24:7
Celebrating their tenth anniversary, the 24:7 Theatre Festival will be pitching up in New Century House on Corporation Street (by Victoria station and that big new Co-operative spaceship) for a week, showcasing the best in emerging writing, acting, directing and producing. Full festival guide here
24:7 Theatre Festival/New Century House/Corporation Street/Fri 18 to Fri 25 July/Info and tickets here
JAZZ? NICE
One of the UK's largest jazz get-togethers, the nineteenth Manchester Jazz Festival will host 88 bands playing across eight venues day and night, indoors, outdoors and ondoors. The Doors? They weren't a jazz band were they? Eh? What's happened? Oh yeah... ten days of jazz in MCR with a Thwaites Albert Square beer'y nucleus. All the gubbins here.
Manchester Jazz Festival/Various venues/Fri 18 to Sun 27 July/Everything you need to know here
THE BARD
William Shakespeare has often been honoured in Manchester. This includes what is reputedly the worst statue of The Bard anywhere in the world as explained in this article about the Theatre Royal from the editor. Let's hope the GB Theatre Company do a better job in their staging of two of Bill’s best, Macbeth and The Comedy of Errors on the Spinningfields Lawns at a number of performances over the weekend.
Shakespeare on The Lawns/Spinningfields/Fri 18 to Sun 20 July/2.30pm & 7.30pm/Tickets from £14 here
"What's another word for 'nice'..."
POP-UP'O
Birra Moretti, the Italian version of Heineken, have toured the UK to hand-pick the best Italian street food vendors (anyone else getting terribly bored of that term? Street food, not vendors, vendors is fine) and bring it to Old Granada Studios this weekend for a good 'ole foodie piss-up, like Mama used to make. Confidential went to the opening and tried some deep-fried rissoto balls, one with pancetta mushrooms and taleggio cheese sang to us like a Siren, absolutely gorgeous it was. If we hadn't drank all of the Moretti in MCR and could remember the bloke who made them we'd give him a mention. But we can't. Anyway, tickets are £10 including beer, two plates of grub (get the balls), a gelato and a coffee.
Birra Moretti Italian Pop-Up/Old Granada Studios/Fri 18 to Sun 20 July/Tickets £10/More here
PEDAL POWER
Twenty years after the Velodrome opened in Manchester, Britain has achieved an unprecedented amount of success on two wheels. However, the city’s affiliation with cycling has its roots in the very earliest days of sport. From the ‘boneshaker’, one of the first British bikes manufactured in Salford in 1868, to 1934 Empire Games medals, contemporary track bikes and British Cycling kit, Pedal Power is a celebration of track cycling, technology and teamwork.
Pedal Power/MOSI/Castlefield/Opens Sat 19 July/FREE/More here
HALLE DOES THE 60s
The 60s, good wasn’t it? The Channel Tunnel announced, England’s World Cup victory, the moon landing, Kennedy assassinated, Dr Luther King assassinated, the first edition of The Sun… well, bits of it were crap. But to celebrate the peace, love and hype of this decade, the entire Hallé orchestra will be joined by four of the country’s leading vocalists in a glorious celebration of the 1960s’, with some of the 60s most popular chart hits, including I Only Want To Be With You, Music To Watch Girls By and Downtown.
The Hallé's Sounds of the Sixties/The Bridgewater Hall/Sat 19 July/7.30pm/Tickets £16-£33 here
Free love? Not with you pal...
CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL
Manchester’s celebration of Caribbean cultural held in Platt Fields is a two day hum-dinger, with music, food, street artists, dancers and a parade of floats weaving their way through the streets of Moss Side, Hulme and the bits in between. Red Bull have stuck their oar in this year with this catchy promotion, The Red Bull Music Academy Sound System, which is either a stage, or a van, or both, bringing ‘a roaming pulpit of sun-drenched rhythms, triumphant beats and street-party antics to Manchester Carnival’. We think that means DJs and stuff.
