Yet another month in Manchester is done and dusted, and it’s now time to welcome May.
Despite April being a busy month, there’s still plenty to be getting up to across the region this week, so we’ve cherry-picked a few of the best things happening for our ‘what’s on’ guide for the city of Manchester and beyond.
As always, some of the events we’re going to mention here are completely free, which is great for those looking to keep things on the cheaper side, 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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The Stockport Collection by Heidi Alexander
Where The Light Gets In
Monday 25 April – Sunday 1 May
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Credit: Heidi Alexander
Long-lost images of life in 1970s Stockport are going display at local restaurant, Where The Light Gets In, this weekend after they were shared on social media.
Unearthed by a Swiss-born photographer Heidi Alexander during the COVID-19 pandemic, the images had been gathering dust for decades, and had endured several house moves and even storage in Scotland, but now, a selection of the shots will be free for all to see to at the restaurant.
In what is a first for Manchester city centre, popular Deansgate venue Roxy Ball Room has added ice-free curling lanes to its adults-only playground this month, and it means that revellers can take on games of pool, crazy golf, ping pong, beer pong, shuffleboard, and curling, all in one evening.
The venue has remodelled its top floor to make room for two full-size, ice-free curling lanes.
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Players are given four curling stones per team, which they have to carefully slide down the length of the ice-like surface, aiming for a huge target at the other end.
One of Manchester’s best pizza joints is giving away 500 free slices this week to celebrate the opening of its new Slice Shop.
Nell’s New York Pizza & Bar at KAMPUS will open up a new area next week dedicated to its famous – and massive – pizza slices, and people will be able to grab wedges of these 22-inch pizzas for as little as £2.25 a slice, including its popular Do You ‘Roni Honey pizza topped with ‘nduja, pepperoni and chilli honey.
But the New York-style pizza will be flying out free of charge this for the first 500 people to rock up at KAMPUS from 12pm annd 3pm on Tuesday 26 April.
We all know that Manchester has a rich history of musical heritage, and Band on the Wall’s ‘Heroes of Manchester’ is a brand-new project that dives into the unknown and lesser-known musical heroes of our city.
This show gives a flavour of Manchester’s independent underground, featuring a line-up of genre-spanning artists, such as Ellen Beth Abdi, Berry Blacc, Kemani Anderson, and Konny Kon, who are all breaking new ground.
The artists will be performing work originally written by the Unsung Heroes of Manchester – a selection of hugely influential but lesser-known names from the city’s musical history.
City centre bar, restaurant, nightlife destination, and live music venue Joshua Brooks is hosting another one of its popular Acoustic Sessions this Thursday, with some great local musicians lined up to play in the bar area from 8pm.
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Not only that, but cocktails will also be available for just £5 all day, and half-price wine.
One of the Peak District’s most impressive landmarks is being turned into a pop-up cinema by The Village Screen this spring, and the first films in the series are being screened this week.
The dramatic Peak Cavern will be kitted out with a full cinema set-up, plus cosy blankets and hot water bottles, for an unmissable film experience. Visitors will be greeted by live music, street food stalls, and pop-up bars before heading through to the cinema area, surrounded on all sides by stunning natural limestone walls.
Films on this week’s schedule include The Lost Boys, The Goonies, The Descent, and Back to the Future.
Manchester’s neighbourhood KAMPUS will play host a solid ten weeks of back-to-back block parties from its canalside garden, with each weekend seeing guest DJs take to the decks to spin tunes from different corners of the world – and this weekend’s event is brining the Californian sun and lifestyle to our city.
Free-flowing beer will come courtesy of Manchester brewery Cloudwater, and food will be provided by Ramsbottom favourites Levanter serving up tapas, giant paella, and charcuterie boards aplenty.
This weekend, you can expect a beach soundtrack, surf rock and hip hop, with plenty of guest beers flown in.
The Trafford Centre is hosting a Beauty Unfiltered takeover event this week, and it’s the first of its kind for the centre and the first internal event of this scale since 2019.
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The Beauty Unfiltered event will house international beauty and wellness brands to shop, explore, and experience, with a new temporary beauty studio located in Orient Way, supported by beauty giants Selfridges and John Lewis, and other brands confirmed to appear with pop-ups being Charlotte Tilbury, Boots, and Therapie.
The aim of the exclusive event is to encourage and inspire visitors to feel confident and comfortable in their own unique and beautiful skin.
East Lancashire Railway (ELR) is hosting one of its Murder Mystery Nights this month, and it’s taking a topsy-turvy twist on a classic fairytale.
