The incredible pop-up cinema event at Victoria Baths will be back in Manchester this weekend, with the last tickets now up for grabs.
The Village Screen will once again be filling the former Edwardian swimming pool with deckchairs and a giant screen for two nights of breathtaking movie magic.
The summer-time cinema event will kick off on Friday 19 August with a screening of 80s classic, Dirty Dancing.
Then on Saturday 20 August, it’ll be the turn of Wes Anderson’s epic The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Dirty Dancing. Credit: LionsgateThe Grand Budapest Hotel. Credit: 20th Century CinemaManchester’s pop-up cinema at Victoria Baths will be back this weekend.
As well as the vintage striped deckchairs in the Gala Pool, visitors will be able to watch the films from the original wooden seating up on the balconies.
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In true The Village Screen style, there’ll be a range of independent street food traders on site, plus themed cocktails, prosecco, popcorn and more.
Desert Island Dumplings, who specialise in fusion vegan dumplings with fillings including salt and pepper ‘chickn’ and ‘cheezeburger’, will be in attendance on both nights.
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Desert Island DumplingsB’Reyt DoughMama Sue’s
Mama Sue’s, home of the epic frankfurter, and B’Reyt Dough, who whip up proper Neapolitan pizzas, will also be pitching up over the weekend.
The Village Screen have been hosting cinema events at Victoria Baths since 2016, as well as similar pop-ups in Sheffield and in a giant Peak District cave.
The events are run by a small, independent event production team who are on hand to greet cinema-goers with a smile at every screening.
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You can expect pre-show entertainment, themed decor, and even have the chance to send a message to be shown on the big screen before Dirty Dancing and The Grand Budapest Hotel are shown.
Tickets for The Village Screen at Victoria Baths are priced at £20 for adults and £18 for concessions for the deckchairs, or £14 for adults and £12 for concessions on the balcony.
There’s the option to add a donation to Victoria Baths to support their on-going and important building restoration work with every ticket purchase.
Embrace announce intimate live show in beloved Bury music venue
Danny Jones
British alternative veterans Embrace have announced another intimate show here in Greater Manchester, only this time it’s over in Bury at a stunning small-cap arts venue.
It’s not often you get to see such a long-standing band play outside of the city centre so far into their career, especially in gorgeous grassroots spaces like this one.
A fellow Northern outfit, they’ve often been lumped in with that ‘post-Britpop’ era of music, and plenty throw around the so-called ‘dad rock’ label, but honestly, we couldn’t care either way: they remain among the UK’s perennially underappreciated underdogs that never get old, as far as we’re concerned.
Revealing a handful of new live dates for their album launch this summer, they’ll be making just two appearances in the North West on the run.
Writing in the post, the group said: “We’ve lined up a run of exclusive UK dates in venues that are some of the smallest we’ve played in years. It’s going to be special, but capacity is extremely limited.”
As you can see, besides the Jacaranda Baltic in Liverpool, the only other place in this region where they’re set to play for this mini tour is The Met over in Bury.
One of the most beautiful gig spots, not just in the town but in all the 10 boroughs, for our money, the room only holds around 400 standing and roughly 250 seats.
For seasoned artists like this lot, who are more used to playing big festival stages and big domestic headline tours – which they’re also doing later this year – it’s sure to be a special night.
Toasting the release of their ninth studio LP, Avalanche, this spin-off on the tried and tested in-store format wouldn’t be possible without the help of local record store, Wax and Beans, who are promoting and hosting the show.
But we can’t lie, there’s something about the idea of seeing them decades on from when they first tightly-packed out crowds of this size.
If you want to be part of the Embrace album launch tour, you can get ready to grab your tickets at 10am this Friday, 27 March, right HERE. And speaking of great record shops…
Yard Act announce handful of new headline shows ahead of 6Music gig in Manchester
Clementine Hall
Yard Act are back as they announce first round of UK headline dates since 2024, including a show right here in Manchester – but not before their BBC 6Music Festival gig later this week.
We are so, SO back.
It’s been a few years, but Yard Act have just announced a limited run of domestic shows for later in the year including their homecoming gig at the O2 Academy in Leeds on Friday, 6 November.
But after playing over in Yorkshire, the lads will be performing shows at the O2 Victoria Warehouse on the following Friday (13 Nov).
Yard Act completed the touring for their critically acclaimed second album, Where’s My Utopia?, with a victory lap back home at the 5000 capacity Millennium Square in Leeds in August ’24.
It was a record that brought a stark change of pace to the acerbic, post-punk of their debut, embracing something altogether more playful and bringing a different energy.
It shifted the dynamic on stage too, with the addition of dancing backing singers and additional musicians and openly challenged listeners to reconsider who they thought Yard Act were.
Since then, the band have been keeping busy writing and recording their third studio LP, as well as heading out across the UK and Europe with The Hives – oh, and that intimate one-off show at Blackpool Tower last May.
Following a lengthy stint in the studio, the band now look to this coming autumn for three big UK dates and we cannot wait. We spoke to them a little while back and know how much big stuff they’ve got further pipeline; you can see the interview HERE.
Booking just three headline slots, the handful of tour dates are as follows:
06 Nov – Leeds
13 Nov – Manchester
26 Nov – London
Tickets go on artist presale from 10am on Wednesday, 25 March before hitting general sale at 10am on Friday, 27 March. Sign up to grab yours right HERE.
As for those wanting to find out more about this year’s 6Music Fest, you find the full lineup and more down below.
Daisy Jackson -
17th August 2022 