Manchester Carnival/Platt Fields/Sat 19 to Sun 20 July/FREE/More on the Carnival here
TEN-POUNDSHOP
Weird one this, but strangely intriguing. With the Corn Exchange being stripped bare and transformed into thirteen restaurants and a boutique hotel, they've got a lot of stuff to shift. So instead of hiring the world's biggest skip from World's Biggest Skip Ltd in Eccles, everything is being sold off for a tenner. Everything. Sofas, sinks, mirrors, floor, ceiling, bits of wall. The only catch being whatever you buy you have to be able to move yourself. So bring £100 and a massive mate. Oh, and a bit of it goes to the Forever Manchester charity, which is nice.
Corn Exchange Yard Sale/Exchange Square/Sat 19 July/Opens 9am
COMIC CON
Nirvana for those with enough nerd impedimentia to bring down the HMS Albion, but who can probably count their sexual conquests on one finger (I said probably), MCM Manchester Comic Con is one for all those devotees of sci-fi, comic, anime, gamers and cosplayers (whatever they are). Manchester Central will host this fully-packed weekend of new game releases, costume competitions, comic creators, robots and a stack of special guests including some bloke from Game of Thrones and another bloke from Doctor Who. Eh? Kryten from Red Dwarf is there? F**k it, sign me up...
MCM Comic Con/Manchester Central/Sat 19 to Sun 20 July/Tickets £8 adult and £6 junior on the door/More here
MCR Comic Con
PUNK WAVE
The best thing to escape from Watford since Mo Mowlam (now a trusted roadie of the band), Lower Than Atlantis are a four-piece post-hardcore (has hardcore ended?) punk rock outfit forged in 2007. With influences ranging from Blink 182 to NOFX, the band are now three albums down and amassing 100,000s of views on that YouTube fing. Still, they do at times sound like someone has rammed a rocket up the arse of McBusted. Which is a pretty nifty idea actually…
Lower Than Atlantis/Deaf Institute/Sun 20 July/Doors 7pm/Tickets £10 here
MONTY
For the first time in more than three decades the gang are back together. At a combined age of just 358, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin will recongeal to perform some of their greatest hits, with modern, topical, Pyton twists. Broadcast from London’s O2 Arena, Monty Python Live (mostly) will play at cinemas across the globe.
Monty Python Live (mostly)/Cornerhouse/Sun 20 July/6.45pm/Tickets £15 here
BESTIE
The George Best - ICON exhibition includes objects like the signed match ball from the infamous Northampton Town game during which George scored six goals, and a letter from Sir Matt Busby to George’s parents written in 1962 while George was still an amateur. There's plenty more of display at the Manchester United Museum (free entry all July), including a George Best match-worn shirt, various pieces of clothing and products he endorsed while he was at the peak of his career, as well as a number of items from the George Best fan club.
George Best - ICON/Manchester United Museum/Old Trafford/Until December/FREE admission to the museum this July/More here
HORSING AROUND
Although War Horse feels like it's been showing in MCR for the thirteen years, it's 'back' for another nine-week stint. This is them: 'War Horse is the powerful story of a young boy called Albert and his beloved horse, Joey, who has been requisitioned to fight for the English in World War I.' There's a horse and a war, the horse gets lost, Albert goes to find it, and some stuff in betwixt.
War Horse/The Lowry/Weds 23 July to Sat 20 Sept/Tickets from £32 here
GOOD 'OLE JACK
Following the success of the last event, Grill on New York Street will be hosting another Jack Daniels evening on Wednesday 23 July. Cam Dawson, Jack Daniel's UK brand ambassador, will stage a cocktail and Daniels masterclass session, where you have the opportunity to sample the entire JD range and create your own 'Gentleman's brew cocktail'. There's a mini mixed grill too. Mini? We're whiskey drinkers darnblammit.
An Evening With Jack/Grill on New York Street/Weds 23 July/6pm-8pm/Tickets £25, rsvp to Dayna at thegrillonnewyorkstreetbdm@blackhouse.uk.com
