November is in full swing now, and so is the festive season.
There’s officially no escaping from it now, Christmas is fast approaching, so as you can imagine, there’s absolutely no shortage of things for the whole family to be getting up to across Greater Manchester throughout this week.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though?
We’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide, so here’s some of our recommendations.
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Manchester Christmas Markets 2024
Manchester City Centre
Monday 11 November – Sunday 22 December
Manchester Christmas Markets 2024 / Credit: Manchester City Council | Flickr
Manchester Christmas Markets are now back open for 2024.
The iconic annual event is an absolute staple in Manchester’s festive events calendar, and always draws in thousands of visitors from all across the globe – with hundreds of stalls across several sites all lining the streets of our city centre.
Visitors are able to tuck into a wide range of festive foods and drinks, and shop for Christmas gifts from countless independent traders.
Find out everything you need to know about Manchester Christmas Markets 2024 here.
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Skate Manchester 2024
Cathedral Gardens
Monday 11 November – onwards
Skate Manchester 2024 / Credit: Matt Eachus (via Supplied)
What’s a festive season in the city without Skate Manchester?
Back once again for 2024, Skate Manchester is festive staple, and this year, skaters can glide across a gleaming ice path and spin around a dazzling seven-metre Christmas tree taking centre stage in the middle of the rink.
Families, friends, and festive fun seekers will be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas whatever the weather has in store for our city this year too, as although the rink will be outdoors in the heart of Cathedral Gardens, the ice is fully covered.
A brand-new festive light trail has arrived in Greater Manchester for the winter, transforming the hidden Wilderspool Woods at the Trafford Centre into a twinkling wonderland.
The 4.5-acre event running until early 2025 has brought dozens of jaw-dropping light and interactive illuminations to the woods, filling paths and treetops with festive magic, from giant overhead shooting stars to huge illuminated presents.
There’s also an impressive selection of festive street food on offer curated by Freight Island too.
The UK’s largest animation festival, and celebrating its tenth edition this year, the festival is taking over HOME in the heart of the city centre for the week, and promises to offer audiences and the industry alike with the incredible opportunity to experience some of the world’s best animated film content.
Featuring international guests, premieres, masterclasses and panels, there’s something for everyone on the jam-packed programme.
The Oast House’s legendary Christmas has returned to Spinningfields for the festive season.
Bound to be popular spot for locals and those who’ve finished a hard day at work during the colder months, The Teepee officially reopened last week and is made up of three tents joined together with a huge open hub, complete with two roaring fires, twinkling fairy lights, faux fur throws.
NEW OPENING – Archie’s Atomic / Credit: The Manc Group
Beloved Manchester-founded burger brand Archie’s has now revealed its latest venture… an all-pink roller rink, diner, and arcade called Archie’s Atomic.
This exciting addition to Greater Manchester over at Trafford Palazzo includes the north’s largest leisure roller rink, geared towards skaters of all abilities, and you can rent a pair of Archie’s Atomic roller skates before going for a spin beneath a huge spinning disco ball on the bespoke bright pink rink.
A major Jurassic World exhibition that’s been mesmerising visitors all over the world has now arrived here in Greater Manchester, and it’s recently been announced that it’ll be sticking around until the new year.
Based on the beloved blockbuster film franchise, this official award-winning experience is one of the fastest-selling exhibitions in history.
Manc visitors will be 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.
Taking over one of Manchester’s most prestigious stages, and set to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year nice and early, Elf The Musical at the Palace Theatre takes one of the best-loved Christmas films and turns it into an all-singing, all-dancing stage production.
Join Buddy the Elf as he embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity.
The Big Manchester Bake / Credit: Big Bakes | Brydn Webb
The Big Manchester Bake has landed, and believe us when we tell you it’s one of the best ways to spend an evening in the city.
Baking enthusiasts and novices alike can indulge in the enjoyment of the Big Bakes experience, with step-by-step instructions allowing you to bake your way through the 90-minute timed task and be crowned ‘star baker’ (or…not).
Bar Hütte’s legendary karaoke cabins are coming back to Manchester once again this week.
Bringing Alpine vibes, cosy furnishings, twinkling lights, live music sessions, and flowing drinks to two city centre locations from this Thursday onwards, dozens of cosy private hüttes neatly-positioned under twinkling lights will open down at both Kampus and Great Northern Square.
There’s also a handful of other events on the lineup throughout the festive season, including live music and DJs, wreath making workshops, and movie nights.
Manchester Art Fair is returning to our city centre this weekend, and there’s so much to look forward to.
Founded back in 2008, and going on to become one of the largest and most significant art fairs in the UK, Manchester Art Fair has cemented itself among the most celebrated cultural events in Greater Manchester‘s annual social calendar.
It’s known and loved for bringing together a wide range of artists, galleries, and artist studios along with a full programme of talks and art classes.
See everything you need to know about Manchester Art Fair 2024 here.
