INDY MAN BEER CON
Nothing to do with us this one, although they have pilfered half our name. Indy Man Beer Con is the Independent Manchester Beer Convention, a four day ticketed (£10) showcase of the best brewers from the UK and beyond in the Grade II listed Victoria Baths on Hathersage Road. Spread across five rooms there'll be more than 80 taps serving ale alongside Almost Famous burgers and beer-matched food from Masterchef finalist Jackie Kearney (aka The Hungry Gecko). As Confidential's chief beer and wine rambler, Neil Sowerby, sagely outs it: "This is a sheer beer nirvana". Hear *hiccup* hear.
Indy Man Beer Con | Victoria Baths | Thus 9 to Sun 12 Oct | Last tickets here
GONE GIRL
If you're going to cinema this week, the critics (most of 'em anyway) are going ape for director David Fincher's (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) Hollywood adaption of Gillian Flynn's globally revered thriller novel, Gone Girl, which has shifted over seven million copies and spent 91 weeks on top of the New York Times bestseller list.
Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) look like the perfect married couple. But when Amy disappears without trace the ugly truths of their lives come under the spotlight, as does Nick.
Warning: You're not going to feel right for days
Gone Girl | Various Cinemas | Manchester Showtimes
ANTHONY BURGESS AND LITERARY MANCHESTER
Join this Jonathan Schofield tour laced with literary tales of an entertaining and informative nature covering three centuries of the MCR written word. Funny, poignant occasionally absurd, there's a focus on Anthony Burgess, but the tour also might include quotes and stories involving Daniel Defoe, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, Friedrich Engels, Mark Twain, Dodie Smith, Maisie Mosco, JB Priestley, Howard Spring, Howard Jacobson, Jack Rosenthal, David Constantine and John Cooper Clarke. The tour finishes at the International Burgess Foundation on Cambridge Street with a tour and a view of the archives. It is promoted in association with the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.
Literary Tour | St Ann's Square War Memorial | Sat 11 | Tickets £8 here or just turn up
LEE EVANS
Lee Evans broke a Guinness World Record in Manchester. In 2005 he performed to 10,108 at the Arena, and broke the record for a solo act performing to the largest comedy audience. Impressive. Not as many people know that Evans holds another world record, the only man to have ever sweated the whole way through a three-piece suit. More impressive. Here he'll be airing some brand new material as part of his Monsters tour
Lee Evans | Phones4u Arena | Fri 10, Sat 11 & Sun 12 Oct | Tickets £35.45 here
SUPER LEAGUE GRAND FINAL
The ultimate Rugby Super League prize and climax of the season hits Old Trafford on Saturday 11 October, as fierce local rivals St Helens and Wigan Warriors face off against each other for the third time in a Super League Grand Final match (currently it sits at one apiece). Although St Helens head into the final as league winners, Wigan come in as defending champions. In front of 70,000 fans this should be a belter... heads will roll.
Super League Grand Final: St Helens vs Wigan Warriors | Old Trafford | Sat 11 Oct | Tickets here
Grand Final - Old Trafford
BLACK HISTORY
Black History Month takes to the Central Library and Contact Theatre from Thursday 9 October, celebrating local and international heroes through music, dance, plays, poetry, talks, workshops, exhibitions and film. Highlights in the coming week include a celebration of the life of late poet Maya Angelou and poetry workshop (Mon 13 Oct), Call Mr Robeson, a special performance by Tayo Aluko as radical Paul Robeson (Tues 14 Oct), and Patience Agbabi's Telling Tales as part of Manchester Literature Festival (Thurs 16 Oct). Events at Central Library are free - see the full programme here.
Black History Month | Central Library and Contact Theatre | Until Sat 1 Nov | More here
JB SHORTS
Now in its twelfth season, JB Shorts continues to pack the basement of the Joshua Brooks club on Princess Street for an intense evening of six short plays, each around fifteen minutes long, and all for only £6 (£1 per performance - you don't get that in Poundland). Standards are high, supported by strong writing from a varied collection of contributors whose writing credits are littered with BBC and ITV references. Full review here.
JB Shorts | Joshua Brooks | Until Sat 18 Oct (not Sun 12 Oct) | 7pm (Doors 6.40pm), Matinee on Sat 18 Oct at 3pm | Tickets here
Joshua Brooks
SCREAM PARK
Scream Park is a new scare attraction coming to Manchester, a live immersive and interactive experience which sees EventCity at the Trafford Centre turned into a zombie apocalypse. With four horrors of terror 'only the best will make it to the other side'.
Scream Park UK | EventCity | Trafford | Thurs 16 Oct to Sun 2 Nov | 7pm to 11pm | Tickets £20 here
CLEAN BANDIT
Electro-pop-classical hybrid Clean Bandit's chart-topper, Rather Be, recently beat off Pharrell William's Happy and John Legend's All Of Me to scoop the UK's most streamed song of the year so far with 32 million hits on sites like Spotifty and Napster. Pretty nifty for a band formed a few years back in sleepy, stuffy old Cambridge. Even more nifty when you take into consideration the near 150 million hits the song has amassed on Youtube. Even by today's standards, that's a s**tload.
Clean Bandit | Manchester Academy | Fri 17 Oct | 7pm | Last few tickets here
Clean Bandit
SOLDIER REMEMBERED
The story of a Salford soldier from the 1WW is to be dramatised in the galleries of IWM North on the 17 and 18 October, through a unique production created in a collaboration with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra. Letters from Arthur 'Pat' Burke will go on display to mark the 1WW Centenary, and his story has inspired a new composition by BBC Philharmonic, which will be performed with actors, musicians and 360 degree Big Picture Show cinematic projections in front of a live audience at the museum.
Services No Longer Required | IMW North | Fri 17 and Sat 18 Oct | 3pm and 8pm | Tickets £15 here
JUDY'S VINTAGE
Started nearly a decade ago in Leeds, Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fairs are the largest of their kind and serve over 30 cities from London to Edinburgh and Newcastle to Bristol. Now, with a new home at Victoria Warehouse they’re returning to Manchester with over 60 years worth of stock and nearly fifty vintage stalls. There's booze too, and they know what they're doing... everyone's rich when they're pissed. Crafty buggers.
Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair | Victoria Warehouse | Sat 18 Oct | £2 entry on the door | More here
Judy's Vintage - Victoria Warehouse
