ShinDigger Sessions to host canalside tropical garden party at Kampus
The 'tropical garden' gathering will relaunch the ShinDigger Sessions events after a two-year hiatus - promising "good booze, food and leg shaking at sundown".
Beloved Manchester brewery ShinDiggerhas announced it will be hosting one of its bouncing Session parties at the canalside neighbourhood Kampus this September.
The ‘tropical garden’ gathering will relaunch the ShinDigger Sessions events after a two-year hiatus – promising “good booze, food and leg shaking at sundown”.
The party is also being held to celebrate the grand reopening of Little David Street near Kampus – which has been closed to the public for more than 20 years.
ShinDigger – one of Manchester’s best-loved breweries – is hosting a party at Kampus in September.
A ShinDigger bar will be on site for the evening – with temporary Kampus residents Le Social serving natural wine and premium cocktails.
There will also be some scran up for grabs from Birria Brothers tacos and flavours from the grill courtesy of TINE.
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Local broadcasters and frequent ShinDigger collaborators Reform Radio will be curating a music lineup exclusively for the occasion.
ShinDigger – which began with two students selling home brews at house parties before turning into a juggernaut beer brand – branched out into a nationwide delivery service during the pandemic, dropping beers to doors around the UK.
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The company has constantly been reinventing the wheel with new recipes ever since – producing a wide variety of flavours ranging from IPAs and sessions to stouts and boozy soda.
Kampus, a Capital & Centric development, has been playing host to independent Manc brands like ShinDigger since it opened to the public in April – with Common & Co, Nell’s Pizza and General Store all securing residencies within the £250m neighbourhood.
Positioned alongside Victorian shipping warehouses and a 1960s brutalist tower, the Kampus complex has steadily been working towards a vision of becoming a bustling community of bars, restaurants and shops – with events taking place within the compounds on a regular basis.
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The ShinDigger Session party is pencilled in for September 4 from 2pm until 10pm – with tickets costing £5 for early birds and £7.50 for standard.
Tickets are available on the ShinDigger Sessions website.
Gigs & Nightlife
‘The world’s biggest Eurovision festival’ and celebration is coming to Manchester
Danny Jones
An absolutely massive Eurovision festival and all-around celebration is coming to Manchester this year ahead of the Finals in Switzerland this May – in fact, it claiming to be the biggest in the world.
Taking place in our city for the first time ever, the official ‘MancHagen Eurovision Party’ is heading to 0161 for the annual festival’s 20th anniversary and it’s promising a huge programme of events, live music, entertainment and, most importantly, it’s all for a good cause.
Kicking off one of the best weekends of the year on Thursday, 10 April, MancHagen has partnered with the Gay Village district and some Canal Street favourites to offer a safe and exciting destination for all eventgoers to meet up.
You can expect live cabaret and singing, drag performers and DJ sets, as well as non-stop partying until the early hours. We cannot wait.
Credit: Silvester Belt via AP Media (supplied)/The Manc Group
The Canal St venues making up ‘Eurovision Village’ include EVA, Iconic Bar, New York New York, The Eagle and Cruz 101, all of which host an exclusive series of Eurovision programming and parties.
For instance, MancHagen’s Official Festival Euroclub opening party will be housed at Cruz 101, with eclectic sets from veteran Eurovision DJ David Horton and friends, followed by a weekend of performances from the likes of Choriza May (RuPaul’s Drag Race) in collaboration with Lady Olé.
Then, on the following Friday (11 April), the first half of the two-day All Stars Concertwill take place at Manchester Arcade Arena, our premier immersive augmented reality venue, from 6pm onwards.
Hosted by the UK’s 2001 Eurovision entrant Lindsay Dracassand Leeds‘ very own ‘Quality Street Queen’, Mamma Bear,the night will showcase Manchester’s leading cultural icons and look back at the thrilling history of the iconic song contest.
With show-stopping performances from the 2025 cohort, previous contestants and more, such as Eurovision 1993 winner, Niamh Kavanagh, Canal St queen Tonya Kneez; Beverly Tight-Lipps, Hera Björk and others, there’s plenty of reason to be excited about MancHagen.