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The Dashing Dachshund Pup-Up Cafe
Revolution Parsonage Gardens
Saturday 16 November
The Dashing Dachshund’ Pup-Up Cafe / Credit: The Pup Up Cafe
The Dachshund Pup Up Cafe is back in Manchester this weekend, and if the concept of the popular event wasn’t flipping cute enough already as it is, this time around, it’s a Christmas-themed edition, and it’s all sounding set to be the perfect festive day out in the city with your four-legged friend.
More than 250 sausage dogs and their owners will meet under one roof in a safe space to roam free and get festive.
The Grotto at the Trafford Centre / Credit: Supplied
The main man is making our northern city his new home at one of Greater Manchester’s biggest shopping centres this winter time.
Starting in this Saturday and running all the way up until Christmas Eve, Santa is swapping the cold air of the North Pole for the cloudy skies of Manchester, as he starts his annual journey around the world by making a visit to our region.
Not only is Santa travelling with his grotto, he’s also giving visitors the chance to experience the world of the North Pole as he brings the chilly destination to the Trafford Centre.
Manchester Coffee Festival 2024 / Credit: Supplied
Manchester Coffee Festival is back for 2024 this weekend.
The renowned event celebrates all things caffeine and is a must-visit for anyone in the industry, or just anyone who’s a coffee fanatic.
Visitors can work their way around the vast event at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre, where there’ll be everything from a marketplace for shopping, a tasting room where you can sample loads of different coffees, workshops to have a go at, and talks and panels with industry experts.
The magnificent grounds of Tatton Park are being transformed into a ‘glittering winter adventure’ this festive season.
Families will be whisked away into a world of folklore, enchantment, and enthralling performances as they enter the gardens of the stunning Tatton Park in Cheshire for an immersive, festival-like experience known as Yuletide.
Organisers say the captivating event promises to be a “truly magical experience” where folklore stories come to life through storytelling and live music.
Credit: Manchester Art Fair | Flickr | The Pup-Up Cafe
What's On
What we know about Oasis’ Heaton Park reunion shows based on their first comeback gig in Cardiff
Danny Jones
Ok, so there’s no more need to pinch ourselves or double-take every time we check our phone: Oasis aren’t just back together, they’ve now kicked off the reunion and following those incredible Cardiff scenes, we’re already thinking about what this means for their Heaton Park homecoming.
There simply isn’t a brick-and-mortar Manchester venue big enough to hold as many Manc fans as want, need and deserve to see them back on stage after waiting all this time, so it’s only fitting that barely a month on from Parklife, the massive outdoor space will welcome us all back to witness history.
Quite literally millions of people tuned into various livestreams on Friday evening to see Oasis return at the Principality Stadium, so lots of you will have already seen plenty from the colossal concert – including that bald bloke balancing a pint on his head – but there was, understandably, a lot to take in.
So, with that being said, here’s what we hope, we think, we know about Oasis’ highly anticipated Heaton Park shows based solely on the details we gleaned from Cardiff night one.
The timings (roughly)
For starters, one of the most important things fans will be hoping to know is when Oasis got back on stage, as well as the set times of the other ‘Live ’25‘ support acts.
Liam, as per usual, was the mouthier of the two Gallagher brothers and let the cat out of the bag early on X (Twitter), before being clearly told off by management and deleting the details shortly after; still, it was confirmed that the main event for Friday and Saturday night gets underway at 8:15pm.
However, these things are always subject to change, as both Richard Aschroft and Cast were slightly premature on night one in Cardiff, and who knows what other arenas will be like for the rest of the reunion tour?
Another big debate online that has raged ever since the Oasis reunion was confirmed is the subject of what they’re going to play from their extensive catalogue.
Obviously, most people could rattle off most of the all-time favourites and cobbble together a pretty decent ‘greatest hits’ of Oasis setlist, but people have been more concerned with what the opener, closing track, and encore will be.
Having watched all of these moments back multiple times already, we can confirm the first track was not the old intro, ‘F***in’ in the Bushes’, as many suspected, but ‘Hello’, rather fittingly.
As for the last track in the main running order, the crowd got to bounce up and down to ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ before the legendary ‘Champagne Supernova’ beckoned the very end of the first night in Cardiff.
— The Rock Revival (@TheRockRevival_) July 4, 2025
They’ll still be reactive
That being said, this inaugural comeback show was somewhat of a pilot for the rest of the ‘Live ’25 world tour, which now totals more than 40 dates, and any good artist knows that tweaking the setlist from show to show can be key to not only to success, but keeping things fresh for you and the audience.
As a result, we wouldn’t be surprised if you see Oasis mix things up as the nights roll on, especially when playing multiple gigs in the same city as they’re doing pretty much everywhere for this reunion.
That flexibility isn’t just limited to song choice either: Liam did his famous twist on the ‘Wonderwall’ lyrics and told the crowd, “There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don’t speak Welsh”, and in case you haven’t seen it already, they also took a moment to honour a late Liverpool star.
There were lots of little details on night one in Cardiff, but this was a very nice touch from Oasis.
