And this year, not only is December bringing the festive season along with it, but it’s also brining England’s second national lockdown to an end, with a return to the regional tiered system as part of the UK government’s COVID Winter Plan.
While some of the city’s most-notable festive events have sadly had to be cancelled this year, following the announcement that Greater Manchester will be placed under Tier 3 restrictions, there’s still plenty of ways to celebrate.
You’ll just have to go a slightly different way about it.
With everything from award-winning light and lantern festivals, to drive-in cinemas and virtual Santa’s Grottos though, you won’t be stuck for choice.
ADVERTISEMENT
Do note that each event listed is subject to change as a result of any potential further government announcements, so it’s advised to keep informed and check the details of each event just ahead of making any trips to avoid disappointment.
___
ADVERTISEMENT
Lightopia
Heaton Park
Lightopia
The award-winning visual spectacular Lightopia is still set to return to Heaton Park under Tier 3 restrictions this December for a new, socially-distanced edition of adventures, lights, lanterns, sculptures and shows, and with Christmas very much the theme, the festivalwill use the stunning Grade I-listed Heaton Hall as its sparkling backdrop for all its festive merriment.
The event will operate under the ‘rule of six’ and visitors must adhere to this.
ADVERTISEMENT
Open to the public every day (except for Christmas Day) between 5pm to 10pm, with last entry is 8.30pm daily, Lightopia will take place from Thursday 3rd December, and extend its run all the way through until Sunday 10th January.
You can find more information regarding proceedings, ticket prices, deals and COVID-safety measures ahead of your trip to the event next month here.
Tickets can be booked via the Lightopia website here.
Virtual Lights Switch-On
Manchester City Centre
Manchester City Council
The annual Christmas Lights Switch-On usually attracts around 20,000 people to Manchester city centre, but things will be a little different this year amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as there’ll be no large-scale event.
ADVERTISEMENT
That doesn’t mean the city won’t still sparkle though.
Three of Manchester’s NHS frontline heroes are performing the honours of switching on the lights this week – with this year’s illuminations including a trail of light sculptures through the city centre – and while exact switch on dates are still pending, there are plans to live-stream the whole event.
Keep your eye on the Manchester City Council website here for the latest updates.
Christmas movies, live performers and Father Christmas himself will all be at Trafford Park from Friday 4th December, with people invited to drive through Santa’s workshop, watch the elves at work, and enter the ‘snow valley’, before settling in for a movie.
Tickets for ChristmasCity are available to buy now – priced at £40 per vehicle – with a number of COVID safety precautions set to be implemented during the event.
For more information, you can visit the ParkNParty website here.
Christmas at Dunham Massey
Trafford
ADVERTISEMENT
Dunham Massey / National Trust
It’s safe to say that Dunham Massey’s outdoor lights trail has become one of the region’s most popular Christmas attractions, as the after-dark event illuminates the house, gardens and parkland with twinkling tunnels, giant sparkling reindeer, colour-changing lakeside reflections and trees glittering with baubles and stars.
The event is expected to get underway on 3rd December, and run through until 10th January 2021.
A spokesperson for Dunham Massey said: “As things stand, Christmas at Dunham Massey is still going ahead. We are working within strict government guidelines and carefully considering the difficulties of opening our places to members and supporters while ensuring we do so in a safe manner.”
You can find more information on COVID-safe precautions and book tickets here.
Winter Festival by The Parking Lot Social
intu Trafford Centre
ADVERTISEMENT
Winter Festival by The Parking Lot Social
The Parking Lot Social’s Winter Festival will park up at the intu Trafford Centre from 3rd – 8th December, with drive-in pantomime performances, festive film screenings and Christmas car-aoke.
Guests can have food delivered to their cars from a selection of stalls serving classic gourmet burgers, loaded fries, wood-fired pizzas and hot dogs, alongside sweet winter warmers such as hot chocolate, doughnuts, toasted nuts, gingerbread men and more.
Adding to the festive atmosphere will be a 60ft tall rainbow coloured Christmas tree, a giant DJing Santa Claus, and ‘the coolest reindeer to have ever left the North Pole’.
You can find more information and book tickets via The Parking Lot Social website here.
Santa Claus Calls
Chill Factore
ADVERTISEMENT
Santa Claus Calls by Chill Factore
The UK’s leading indoor snow complex Chill Factore is “keeping the magic of Christmas alive” by letting children share their Christmas list with Santa via the power of video call in a virtual grotto you can visit from the comfort of your own home.
The Santa Claus Calls experience will run from Saturday 5th December – 24th December 2020 and each call will last around five minutes.
The experience can be booked from £20.99.
This price includes the call recording and the option to add multiple callers/screens, so that the whole family can be brought together, and you can also text SANTA to 70125 to donate £2 to Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity to support seriously ill children this Christmas time.
To book and find out more information, visit the Chill Factore website here.
What's On
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 -
30th November 2020 