Our interview with Danny BeardCanal Street in full swing during Pride 2024There’ll be plenty of watch parties around Greater Manchester, but a Eurovision Festival warm-up is even better (The Manc Group)
The celebration continues into Saturday (12 April), with an all-day programme at Depot Mayfield, a much-loved multiuse venue and home to The Warehouse Project as well as Europe’s largest indoor LGBTQIA+ celebration, Homobloc.
An exclusiveArtist Yellow Carpet Parade will then spotlight some of the UK’s leading Queer and creative pioneers, including appearances from Manchester’s own Drag icon and MancHagen ambassador Banksie, North West drag icon Danny Beard and more.
And that’s just the day-time: come nightfall, The Depot will transform into a wonderland of fashion, music and performance as the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will take over the room for a never-before-seen competition dubbed ‘Drag-A-Vision 2025’, with the likes of Marmalade, Rilesea Slaves, Alexis Saint-Pete; Charra Tea, Actavia and Chanel O Connor taking to the stage.
Oh, and of course there’s all the after-party action that Gay Village does so well – it is the part of the city that never sleeps, after all…
Besides the obvious excitement and fanfare surrounding this huge Eurovision festival, it is not only a welcome space for people from all walks of life but, above all else, being held for some vital charities.
Working alongside the Ukrainian Cultural Organization and United For You to host this year’s event, donations from each ticket sold will go towards Ukrainian Children and the George House Trust, as well as LGBTQIA+ groups like Sahir House, Manchester Pride and FSTB Danish Children.
The MancHagen co-founders say: “Our team is proud to announce the biggest celebration of Eurovision countries, cultures, fashion, music, dance and the diverse communities together in joy through music…
“There is nowhere more suited to host such an event than the UK’s inclusive capital of Manchester and capital of the North.” Dubbing itself the biggest party celebrating the annual event aside from the competition itself, if you’re a fan of the famous song contest, you don’t want to miss this.
Packages start at just £45, with VIP add-ons, affordable family tickets and VIP Backstage also available. Find out more about the ground-breaking Eurovision Festival and grab tickets for the Manchester celebration right HERE.
Featured Images — Silvester Belt via AP Media (supplied)/The Manc Group
Gigs & Nightlife
Central Cee announces HUGE gig in Manchester this year
Thomas Melia
London rapper Central Cee has just announced a mega Manchester gig date set for this year which will be nothing short of stellar.
After dropping his debut album just last week, Central Cee (also known as Cench), has now released dates for his first ever UK arena tour.
2025 may have only just started but Central Cee is making sure to celebrate his successes in style and now he’s bringing his fans along for the ride too.
Known for hits like viral track ‘Doja’, Lil Baby link up ‘Band4Band’ and Dave collaboration ‘Sprinter’, Cench is no stranger to a hit record or two.
There was a time on social media platform TikTok, where you couldn’t open the app before hearing the well-known and widely referenced lyric, “How can I be homophobic? My B*tch is Gay.”
The Shepherd’s Bush superstar is packaging his all too familiar drill beats alongside his first LP ‘CAN’T RUSH GREATNESS’ and turning all these tunes into a highly anticipated world tour.
Our UK native made sure he’s stopping off at various cities up and down the country as well as Manchester including Birmingham, London, Glasgow and just over the pond with a slot in Dublin too.
Alongside a roster of stacked singles and collaborations, Cench is also known for his signature tag which he likes to fit into all of his songs; “Alright.”
Central Cee, who’s real name is Oakley, has dropped a select number of shows in America too. He’s already familiar with this nation after appearing on US rapper Ice Spice’s ‘Did It First’ last October.
So far, the drill artist’s first album has four singles with one of the latest ‘GBP’, a collaboration with 21 Savage, receiving a music video less than two weeks ago.
Central Cee is bringing his ‘Can’t Rush Greatness Tour’ to Co-op Live in Manchester on 19 April. Co-op members can access tickets from 29 January with general onsale taking place on 31 January from 10am HERE.
The Manc -
12th August 2021 