A bigger focus on production than ever
The glimpse at the AV presentation seen above is just a small taster too. From the various clips we’ve seen on social media over the last 24 hours or so, Oasis aren’t just back playing music together, but they’ve levelled significantly in terms of production and stage design.
Now, if you’ve ever been to see either of the brothers’ solo shows, you’ll know that football and, more specifically, references to Man City, often feature at some point.
Noel, in particular, has maintained a strong City presence in his set, be it the blue colour palette, the MCFC badge, or even a tall cut-out of manager Pep Guardiola half during most High Flying Birds gigs.
Cardiff night one was no different as his LG instructed the crowd to turn around and do the familiar ‘Poznan’ celebration regularly seen up in the stands of the Etihad Stadium.
Gallagher brothers kick off Oasis world tour with Cardiff show, as Liam tells fans 'do the poznan'.
It was bits of comedy like this that’s been one of the biggest part we’ve missed about Oasis; both Liam and Noel have always been very humorous in their own ways over the years, but they were never funnier than in those old clips you see of them cracking each other up in their younger days.
Despite being estranged for more than a decade and a half and who knows how many years of bad blood overall, they look to have at least put it to one side and what was once a combative back and forth from a distance has circled back around to brotherly banter – or at least we hope it has.
We’re not going to pretend they absolutely adore all of a sudden, but they’re at least trying and recognising each other’s roles.
As you can see, those snaps of them smiling during the first reunion photo shoot back together don’t appear to be just for show.
Seeing the two of them walk out holding hands sent the internet into an absolute frenzy of emotion and had people joking that they were finally going to message their own troublesome relative and at least try to mend fences.
But that was just one small moment.
The duo have always admired and respected their respective talents, but for the first time in even longer than the 16-year hiatus itself, it seems like there’s some genuine love there again. See for yourself:
They’re still as massive as they ever were – if not more so
All this is to say that, in short, Oasis’ first comeback show in Cardiff isn’t just the start of the ‘Live ’25 reunion tour that will span the globe, it’s also confirmation of something people began to question in their lengthy absence…
They really are the biggest and, in so many people’s opinions (including our own), the greatest rock band of all time.
From what we can tell, it feels like one of those watershed music moments where you have be there in person to truly see and believe it – not to be part of some exclusive ‘I was there’ comeback, but because we can’t thing of any other reunion that has had this kind of impact.
Roll on the five nights at Heaton Park and strap in, folks, because you will never forget it.
I've never felt so excited about a gig I didn't even have a ticket for! I'm so glad you had a great time, the clips I've seen looked INCREDIBLE.
Featured Images — Oasis (via X)/Finnlay K (via Instagram)
What's On
Grassroots music venue The Yard announces new outdoor festival – and it’s got a great name
Thomas Melia
City centre grassroots music venue The Yard has just announced its new outdoor festival, where you can expect lots of impressive local live music.
Independent and grassroots music venue, The Yard, is known for hosting some of the best gigs, creative events and live music in the city, and this festival is no different.
Titled ‘Stranger Ways’ – if you don’t get that reference, then we don’t know what to tell you – anyone attending can expect to hear music that champions Manchester’s indie spirit, with a lot of local talent represented in the lineup.
Alex Spencer is set to headline day one of Stranger Ways Festival.The Yard is a brilliant venue known for hosting a variety of live music events.Credit: Supplied
This talent has seen praise from the likes of Lady Gaga and The Coral, even getting his track ‘Nightmares’ featured in EA Sports FC25 (FIFA).
They’ve seen massive success this year playing at the Isle of Wight Festival earlier this summer and supporting ‘Every Breath You Take’ penman Sting in Cardiff.
Another of our picks for Manc artists of the month for June, Arkayla. Named after “a terrible Oasis demo” from 1991, the band will be stopping by to sing a couple of their hits, too.
The band are already making waves, quite literally, receiving plays from one of the biggest rock radio stations in the UK, Radio X.
Wigan band The Lilacs are set to headline day two of Stranger Ways Festival.Arkayla are one of the headliners for The Yard’s new outdoor festival.Credit: Supplied
And of course this festival falls during Oasis’ massive reunion tour, so it would be rude not to have a tribute act, or two, performing at this outdoor festival – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Carpets and The Oasis Experience.
Now, as far as tribute bands go, that’s up there with one of the best and quietly clever names we’ve heard since we came across, well… Stranger Ways.
Speaking of Oasis, every ticket purchased for The Yard’s outdoor festival, Stranger Ways, gets entered into a prize draw to win tickets for one of the Burnage boys’ Wembley gigs with an overnight stay.
Stranger Ways Festival is taking place at The Yard across 19 and 20 July – To access the full lineup and grab your tickets, you can find everything you need to know HERE.
Anyone who has managed to bag themselves those precious Oasis tickets is in luck too, as if you can show proof on arrival to The Yard, you can guarantee yourself free entry.
Emily Sergeant -
6th November 2024 
