Festa Italiana
Friday 26th, Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th July
Fans of pasta, pizza, little scooters, Gino Ginelli ice cream and their mothers will be living their best life this weekend as the rather excellent Festa Italiana returns to Cathedral Gardens. Bad Italian stereotypes aside, the festival looks set to be the biggest and best yet with a massively packed list of things going on, from cooking demonstrations, supper clubs, LOADS of food and drink and even a fair whack of live entertainment thrown in there for fun too. It’s all FREE and it should be mint weather – go and enjoy yourself.
The full line-up for Festa Italiana is out and it is HUGE
The GRAMM ‘Corner Shop’ Street Party powered by SEVENSTORE
Saturday 27th July
Liverpool conceptual retailer SEVENSTORE is teaming up with Manchester streetwear brand GRAMM to unite Northern creatives and bring together fashion and music in a unique cultural experience. There’s going to be food vendors, some of Manchester’s hardest DJ’s, drinks sponsors and a pop-up shop right in the middle of it that’s showcasing collections from up-and-coming designers alongside an exclusive GRAMM x SEVENSTORE range available only on the day. One not be missed this.
MCM Manchester Comic Con 2019
Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th July
This weekend the city will become inundated with an excessive amounts of people dressed up like the Joker and Harley Quinn as the MCM Manchester Comic Con comes to Manchester Central. One of the biggest draws for events like these are the special guests that they manage to wrangle up and parade around and this year they’re bringing in a couple of half-decent Hollywood hitters in the guise of Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn. Fans of Guardians of the Galaxy will know who these two are straight away, and if anyone ever watched The Walking Dead when it was good you’ll know Rooker as Daryl’s brother Merle. There’s a LOAD of other stuff going on each day but a lot of it goes right over my head so I’ll just stop trying to understand it all.
Festwich
Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th July
Described as the UK’s biggest free tribute festival – Festwich down in Prestwich has always been bloody ace – featuring the kind of line-up that most festivals could only ever dream of. Of course they’re only tribute acts and not the real thing but I’m not going to lie – sometimes the tributes can be better, especially if the real artists have lost their heads and insist on only playing their shit new stuff and none of the classics. As usual the festival is split into two distinct days with a heavy rock slant on the Saturday with the likes of Linkin Park, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine playing, and a more pop orientation on the Sunday with Prince, David Bowie, Duran Duran and The Doors all getting involved. It’s FREE too – all you need to do is pay the booking fee.
An Intimate Evening with Dita Von Teese @ Whiskey Down
Saturday 27th July
In what promises to be the sexiest and most erotic night in the city this week, burlesque superstar Dita Von Teese will be flying all the way over from Los Angeles to do a bit of a dance and a wiggle at brand-new late night cabaret venue Whiskey Down. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is a pretty big deal, and finally the perfect opportunity for me to try and chat her up. So I’ve got a couple of bottles of Bucky on ice, I’ve brushed my teeth, moisturised my elbows and have bought Rush Hour 2 on DVD. All I need to do is pluck up the courage to tell her a few jokes and all about the time that I ate my height in Meatball subs for a dare. Of course, she’ll likely call the police as soon as she sees me so I’ll leave all of this until after her performance – which I’m certain will be spectacular.
Hang Out With: Ned Doheny @ Wilderness Record Store
Tuesday 30th July
This Tuesday you can hang out with a true rock legend in the meaty shape of Ned Doheny who will be heading to Wilderness Record Store in Withington. You can chat to him, give him a cuddle, tell him you love him or just get him to sign a copy of his album Hard Candy so you can get more for it on eBay. I made a little playlist of some of his songs and it’s here for your listening pleasure…
OBL x VICE Quiz @ Liars Club
Wednesday 31st July
I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that this quiz has been dubbed ‘Manchester’s most outrageous pub quiz’. I’m not sure who it was who actually called it this first but it seems to have stuck and so hosts Nanny Banton and Chimpo have a real task on their hands to try to live up to people’s expectations. In the past they’ve ordered two pizzas from different takeaways and had the delivery geezers race each other, among other pretty mental things – so you should expect it all to get pretty mental. Seeing as it’s sponsored by Old Blue Last there should be loads of free beers knocking about too.
One Deck Brewery Takeover with Manchester Union
Wednesday 31st July
This week sees the lads from Manchester Union Lager take over the One Deck Wednesday thingy down at Electrik in Chorlton and it should be a pretty interesting night – musically speaking that is. Sharing the deck will be Jamie Scahill who’s been heavily involved in Funkademia for years now and thus will be bringing a shed load of high-quality soul and funk to the proceedings, whereas fellow brewer Will Evans will be looking to play “as much weird stuff” as he is allowed. Should be interesting! As always it’s FREE and it will start around 8pm (ish).
OverDrawn 3rd Birthday Party
Wednesday 31st July
With regular events at Ancoats General Store and the Bay Horse Tavern, OverDrawn have been quietly establishing themselves as the city’s biggest and best art event, offering local artists a chance to show off their skills, sell some prints and generally get themselves out of the house and away from the canvas. This Wednesday sees the gang celebrate their 3rd birthday with a massive bash down at the Pilcrow pub – where you should expect all of the usual shenanigans plus BIRTHDAY CAKE! Yesss!
HIT & RUN and BLOC 2 BLOC present the Outlook Launch PARTY
Friday 2nd August
Outlook Festival takes place in Croatia every year and some of Manchester’s biggest acts are heading down there to play some records, dance and generally have a bloody good time while we’re all sat here in work like mugs. Well, if you can’t go because you’ve spent all of your pocket money on croissants and cheese, this Friday sees the next best thing as Hit & Run and BLOC 2 BLOC get together at the Mint Lounge and bash out a night of epic proportions. The line-up is pretty special with Chimpo x Fox, Jack Banner B2B Rich Reason, Jazzy Lioness, Kaz and more. Get your tickets below…
Bongo’s Big Top featuring Kelis!
Friday 2nd August
Bongo’s Bingo are BACK and it’s now absolutely bloody massive. Some would say too big, but not me – you can never have too much booze, dancing, bingo, prizes and cash monies ever – and so this appearance at Manchester Central should be absolutely mega. There are still tickets knocking about for the Friday show and they’ll be brining Kelis along for the ride who will be singing some of her songs at the end of all of the bingo stuff. She had a string of proper good tunes back in the early noughties – including that Trick Me one and of course the one about the Milkshakes. It’s about time I won £1000 cash monies and a Mercedes again so I’ll see you there.
FriendsFest: Manchester
From Friday 2nd August
Even though it seems that everyone is getting mightily offended by Friends nowadays – it’s still bloody brilliant and is essential hungover Saturday morning viewing on Netflix. This week sees the rather special FriendsFest arrive at Heaton Park and if you’re a fan of the show and have any sort of social media account – you’ll want to go. They basically recreate many of the sets from the show so you can get your pictures taken in there and get some serious likes on your Instagram. They’ve also introduced a couple of new scenes this year including the famous PIVOT! one where Ross is a knob and can’t get his sofa up some stairs. There’ll be food and drink and other stuff going on too. Tickets are selling out fast so get ’em while you can.
