The last couple of years have been rough for the theatre and live music industries, but there are some massive shows to look forward to in Manchester this year.
Our city’s cultural scene continues to push forwards with huge festivals, world-renowned theatre and some of the planet’s biggest musicians paying visits in 2022.
Parklife will be back, as will open-air gig series Sounds of the City, and the AO Arena has a packed programme of concerts ahead.
Our theatres will also welcome global musical talent, including the UK premiere of a stage version of one of the most-loved films of all time.
Here are some key dates for your diaries.
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Parklife, Heaton Park
Parklife. Credit: Andrew Whitton
Parklife is easily one of the biggest dates in Manchester’s music calendar, attracting 80,000 music-lovers to Heaton Park every day.
The line-up for its 2022 edition hasn’t been announced yet, but still 42,000 eager people have already bought tickets.
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Registration is open now for this year’s festival between June 11 and 12.
Sounds of the City, Castlefield Bowl
Credit: Sam Neill
There was a tonne of disruption for Sounds of the City in the last couple of years, but the popular open-air gig series is back with a bang in 2022.
This summer’s line up at Castlefield Bowl will be made up of performances from Lewis Capaldi (June 28), Foals (June 29), Crowded House (June 30), James (July 2), Pixies (July 5) and Sam Fender (July 6).
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The whole thing will wrap up with the always sold-out gig with Hacienda Classical on July 8.
There’s a seriously big show on the way to the Opera House this year, which will host the UK premiere of the Mrs Doubtfire musical between September 2 and October 1.
The theatre will also welcome some old favourites, like Singin’ in the Rain (May 9 to 14), Jersey Boys (October 18 to 29) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (March 8 to 12).
Famous faces will be on the stage too when Alexandra Burke and Jason Donovan star alongside each other in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (March 21 to April 2).
Disney will be hogging the stage at the Palace Theatre in 2022, in news that will delight thousands, with both huge runs of both The Lion King (October 27 to December 24) and Beauty and the Beast (March 31 to June 4).
School of Rock will keep playing at the Palace until January 15, before making way for a huge bill of musical biopics including 9 to 5 The Musical, and We Will Rock You.
The fun will continue with shows like Sister Act, Dreamgirls and Blood Brothers.
AO Arena
Credit: AO Arena
Strap in – it’s a BIG year at the AO Arena this year.
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Manchester’s biggest indoor gig venue will host the likes of Billie Eilish (June 7 and 8), Little Mix (May 6 and 7), and Stormzy (March 19) in the coming year.
Some of the biggest names on the planet will grace the stage here in 2022 – we’re talking Celine Dion (June 5 and 6), Queen and Adam Lambert (May 30 and 31), and Bryan Adams (May 17).
It’s not just music either – Cirque du Soleil will return with Corteo, the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour will dance into town, and Alan Partridge Live will take over for two nights.
We may as well rebrand Manchester City’s home ground to the Edihad Stadium this year.
Ed Sheeran will be playing a whopping four nights here between June 9 and 12, in front of crowds of 60,000 a night.
The only other summer gig confirmed at the Etihad this summer so far is Liam Gallagher, who’s set to perform on June 1.
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Royal Exchange Theatre
Credit: Royal Exchange Theatre
The Royal Exchange Theatre is one of Manchester’s most famous cultural institutions, and its 2022 programme is shaping up nicely.
Productions coming to the in-the-round theatre this year include Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie and Betty! A Sort of Musical, written by and starring Maxine Peake and Seiriol Davies.
Trailer released for new Harlan Coben thriller series Lazarus filmed in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
The trailer for Harlan Coben’s newest thriller series filmed in Manchester has been released ahead of airing later this month.
You may remember that, back in January of last year, Netflix confirmed it would be creating two more new Harlan Coben shows, following the smash-hit success of Fool Me Once starring Manchester’s-own Michelle Keegan – titled Missing You and Run Away.
Missing You went on to air on New Year’s Day this year, and it was announced in late January that Run Awaywas set to begin filming, again in Manchester, very soon.
But it turns out it’s not only Netflix that Harlan Coben fans need to be keeping their eye on, as Amazon Prime Video is now getting in on the action too.
