is so special, we just can’t help you…
Perhaps the best part about this entire section of the tour, in our opinion, is that you’re getting a TONNE of different support acts across the five nights.
Not only are you getting different names every night but each Manchester gig will have not one but two warm-up acts, meaning you’ll fans will be treated to a total of 10 up-and-coming artists – and most of them are local too.
From Oldham’s very own Seb Lowe and Earlestown’s The K’s, who both supported them at Wythenshawe Park, to Scots Neon Waltz, local lads Delights; Manc rockers The Guest List; the ‘female Sam Fender’, a.k.a. Siobhan Winifred, London indie pop group Soft Launch, Brummy boys overpass, Leigh’s very-own Lottery Winners AND Liam Gallagher’s son’s exciting new band, Villanelle.
Phew. Let us catch our breath for a second. Sounds like an unreal few nights of nothing but non-stop indie and good times, right?
With doors opening from 7pm on all five nights in Manchester, you can expect a good half-hour or so for each support act, as well as two intervals to grab yourself a drink, nip to the loo or take a breather from your ape suit (trust us, we’ve seen plenty of people doing it) before the main event.
Blossoms are scheduled to take the stage for their highly-anticipated headline performances at 9pm throughout the residency, so you can plan accordingly depending on how far long it takes you to get to each venue from your location.
Luckily, they’re all in the city centre, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to get to any of them; maybe just give yourself an extra bit of leeway to head to the likes of a busy Oxford Rd and to queue of course.
The concerts so far on this tour have lasted around two hours, meaning you’ll be heading home by 11pm, which should be just enough time to get the earworm that is ‘Gary’ out of your head.
Setlist for Blossoms’ Gary tour
Now, it won’t surprise anyone to learn that most of their current setlist is made up of tunes from the new album, but we’ll warn you now that they won’t be playing Gary in full.
They’ve sprinkled hits from previous albums into the running order and, according to the Leeds show recorded on the ever trusty Setlist.fm, they have the split down as five songs from their debut, four from Foolish Loving Spaces, two tracks from Cool Like You and just one from Ribbon Around the Bomb.
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Meanwhile, there’ll be seven songs off Gary. You can see the most recent show from start to finish down below, but you can always expect some surprises from these guys:
Your Girlfriend
Perfect Me
Oh No (I Think I’m in Love)
What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?
I Can’t Stand It
Getaway
If You Think This Is Real Life
Big Star
Slow Down
The Keeper
Care For
Honey Sweet
Gary
I Like Your Look
At Most a Kiss
My Favourite Room
Encore:
Nightclub
There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)
Charlemagne – obviously…
A glimpse at what the Blossoms stage will look like for the ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ shows.
And that should be just about everything you need to know ahead of Blossoms’ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’: a once-in-a-lifetime event that’s going to go down in history and Manc music heritage.
They’ve described this as a “lover letter” to the places that helped put them on the map, not to mention a trip down memory lane now more than a decade into their career.
If you were looking for a secret ticket link from us, we hate to break it to you but this thing sold out in a flash. You can of course keep your eye out on resellers like Twickets and SeeTickets but, as always with these things, be careful and due your due diligence.
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Get ready to say hello to an eight-foot-tall gorilla and have what we already know is going to be an amazing week.
Emily Sergeant -
28th October 2024 
