Who’s ready for another fun-filled week in Manchester?
February is here, the nights are getting lighter, the temperatures a little warmer, and not only does Greater Manchester‘s events calendar already seem very exciting over these next few weeks, but there’s also lots of other things to look forward to in 2025 too, so it’s time to fill up your diaries.
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 to help you out.
Here’s some of our recommendations.
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PUSH Festival 2025
HOME MCR
Monday 3 January – Saturday 8 February
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PUSH Festival 2025 / Credit: HOME MCR
PUSH Festival has return to Manchester for its biennial celebration of North West creative talent.
Set over two weeks, the stages, screens, and spaces down at HOME MCR will be dedicated to showcasing fantastic works from around the region, as well as offering opportunities for creatives to meet industry professionals, share ideas and inspiration and develop their skills.
Freight Island’s Six Nations fanzone has returned for 2025.
The iconic international tournament is now underway, and so is Freight Island’s fantastic fan experience, providing an unparalleled level of excitement beyond being inside the stadium.
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Already proving to be even bigger and better than last year, it’s the largest of its kind anywhere in the country, with everything from free pints and prosecco, live music, top-notch scran from Freight’s in-house vendors, and so much more.
A groundbreaking new immersive exhibition exploring our relationship with the natural world is now open at Manchester Museum.
‘Wild’ look at how people are creating, rebuilding, and repairing connections with nature, and how the natural world has traditionally been presented and idealised through Western art, as well as looking at some unique approaches to environmental recovery too.
The exhibition will also crucially look at how we can tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis by making the world more wild.
Smash-hit musical Kinky Boots is currently out on a tour of the UK, and the talented cast will be stopping off in our city.
The Broadway and West End phenomenon, which is based on a true story and is an adaptation of a 2005 film of the same name, has become known and loved by musical theatre fans all across the globe, and it will be taking to the iconic Palace Theatre stage this week.
This 2025 revival production is already being billed as “guaranteed to raise you up” and “celebrate everybody’s individuality”.
An all-new musical featuring the music of Dolly Parton is on stage in Manchester this week.
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After workin’ 9 to 5, what better way to unwind than with a musical packed with hits spanning the Queen of Country music’s legendary roster? This production sees the story of a diehard fan recounting ways in which Dolly Parton and her hits have helped him throughout his life.
Tricia Paoluccio takes on the role of the international icon, sprinkling her sunshine, knowledge, and wit wherever she goes.
A huge gaming event is happening in Manchester this weekend.
With more than 160 consoles and hundreds of games to play, Power UP at the Science and Industry takes 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 each weekend only throughout this month, with each ticket including unlimited play all day.
Manchester gem Hello Oriental has finally opened its new Asian food hall at the Trafford Centre.
The renowned East Asian street food hub has chosen the Trafford Centre as the first UK shopping centre location to bring its trademark street food dining concept to, and there’s more than 100 delicious dishes for customers to choose from.
Hello Oriental owners and childhood best friends, Ricky Yip and Azim Kourah, say they have selected some of the most popular dishes from the Manchester city centre site’s extensive menu for the new Trafford Centre restaurant.
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This means diners can enjoy traditional dishes from across East Asia, including a wide range of Dim Sum, fluffy baos, Korean fried chicken, and three varieties of sticky chicken wings.
The Christie Charity’s ‘Night of Neon’ 2025 / Credit: The Christie Charity
The Night of Neon charity walk is making its return to light up Salford Quays this weekend to raise money for The Christie Charity.
Always a popular event in the calendar, over 600 enthusiastic participants are set to take to the Quays to have fun, while raising money for The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, and supporting the thousands of patients who are treated for cancer at The Christie Hospital in Withington.
This luminescent fundraiser will also feature pre-walk entertainment – including a six-piece roaming band, face painting, glitter artists, and so much more.
Brickhouse Social has announced that it 90s-themed brunch is back by popular demand.
The Manchester social hub is inviting music lovers down to enjoy 90-minutes of bottomless pizza slices, fizz, bottled beers, and select cocktails on its ooftop terrace every Saturday over the nexr couple of months – with a resident DJ playing all the best tunes from the nineties.
There’s two brunch sittings available, so you can opt for 1-3pm or 3:30-5:30pm, and you can get booking your table now.
Want to watch the biggest game on the biggest screen?
GRUB is hosting a Super Bowl LIX party this Sunday, and will be showing the game on the biggest screen in the venue, the upstairs cinema CULTPLEX, so if you’re keen to see the Philadelphia Eagles face the Kansas City Chiefs, then this is the place to be.
