Autumn is here and October’s now well underway… but it hasn’t exactly felt like it though, has it?
With unseasonably warm temperatures and sunshine soaring over much of the UK this past week, it’s certainly not been a typical start to the new month – but despite the weather, there’s still loads of events happening in Greater Manchester that’ll easily get you feeling all festive and in the mood for the spooky season.
If you’re finding it a bit tricky to choose though, then we’ve cherry-picked a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide this week.
Luna’s Legendary Creature Halloween Trail gives visitors the chance to get up close to five of Chester Zoo’s most magical species.
Having now kicked-off, and running right up until Halloween itself, the rhinoceros hornbill, Sulawesi-crested macaque, and huge Sunda gharial crocodile are just some of the species you’ll get to learn all about as you make your way around the 90-minute interactive trail.
You’ll be tasked with helping Luna the witch discover a legendary creature living deep inside the zoo’s Monsoon Forest habitat.
A magical new Halloween lakeside light trail has transformed Partridge Lakes Fishery in Warrington into “an enchanting Halloween attraction”.
Organisers say the hour-long immersive experience is like “stepping into a living Halloween storybook”.
You’ll be able to see the “mesmerising world of Halloween wonder” come to life as you stroll along a winding path around the lake’s edge that leads that takes you on a magical journey through woodland decorated by eerie and captivating lights.
Bondi Bowls, a fast food spot inspired by the health-conscious takeaways of Australia, is opening its doors down at KAMPUS this week.
The business is already a firm favourite amongst Mancs after its time spent at Escape to Freight Island, the now-closed street food village Hatch, and on delivery platform Deliveroo – and now, it’s moved into a dedicated restaurant space within the popular garden neighbourhood.
The menu features flavour-packed salad bowls, like a Caesar Bowl, a Mexican Bowl, and a Poke Bowl, each one customisable with protein-packed add-ons like charred salmon, watermelon sashimi, and tofu, while the vegan-friendly offering also includes Acai Bowls and fresh smoothies.
To celebrate the launch on Monday 9 October, Bondi Bowls will be giving away 100 free bowls to the first customers who head down from 11:30am.
Richard Kelly: A Time and Place / Credit: Kimpton Clocktower Hotel
Some rarely-seen photos of Amy Winehouse are currently on display in Manchester to mark the late singer’s 40th birthday.
The exclusive images of the legendary vocalist are forming part of an exhibition showcasing work by critically-acclaimed music photographer Richard Kelly that’s currently happening down at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in the city centre.
Following its unprecedented popularity, the exhibition‘s stay in our city has been extended, and will now be running until the end of October.
Did you know you can get a pass to visit loads of National Trust sites across the UK for FREE this autumn?
Autumn in Greater Manchester is a wonderful thing, and and our region is filled with places to appreciate the beauty of this much-loved season – but if you were looking for a reason to travel a little further afield to experience everything nature has to offer and see the leaves change colour, then it doesn’t get much better than this.
This is why the National Trust wants to give people the chance to “experience the awe of the season” at no extra cost.
Autumn at the National Trust / Credit: National Trust
The pass allows free entry for two adults and up to three children, one adult and up to four children, or just two adults on their own.
Find out more about how to claim the limited-time offer here.
___
Operation Ouch!
Science and Industry Museum
Monday 9 October – onwards
Operation Ouch! / Credit: Science Museum Group
A brand-new exhibition is currently having its world premiere at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, and it’s giving families the chance to “dive headfirst into the digestive system” and “travel like a poo”.
The new blockbuster exhibition, Operation Ouch!, is based on and will see the award-winning CBBC children’s TV series brought to life.
Visitors can expect interactive experiences, amazing objects from the Science Museum Group’s collection, and appearances from world-renowned doctors who will be on hand to guide audiences through this “lively, interactive, and playful adventure to better understand our brilliant bodies”.
Julia and Axel – 30 Years of Favourite Stories / Credit: The Lowry / MediaCityUK
The incredible work of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is being celebrated in a new exhibition at The Lowry that’s running right through until 2024.
The free family-friendly exhibition features several of Julia Donaldson’s personal writing notebooks that contain her first ideas and creative thinking behind her picture book stories, and these are shown alongside Axel Scheffler’s artwork to show the process of his illustrations.
Little Mancs can be creative themselves at the exhibition, as they are guided to write their own stories, draw pictures, dress up, and play fun games inspired by the books.
Spookfest is back once again for 2023 and it’s promising more frightful fun than ever before.
Returning to the Trafford Centre for yet another spooky season, visitors heading down to the massive shopping centre can expect a scary circus, a frightening fairground full of retro rides, and a seriously-impressive five-metre tall tower of pumpkins.
You can also get into the spooky spirit with free face painting, the chance to meet and greet a whole host of Halloween characters, and so much more.
Fancy trying out some new bars, and restaurants that have opened in Greater Manchester this month?
October is set to be a big month for new restaurant openings in Manchester.
Some of the most high-anticipated launches of the year are taking place this month, with everything from Sexy Fish, that hugely glitzy London establishment that’s moving into Spinningfields at long last, to Louisiana fried chicken legends Popeyes.
Leeds’ favourite ramen house House of Fu is also opening, and there’s a Broadway Diner, where wait staff sing musical numbers at you while you eat.
You’ll also find new restaurants to check out right across Greater Manchester too.
What better way to celebrate Friday 13th – or pretend it doesn’t exist – than with a ‘spooky season’ special of GRUB’s hugely-popular Disco Bingo?
The massive street food and social hub in Cheetham Hill puts on one of the most entertaining nights in Manchester when it hosts its Disco Bingo event on the second Friday of every month, with a different theme each time – and this month, on what is arguably one of the scariest dates of them all, there’s a ‘Spooky Season’ special on Friday 13.
You can expect spooky singing, dancing, drinks flowing all night long, and, of course, a good old game of bingo with lots of prizes to be won.
Featured Image – Science Museum Group | The Manc Group | Chester Zoo
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 -
6th October 2023 
