Can you believe it’s already the last full week of February? 2023 is off to a flying start.
Schools across Greater Manchester are out for half term this week, and it’s also every foodie’s favourite February holiday, Pancake Day, on Tuesday, which means there’s plenty to be getting up to throughout the region this week, so once again, we’ve cherry-picked a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide.
As always, some of the events we’re going to mention are completely free, while others will set you back a few pounds, and many will need to be booked in advance.
Here’s our top picks.
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Castlefield Viaduct
Manchester City Centre
Monday 20 February – onwards
Castlefield Viaduct / Credit: National Trust
Manchester‘s new ‘sky park’ on Castlefield Viaduct is reopening next weekend after being closed for maintenance over the winter.
The New York-inspired elevated urban park on the giant Grade II-listed 330-metre steel viaduct opened to the public as part of a pilot project to gauge opinion back in July 2022, but has been closed since December to allow time for the team of National Trust gardeners, volunteers, and community partners to prune, plant, and create new and exciting areas.
On top of the work to add a variety of seasonal planting displays created by, four plots on the viaduct have also been handed over to local community groups and partner organisations to create their own unique gardens for visitors to enjoy.
Half Term at the Science and Industry Museum / Credit: Science Museum Group
Mancs will get the chance to “unravel the secrets of sound” through experiments, play, and performance at the Science and Industry Museum this half term.
The Science and Industry Museum in the heart of Manchester city centre is encouraging families to “march to the beat of their own drum” and have a go at finding their inner musician, as there’ll be a whole host of interactive activities, special shows, and unique performances all themed around the science of sound to get stuck into.
One of the most iconic musicals of all time is heading out on a 50th anniversary tour, and it’s stopping off here in Manchester this week.
Having been seen by more than 30 million theatregoers over the past five decades now, Richard O’Brien’s legendary rock musical, The Rocky Horror Show, is returning to our city as part of a sell-out worldwide tour this week.
Famously combining science fiction, horror, comedy, and music, The Rocky Horror Show is the story of two squeaky clean college kids – Brad and his fiancée Janet. When by a twist of fate, their car breaks down outside a creepy mansion whilst on their way to visit their former college professor, and they meet the charismatic Dr Frank’n’Furter, making it an adventure they’ll never forget, filled with fun, frolics, frocks, and frivolity.
Manchester Museum has finally reopened to the public after an ambitious £15 million transformation project.
After an 18-month refurbishment, the cultural institution – which is part of the University of Manchester – has expanded into a modern new two-storey extension, with new exhibition spaces and inclusive facilities added into the space.
New spaces inside include a brand new Exhibition Hall, which has opened with the blockbuster exhibition Golden Mummies of Egypt, where visitors get an unparalleled access to more than 100 objects and eight mummies in a UK debut, while the new extension also includes the South Asia Gallery, which will be the UK’s first permanent space to explore the lived experience of South Asian diaspora communities.
There’s a new dinosaur in town too, joining the museum’s legendary T-Rex Stan.
ZOUK is serving up ‘the world’s hottest curry’ and a number of food challenges for National Chilli Day this week, and the best part is? There’s lots of prizes up for grabs.
To celebrate every spicy-food lover’s favourite day, ZOUK is putting on a special, limited-time-only menu to cater to all you heat freaks – and speaking collectively on The Manc‘s behalf (several of us having tried it), it’s no joke.
Running for five days from Monday 20 – Friday 24 February, the aptly named ‘Reaper Challenge‘ comes in three variations.
SEA LIFE Manchester is inviting families to dive deep into the past this February half term with its new pre-historic adventure called ‘Jurassic Seas’.
For those up for the true Jurassic experience, you’ll be able to dig for fossils, take part in challenges, enjoy dino photo opportunities, meet and greet The Professor, and even see animals from pre-historic times up close and personal – including sharks, turtles, and sea anemones.
Pancake Day / Credit: | Ducie Street Warehouse | The Shack MCR | Hampton & Vouis
Considering all you need is water, flour and an egg or two, you wouldn’t think there could be so much variety in pancakes in Manchester, would you?
But there’s many different styles to choose from.
From sweet to savoury, miniature to fat, and thin to fluffy, no matter what pancake floats your boat, the city of Manchester is here to deliver… you just need to know where to look. So with Pancake Day finally here this week, we’ve broken down some of our favourites below to help you get your pancake fix.
Read our round-up of where to find the best pancake places in Manchester here.
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Club Classics on Brass
The Blues Kitchen
Tuesday 21 February
Club Classics on Brass / Credit: The Blues Kitchen
Combining the traditions of New Orleans with Manchester’s own party heritage, The Blues Kitchen Manchester is delivering an evening of club classics performed by a one-of-a-kind brass band this Tuesday.
Mr Wilson’s Second Liners are the North’s answer to Meute, turning golden era dance anthems into big, brassy bangers, and this technicolour marching band promise glorious mayhem and pandemonium with their carnival twist on favourites by A Guy Called Gerald, New Order, Happy Mondays and more.
“Channelling the spirit of the 24 hour party people, welcome to the Brassienda.”
As always, East Lancashire Railway (ELR) has a whole host of themed events to entertain the whole family this February half term.
On top of the return of the popular Malice in Wonderland event, where families will need to hunt around for characters and clues to solve the mystery, there’s also the chance to embark on a brand-new magical quest to the Mythical Forest of Fantasy and become the newest members of the legendary Dragon Camp.
Part mystery, part scavenger hunt, part treasure trail, families will have to complete magical missions and solve puzzles to become the master of dragons while meeting some mystical characters throughout the journey.
Fancy catching all the February deals, discounts, and offers in Manchester’s cafes, bars, and restaurants?
Quite a few of the city’s bars and cafes have decided to extend their 50% off food deals from January into February, and we’re absolutely chuffed to see it.
Beyond that, there are some awesome set menus, lunch deals and general discounts going around – not to mention quite a lot of Valentine’s deals to take up if you’re looking to celebrate Cupid’s holiday with someone special this month.
February dining deals in Manchester / Credit: Cane and Grain | The Firehouse | The Mews
If you’re looking for somewhere to grab a bite this week, we’ve rounded up some of the best Manchester February restaurant deals to take advantage of in 2023.
The extremely popular ‘Family Fridays’ event returns to Manchester’s largest street food hub and social space GRUB for a half term special this week, with a range of activities including everything from watching specially-selected kids’ films at the in-house cinema CULTPLEX and playing puzzles and board games, to arts and crafts, music making, bulb planting for spring and more.
There’ll even be face painting, temporary tattoo workshops, and lots of fun with glitter too, on top of a wide range of street food, coffee, and the GRUB bar for the parents to enjoy.
The event will run from 1pm-4pm, with GRUB remaining open afterwards, and tickets are £3 per child, but adults do not need a ticket.
One of the biggest Guinness Fan Zones in the UK has arrived in Manchester city centre for the Six Nations, and the best part of all is, it’s absolutely free.
With the beloved rugby union tournament running up until Saturday 18 March, Guinness have brought their popular fan zone to our lovely city – which is the biggest one outside of London – and have popped up at Escape to Freight Island just round the corner from Piccadilly Station.
The space has been transformed into a dedicated area for rugby lovers to watch the match, enjoy a fresh pint of ice-cold Guinness, and get involved with a whole host of other festivities.
You can also read our round-up of all the best places to watch the Six Nations in Manchester here.
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Featured Image – ATG Tickets | The Shack MCR | GRUB
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 the classic intro ‘F***in’ in the Bushes’, as many fans suspected, followed by ‘Hello’ as the first full song, 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 -
18th February 2023 