If you’re a big fan of Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes, or you just enjoy a brilliant night of entertainment and fine dining, then the heritage railway’s popular Murder Mystery Nights are back for the first time in 2022 since the pandemic put them on hold, and you’re invited to bring your best detective people skills and hop aboard a stunning steam train travelling through the picturesque Greater Manchester countryside.
This Saturday is the turn of ‘Malice in Wonderland’, which is of course inspired by the classic Lewis Carroll 1865 children’s novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
You can find more information and book tickets here.
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Sounds From The Other City
Salford
Sunday 1 May
Credit: Sounds From The Other City
Salford’s beloved Sounds From the Other City festival (SFTOC) is returning to Chapel street‘s pubs, churches and community corners in 2022.
The festival is bringing new music, performance, and art to Salford from this Sunday.
Taking place this year on Sunday 1 May, 2022 at a host of small Salford venues, the underground music festival has built a reputation for bringing huge artists to the city whilst they are still at early points in their careers.
A firm favourite with local music lovers since it launched in 2005, this year’s line-up will continue to champion local promoters and small independent venues.
Spreading across a host of exciting indie venues, the 2022 event will continue to celebrate intimate gigs in small spaces – taking over the likes of Bexley Square, Seven Bro7hers Beerhouse, fivefourstudios, Hot Bed Press, Old Pint Pot, YES, Partisan, Porta, Regent Trading Estate, Saint Philip’s Church and The New Oxford.
One of the most popular city centre venues is back with another edition of its new music festival this May bank holiday weekend.
The Oast House, has launched a brand-new music festival, and it kicked-off for the first time over the extended Easter bank holiday weekend, with a full day of tunes provided by local musicians throughout the one-day event – and now, it’s back once again for the upcoming May bank holiday on Sunday 1 May.
The festival, which is named ManiFest, takes over The Oast House’s large outdoor terrace area, with a dedicated stage set up.
Blossoms’ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ residency – everything you need to know
Danny Jones
The Blossoms boys are ramping up for their ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ residency to round off their UK tour of Gary, the fantastic fifth studio album which released earlier this year to critical acclaim.
Set to play not just one or two but five certifiably fantastic-looking gigs at five different Manc music institutions, each with a special place in our hearts and theirs, the incredible run of nights kicks off this Tuesday, 18 November and will see them play tracks from the album along with their biggest hits.
If you managed to grab yourself a ticket to at least one of these sell-out shows, you’re likely already trying to get things organised in your head to stop yourself from simply tail-spinning into an excited frenzy, so we thought we’d help you out where we can.
From the support acts to stage times, setlists and more, here’s everything you need to know ahead of Blossoms‘ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’.
Blossoms Manchester residency – all the important info
First up on the list is Manchester Academy on Oxford Road, where Blossoms will be starting their Manchester marathon of shows on Tuesday, 19 November – it will be the first time they’ve played the 2,600-capacity room since 2016.
Next up is the O2 Ritz on Wednesday (20 Nov), which many of the band members have said is their favourite venue of the lot given the number of acts they themselves have seen there and arguably their breakthrough hometown gig back in 2015, returning multiple times since then.
In at number three is the historic Albert Hall, where they’ve also taken the stage on a number of occasions, but this time their gig on Thursday, 21 November will see them perform their most polished and sprawling set yet.
The penultimate place hosting Blossoms’ Man residency is the O2 Victoria Warehouse over in Stretford, which will see them start the weekend in style this Friday (22 Nov). A big gig space made for big bands, so they’re a perfect fit.
And lastly, the Stockport boys round out the ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ mini-tour at one of the city’s very best venues full stop: the O2 Apollo. That sloping sprung floor, the stocks and the angle from the top tier – if you don’t know why this place is so special, we just can’t help you…
Perhaps the best part about this entire section of the tour, in our opinion, is that you’re getting a TONNE of different support acts across the five nights.
Not only are you getting different names every night but each Manchester gig will have not one but two warm-up acts, meaning you’ll fans will be treated to a total of 10 up-and-coming artists – and most of them are local too.
From Oldham’s very own Seb Lowe and Earlestown’s The K’s, who both supported them at Wythenshawe Park, to Scots Neon Waltz, local lads Delights; Manc rockers The Guest List; the ‘female Sam Fender’, a.k.a. Siobhan Winifred, London indie pop group Soft Launch, Brummy boys overpass, Leigh’s very-own Lottery Winners AND Liam Gallagher’s son’s exciting new band, Villanelle.
