What's On

The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 29 August – 4 September 2022

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 26th August 2022

It’s time to wave goodbye to August across Greater Manchester, and welcome in yet another new month of 2022.

The kids may soon set to go back to school for the new term, and summer may nearly be ready to bow out for good, but we still have the rest of August bank holiday weekend to celebrate and the events calendar is filled with lots getting up to this week as September arrives, 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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Bolton Food and Drink Festival

Bolton

Monday 29 August

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Bolton Food and Drink Festival 2022 / Credit: Bolton Council

This is your last day to head on down to the hugely-popular Bolton Food and Drink Festival, which returned this bank holiday weekend for its 17th year in the Greater Manchester town to serve up some of the best eats the region has to offer.

As the north west’s biggest food and drink event, festival-goers can this year expect to see world-renowned chefs share their secrets during free cookery demonstrations, and a collection of outdoor bars, live music and street entertainment set to create the usual festival atmosphere that draws visitors from far and wide.

Find out more about Bolton Food and Drink Festival 2022 here.

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Summer at the Science and Industry Museum

Manchester City Centre

Monday 29 August – Sunday 4 September

Summer at the Science and Industry Museum / Credit: Science Museum Group

There’s still time for little Mancs to head on down to the Science and Industry Museum and “explore ideas that change the world” before summer is out.

With just one week left before the new school year begins, families are being encouraged to make their way to Manchester’s very-own Science and Industry Museum in the heart of the city centre and get involved in a fun summer of creativity.

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You can unpick the history the region’s textiles heritage, discover how the industry is woven into the fabric of the city’s unique identity, and so much more.

Find out more about what’s on and book your free tickets here.

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Manchester Pride 2022

Manchester City Centre

Monday 29 August

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Manchester Pride 2022 / Credit: Manchester Pride

August bank holiday weekend is always known as Pride weekend here in Manchester, and you’ve still got one day left to get in on the action.

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced celebrations to be cancelled or altered for two years in a row, Manchester Pride 2022 has seen return of the hugely-popular Pride Parade – which was this year called the ‘March for Peace’ – with tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ people and allies gathering to walk in the parade and awash the city’s streets with colour and celebration.

While the usual  Manchester Pride Live event has been scrapped this year as the charity aims to “refocus its efforts”, the Gay Village Party is still on the agenda, and there’s also still plenty of other celebrations happening across the city over the extended, as well as countless Pride-themed events away from the official lineup too.

Find out more about Manchester Pride 2022 here, and read our round-up of fringe parties and events across Greater Manchester here.

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Remarkable Neighbourhood Cocktails & Events by Maker’s Mark

Manchester City Centre

Monday 29 – Wednesday 31 August

A handful of Manchester’s most-popular hospitality names had joined forces to bring a series of entertainment events to neighbourhoods across the city this month, and this is your last few days to make the most of it.

To celebrate the launch of its ‘Remarkable Neighbourhood’ summer incentive, Kentucky handmade bourbon brand Maker’s Mark rallied together some of Manchester’s best-loved bars and restaurants to head across the city and serve up their take on the brand’s signature Gold Rush Cocktail, alongside a lineup of cocktail masterclasses, live music nights, quiz nights, Kentucky food pairing events, and bar takeovers.

You can find out more here, and read our round-up of the best events and cocktails here.

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The Manchester City Stadium Tour

Etihad Stadium

Monday 29 August – onwards

The Manchester City Stadium Tour / Credit: Manchester City

Families can kick-off the summer by going behind the scenes at Manchester City’s Stadium to “experience the magic”.

Expertly-guided by City’s Tour Guides and filled with interesting stories, facts, and anecdotes from throughout the club’s history, Manchester City’s ever-popular immersive tours of the Etihad Stadium are running throughout the summer, and they have recently been rated in the top 1% of Tripadvisor experiences in 2022.

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Tickets are now on sale, and will set adults back just £25 each, while it’s £15 for those under 18, and anyone under the age of five can go for free.

You can find out more and grab tickets here.

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Manchester Originals v Oval Invincibles

Emirates Old Trafford

Wednesday 31 August

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Manchester Originals in The Hundred / Credit: Nathan Stirk & Ashley Allen (ECB via Getty Images)

Manchester Originals and The Hundred is back at Emirates Old Trafford this weekend.

Sports fans will get the chance to see some of the world’s best cricketers, watch a handful of the hottest music acts, and tuck into some amazing local street food, as the city’s 100-ball cricket franchise, Manchester Originals competes in another home game v Oval Invincibles at Emirates Old Trafford in The Hundred tournament on Wednesday.

The Hundred’s is one of the best sporting and entertainment events this summer, and it gives people the chance to watch the city’s very-own Manchester Originals live in action throughout the season.