Expect a relaxed environment, big screen fun from 9pm, and special menu from Oscar’s Dogs served between 9pm and 11pm to help you fill your belly for a long night of football action.
Featured Image – Freight Island | The Manc Group | Supplied
What's On
Strictly Come Dancing Live to return to Manchester as part of 2027 UK tour
Emily Sergeant
Strictly Come Dancing Live is set to return in 2027 for a spectacular new UK arena tour.
Hot on the heels of last weekend’s dazzling launch show for the 2026 BBC series, audiences are invited to get their dancing shoes on and their ’10’ paddles at the ready, as a new lineup of celebrities and professionals will be taking to the dancefloor for 29 shows across the country – including three shows in Manchester.
Head judge Shirley Ballas will be hitting the road, alongside fellow judges Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood, with Janette Manrara also presenting.
Directed by Craig Revel Horwood himself, Strictly Come Dancing Live takes the magic of the BBC TV show and turns it up to another level.
Expect jaw-dropping group dances, breathtaking routines, stunning costumes, and live music from the legendary Strictly band and singers, all brought together in a first-class arena production.
As always with the Strictly Live Tour, there is one very important decision to be made at every show – which couple will lift the Glitterball Trophy?
And that decision is not in the hands of the judges. The judges are there to critique and provide their invaluable opinions on each dance routine, but they do not hold the power, as this lies with the audience instead, who can vote using their mobile phones to decide who is the winner.
Strictly Come Dancing Live is returning to Manchester as part of its 2027 UK tour / Credit: Supplied
The tour kicks off at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on 22 January for the first of five shows, and will then cha-cha-cha its way across the UK, visiting other major northern cities like Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Leeds, before arriving in Manchester at the start of February.
Strictly Come Dancing Live will take to the AO Arena stage on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February 2027, with two shows happening on the Saturday.
Tickets officially go on sale this week, with venue pre-sales beginning at 10am on Thursday 24 September, before general sale starts on Friday (25 September), also at 10am.
Niall Horan at Co-op Live, Manchester – tickets, times, and more for UK tour
Thomas Melia
Former One Direction member now-soloist Niall Horan is making his return to Co-op Live as part of his UK shows: ‘Dinner Party Live On Tour’.
Known for his work alongside One Direction bandmates Harry, Louis, Liam and Zayn, Horan has since started a solo career and continued to have a large fanbase.
His singles include ‘Nice To Meet Ya’, ‘Heaven’, ‘Drive Safe’ and ‘This Town’ with the latter amassing over 1 billion streams since its release in 2017.
Collaborating with the likes of pop artist Anne-Marie, Myles Smith, Maren Morris, the Irish-born musician’s style fuses both acoustic and country sounds.
Niall’s most recent LP Dinner Party dropped earlier this summer with the album title inspired by his initial encounter with his long-time girlfriend.
Gig guide – Niall Horan at Co-op Live, Manchester
Niall Horan UK tour dates
Tue 22 September – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
Wed 23 September – Newcastle, UK – Utilita Arena
Fri 25 September – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Mon 28 September – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Tue 29 September – Sheffield, UK – Utilita Arena
Fri 2 October – London, UK – The O2
Sat 3 October – London, UK – The O2
Are there any tickets left for Niall Horan at Co-op Live in Manchester?
If you’ve got ‘Slow Hands’ then you better get booking tickets to Niall Horan’s upcoming concert at Co-op Live in Manchester now as they’re selling pretty quickly.
You can find tickets for both seated and standing options starting from £50.75 HERE.
Although the official setlist for Niall Horan’s upcoming Dinner Party Live On Tour is yet to be revealed, here’s the tracklist for his most recent LP of the same name:
Tastes So Good
Dinner Party
Monochromatic
She Gets It From Her Mother
Better Man
Little More Time
Flowers
Boys Are Fun
Fighting Over Nothing
Pretty
Die If I Don’t
End of an Era
What are the stage times for Niall Horan in Manchester?
Doors for Niall Horan open from 6.30pm and expect to fall in love with singer-songwriter flowerovlove who will take to the stage just before.
Co-op Live has a strict curfew of 11pm meaning you have a ‘Little More Time’ to lie in before the clock hits twelve.
How to get to Co-op Live
Tram
For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre and until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live.
If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue, but this must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU, and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide on event day, though estimates will obviously vary:
Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes on the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Emily Sergeant -
30th January 2025 
