Hundreds of dogs are set to descend on a popular Manchester city centre park next month to raise funds for a brilliant cause.
The best bit about it? It’s absolutely FREE to head on down to.
Back by popular demand, after having proven to be such a smash-hit with both pups and their owners, and dog-lovers alike in recent years, the Pooches of Pride festival is returning to Angel Meadow Park near Manchester‘s Green Quarter in a couple of weeks time, and it’ll be coinciding with the Manchester Pride celebrations taking place across the city too.
Now in its third year, the free festival – which is a joint venture between Manchester’s biggest dog community, Ex-PAW, and Far East Consortium (FEC) – has a lineup filled with loads of “paw-tastic” activities to get involved with when it returns next month.
The festival’s headline act this year is set to be the always-popular ‘Furbulous Dog Show’, hosted by local drag queen Belinda Scandal.
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With categories including ‘Animal Kingdom Realness’, ‘Drag Kings of Manchester’, and ‘Shantay you stay’, entry to this year’s contest will cost a £4 donation to Manchester and Cheshire Dogs’ Home, and the winners of each category will take home a ‘pawty bag’.
Over on the main stage, there’ll be a wide range of events to make the most of – including informative talks led by veterinary experts from Pet First Aid, interactive workshops and obedience classes by Make Fetch Happen, and also the chance for dog owners to shop for natural food and treats from some respected traders.
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A popular Pride-themed dog festival is returning to raise funds for Manchester Dogs’ Home next month / Credit: Supplied
Elsewhere across the park, there’ll be dog agility courses, puppy play areas with tunnels, seesaws, and ball bits, a ‘Paws & Unwind’ quiet zone, and a photobooth to snap some pictures of your pup enjoying their day.
Local coffee house, Foundation, will be giving out free puppacinos for well-behaved doggies, while GRUB and Fairfield Social Club next door to Angel Meadow Park will be open for the duration of the event and serving up a street food feast from all their resident traders.
And of course, as the festival is all about raising worthy funds for Manchester and Cheshire Dogs’ Home, like mentioned earlier, there’ll also be dog toy drive and dog food bank running throughout the day for visitors to donate toys and blankets to the local adoption shelter and charity.
Pooches of Pride 2024 will take over Angel Meadow Park on Saturday 17 August, with all the fun kicking off from 11am and running right through to 4pm.
Free tickets can be booked ahead of the event here.
Featured Image – Supplied
What's On
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.
Emily Sergeant -
31st July 2024 