Phew. Let us catch our breath for a second. Sounds like an unreal few nights of nothing but non-stop indie and good times, right?
With doors opening from 7pm on all five nights in Manchester, you can expect a good half-hour or so for each support act, as well as two intervals to grab yourself a drink, nip to the loo or take a breather from your ape suit (trust us, we’ve seen plenty of people doing it) before the main event.
Blossoms are scheduled to take the stage for their highly-anticipated headline performances at 9pm throughout the residency, so you can plan accordingly depending on how far long it takes you to get to each venue from your location.
Luckily, they’re all in the city centre, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to get to any of them; maybe just give yourself an extra bit of leeway to head to the likes of a busy Oxford Rd and to queue of course.
The concerts so far on this tour have lasted around two hours, meaning you’ll be heading home by 11pm, which should be just enough time to get the earworm that is ‘Gary’ out of your head.
Setlist for Blossoms’ Gary tour
Now, it won’t surprise anyone to learn that most of their current setlist is made up of tunes from the new album, but we’ll warn you now that they won’t be playing Gary in full.
They’ve sprinkled hits from previous albums into the running order and, according to the Leeds show recorded on the ever trusty Setlist.fm, they have the split down as five songs from their debut, four from Foolish Loving Spaces, two tracks from Cool Like You and just one from Ribbon Around the Bomb.
Meanwhile, there’ll be seven songs off Gary. You can see the most recent show from start to finish down below, but you can always expect some surprises from these guys:
Your Girlfriend
Perfect Me
Oh No (I Think I’m in Love)
What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?
I Can’t Stand It
Getaway
If You Think This Is Real Life
Big Star
Slow Down
The Keeper
Care For
Honey Sweet
Gary
I Like Your Look
At Most a Kiss
My Favourite Room
Encore:
Nightclub
There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)
Charlemagne – obviously…
A glimpse at what the Blossoms stage will look like for the ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ shows.
And that should be just about everything you need to know ahead of Blossoms’ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’: a once-in-a-lifetime event that’s going to go down in history and Manc music heritage.
They’ve described this as a “lover letter” to the places that helped put them on the map, not to mention a trip down memory lane now more than a decade into their career.
If you were looking for a secret ticket link from us, we hate to break it to you but this thing sold out in a flash. You can of course keep your eye out on resellers like Twickets and SeeTickets but, as always with these things, be careful and due your due diligence.
Get ready to say hello to an eight-foot-tall gorilla and have what we already know is going to be an amazing week.
Featured Images — Ewan Ogden (supplied)/The Manc Group
What's On
Greater Manchester cinemas are screening loads of classic Christmas films throughout December
Emily Sergeant
Cinemas across the UK will be screening loads of classic festive films in the run-up to Christmas, and you can already book tickets.
With the nights drawing in, the temperatures dropping by the day, and the most wonderful time of the year now firmly in our sights, film fans looking for some wholesome festive fun in the run-up to the big day itself will soon be able to head on down to their nearest Greater Manchester cinema to catch a classic on the big screen.
Vue, Odeon, and The Light are among the cinema chains set to screen a handful of beloved Christmas films throughout December.
Although there may already be a TV channel showing Christmas films 24/7 now on air in the UK, if you fancy seeing the festivities in full screen instead, then you can watch showings of fan-favourites like Elf, Home Alone, Love Actually, and more over the next few weeks.
Greater Manchester cinemas are screening loads of classic Christmas films throughout December / Credit: 20th Century Studios | Universal Pictures
You can also see seasonal screenings of live ballet, theatre, and concert performances too.
Undoubtably one of the highlights on the lineup this year, however, has to be The Polar Express, with several cinema chains scheduled to screen the 2004 animated Christmas gem to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release.
Starring Tom Hanks alongside a talented supporting cast of voice actors, The Polar Express is based on the beloved children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg and tells the story of a young boy who boards a powerful magical train to visit Santa Claus’ home on Christmas Eve, learning about friendship, bravery, and the spirit of Christmas along the way.
Elf, Home Alone, and Love Actually are among the films on the lineup / Credit: Krists Luhaers (via Unsplash)
Looking for a more intimate festive film experience this Christmas?
Well you can also get yourself down to one of Manchester’s most popular hotels, King Street Townhouse, where a jam-packed lineup of classics will be screened in its very-own exclusive cinema over the next two months.
Here you can also complete your seasonal experience with festive-themed cocktails, popcorn, pick n mix, and a whole host of other treats too.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd April 2022 