First look images have been shared ahead of the release of Harlan Coben’s new thriller series filmed in Manchester / Credit: Ben Blackall (via Prime Video)
Prime Video has now released the official trailer for the highly-anticipated new thriller series Lazarus, which is based on an original story idea and written by the New York Times best-selling author, Harlan Coben, alongside his regular writing collaborator, BAFTA-winner Danny Brocklehurst.
Coben has worked with the critically-acclaimed Hyde-born screenwriter – who is most-famous for being the creator and writer of Sky One’s Brassic – for the creation of Lazarus, and it’s expected to be around the sixth time the pair have collaborated, with their previous successful works including Safe, The Stranger, and Stay Close.
Lazarus is set to follow title character Joel Lazarus who returns home after his father Dr Jonathan Lazarus dies by suicide, and begins to have disturbing experiences that can’t be explained.
He quickly becomes entangled in a series of cold-case murders as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death and his sister’s murder 25 years ago.
The six-part thriller series stars big names like Sam Claflin as Joel Lazarus, and Bill Nighy as his father Dr Jonathan – with supporting performances coming from Alexandra Roach, David Fynn, Karla Crome and Kate Ashfield, to name just a few.
The show will be executive produced by Harlan Coben and Danny Brocklehurst, alongside star Sam Claflin, BAFTA-winner Nicola Shindler and Richard Fee for Quay Street Productions – which is part of ITV Studios.
All six episodes of Lazarus are set to be exclusively released Prime Video on Wednesday 22 October in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Featured Image – Ben Blackall (via Prime Video)
What's On
Manc music legends James announce MASSIVE hometown show
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester music legends James have just revealed a massive hometown show here in the city centre as part of a landmark domestic arena tour.
Daisy bucket hats at the ready.
James is arguably the epitome of what it is to be the understated, underdog British band; they’ve gone about the business of making quality music somewhat quietly for several decades now, but they’ve had a fresh wave of interest over the past year or so
Having opened up for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback shows, not to mention playing multiple big festival slots in recent months alone, they’ve now announced a huge run of UK arena shows – and nowhere does a James crowd quite like us Mancs.
Details have been announced for our 2026 UK arena tour, and we’re delighted to be joined by very special guests @dovesmusicblog with tickets going on general sale this Friday at 9:30am. Access the ticket pre-sale on Wednesday via our official store: https://t.co/DwpGrAUESZ NBL x pic.twitter.com/A4CWVpCooL
Announced as part of the celebrations around their Nothing But Love ‘best of’ LP, which pulls tracks from James’ whopping 18 studio albums, the new run of UK arena shows in 2026 follows on from numerous noteworthy shows this calendar year.
In addition to the aforementioned outdoor gigs, like their stunning sold-out night at The Piece Hall in Halifax – not too far from frontman Tim Booth’s hometown in Yorkshire – the indie veterans also celebrated a huge landmark in 2025.
Surpassing the milestone of 40 years as a band, with a lineup that’s remained largely intact and only really grown in terms of live session players and touring bandmates.
The new “definitive” greatest hits record also includes two brand-new songs in ‘Wake Up Superman’ and ‘Hallelujah Anyhow’, both of which are produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with the band on their long-awaited number one album Yummy in 2024 – a feat loooong overdue if you ask us.
As evidenced by the sheer amount of new material they continue to put out and the almost non-stop touring, they remain one of the most prolific artists in the country. FACT.
You can see the rest of James’ upcoming tour dates, including a healthy number of Northern stops in the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and more.
James UK arena tour dates 2026
Fri 2 Birmingham Utilita Arena
Sat 4 Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
Tues 7 Aberdeen P&J Live
Wed 8 Glasgow OVO Hydro
Fri 10 Newcastle Utilita Arena
Sat 11 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Mon 13 Cardiff Utilita Arena
Tues 14 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 17 London The O2
Sat 18 Manchester Co-op Live
With James returning to Manchester for their Co-op Live arena debut next April, along with a sensational support slot from fellow local legends, Doves (I know, how lucky are you lot?!), you can bank on this one selling out quickly.
General admission goes on sale this Friday, 10 October at 9:30am, so you’d better be ready to grab yours in a flash.
You can find the ticket link HERE, and we’ll see you in the crowd for a good ol’ singalong.
Daisy Jackson -
7th January 2022 