Find out more about the return of The Hundred and Manchester Originals here.

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GRUB’s Beer Relaunch

Cheetham Hill

Thursday 1 September

GRUB’s Beer Relaunch / Credit: GRUB MCR | Flickr

Manchester’s largest street food fair GRUB – which is based at the Red Bank Project in Cheetham Hill – is giving its beer lineup “a bit of a glow up”, and so, from 1 September, not only can you taste top beers from 22 draught lines, but you’ll also be able to try more of them using the venue’s brand-new bargain flight boards.

On top of that, there’ll also be a massive new range of tinnies in the venue’s shiny new take our beer fridge, taking the total up to 40 beers on offer.

Find out more and grab tickets here.

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The Wizarding Adventure

East Lancashire Railway

Friday 2 September

Credit: East Lancashire Railway

One of the standout experiences on the 2022 East Lancashire Railway (ELR) events lineup has to be the chance to go on a ‘wizarding adventure’ and ride a Harry Potter-themed train through Greater Manchester.

Aspiring witches and wizards can gather at the ELR for a day of sharing spells and magic-themed fun.

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This interactive adventure will see visitors, both young and old, enjoy a range of performances from colourful characters and magical creatures – provided by performance company Funcast – all before boarding the ‘Wizard Express’ for a two-hour round trip journey through the Irwell Valley of wonders.

You can find out more and grab tickets here.

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Re:imagine My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The Blues Kitchen

Saturday 2 September

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Re:imagine My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy / Credit: The Blues Kitchen

One of Kanye West’s most-critically acclaimed albums is set to be performed by a live orchestra right here in Manchester this weekend.

A live orchestra will be setting up at The Blues Kitchen to perform a “reimagining” of the 2010 album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ in full, with smash-hits like ‘Power’, ‘Runaway’, and ‘Monster’ being just some of the tracks from the album set to be performed during the set.

Find out more and grab tickets here.

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Looking for some new restaurants and bars to try out in Manchester city centre before the month is out?

As ever, a host of exciting new restaurants and bars have opened in Manchester this August.

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From a brand new Withington venue from the team behind Cottonopolis and The Edinburgh Castle, to the first bricks-and-mortar site in six years for supper club favourite Stretford Canteen, we’ve got plenty of good things to shout about.

SakkuSamba, Slice, and Yumcha | Credit: The Manc Group

Think kitchen residents, new street food stalls, and all-you-can-eat steak and sushi restaurant and loads more.

You can read our round-up to find out where to put on your list this month here.

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PowerUP

Science and Industry Museum

Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 September

PowerUP / Credit: Science Museum Group

A huge gaming event has returned to Manchester.

With more than 160 consoles and hundreds of games to play, Power UP is back at the Science and Industry Museum for the first time in three years, taking ticket-holders on a journey through five decades of gaming, with everything from retro arcade games, to state-of-the-art virtual reality, and so much more.

Power UP is taking place every weekend and school holiday all the way through to December 2023, and every ticket includes unlimited play all day.

You can find more information here.

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Salford Red Devils v Warrington Wolves

AJ Bell Stadium

Saturday 3 September

Salford Red Devils / Credit: Allan McKenzie / SWpix.com (via Salford Red Devils)

Salford Red Devils is gearing up to bring an end to a successful season with an unmissable match.

As one of the oldest teams in the Rugby Football League, and having been representing Greater Manchester for nearly 150 years now, the team has won several trophies and major titles over the years,  including six Championships and one Challenge Cup, and has also got themselves a loyal fanbase too, who have been with them every step of the way.

Now, the team is giving locals the chance see one of their final home games in the 2022 rugby league Betfred Super League on Saturday 3 September at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Find out more and grab tickets here.

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Featured Image – Manchester Pride

What's On

Blossoms’ ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ residency – everything you need to know

Danny Jones Danny Jones Blossoms Manchester gigs support acts

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

The venues and when they’re playing them

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…

Who is supporting Blossoms in Manchester?

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?

You can see whose playing where down below:

Set times

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:

  1. Your Girlfriend
  2. Perfect Me
  3. Oh No (I Think I’m in Love)
  4. What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?
  5. I Can’t Stand It
  6. Getaway
  7. If You Think This Is Real Life
  8. Big Star
  9. Slow Down
  10. The Keeper
  11. Care For
  12. Honey Sweet
  13. Gary
  14. I Like Your Look
  15. At Most a Kiss
  16. My Favourite Room

Encore:

  1. Nightclub
  2. There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)
  3. Charlemagne – obviously…
A glimpse at what the Blossoms stage will look like for the ‘Five Nights in Manchester’ shows.

Read more:

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.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

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 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.

Read more:

Head to your local cinema’s website to check when your favourite festive flicks are being screened.

Featured Image – Warner Bros.

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