There’s a TON of things going on this week (mostly because it’s pay day weekend) so let’s just get on with it…
Scuttlers at Wilderness
Saturday 29th June
They’ve been banging out some fantastic gigs down at the Wilderness Record Store in Withington recently and they’re continuing their quality streak with this live performance by Scuttlers – 4 local lads who have played at Dot to Dot and will be heading to Kendal Calling later on in July. They’re playing a headline gig at the Deaf Institute this Friday 5th so this is a good chance to see the lads in a more intimate acoustic setting for sure.
Magic of Thailand Festival @ Platt Fields Park
Saturday 29th June
I’ve promoted this festival 3 times now and have still never actually been down. What a lazy bastard I am. Because I’ve never been I can’t actually tell you how good it is, or even what’s going on so I’ve just copied what they’ve put on their Facebook event page:
• Live cooking demonstrations
• Authentic Thai Cuisine – Food Stalls
• Thai Carving & Produce
• Thai Boxing Demonstrations
• Ladyboy Shows
• I’m British Get Me Out of Here! Eating Competition
• Thai Traditional Costume Parade
• Thai Beer Garden
• Traditional Thai Music and Dancing
• Thai Massage
Tickets are only a fiver and the weather will be bloody glorious. Go!
GRUB Presents Burger Food Fair
Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th June
The gang at GRUB have decided to dedicate this pay day weekend to the humble burger – offering up space for a vast array of burger-flipping enthusiasts including What’s Your Beef, Wholesome Junkies, The Little Fishy and loads more. As usual the Sunday session will be a vegan only day so if you don’t want to smell, see or hear meat getting grilled – head to that one. There’ll also be a tap takeover by the gang at The Kernel Brewery who are famous for their – err beer.
Manchester’s Be Proud Charity LGBT+ Weekend
Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th June
This weekend sees Sackville Gardens get taken over by a FREE showcase of local DJ’s, entertainers, food stalls, retail sellers and charity stands – all looking to get a focus on the many LGBT+ charities that are in operation around the Village all year round. With a seemingly yearly increase in the commercial side of things in terms of the city’s annual Pride celebrations, this will provide a more grass roots approach to charity work and awareness of the issues that LGBT+ communities face every day.
Strategy – The Adelphi Lads Club EP Launch Party @ YES
Sunday 30th June
To celebrate the release of his debut EP on Tru Thoughts, legendary Salford MC and producer Strategy is putting on a low-key launch party in YES this Sunday. Running from 6pm – 11pm he promises plenty of top tunes, a couple of surprise guests and a couple of giveaways. Hopefully he’ll be giving away (or even selling) some of his art – an endeavour that he’s taken to recently with surprisingly brilliant results. It should be a corker and is likely to sell out so get your tickets below ASAP…
Summer Screenings at The Oast House – Men in Black
Monday 1st July
I think a grand total of 6 people went to the cinema a few weeks ago to watch Men in Black International – it was a complete flop. Here’s why; 1) It’s shit and 2) Please refer to number 1. As part of The Oast House’s Summer Screenings though you can catch the film that kicked the whole thing off – the original and brilliant MIB featuring Will Smith as a smart arsed copper from the mean streets of New York, Tommy Lee Jones as a crater-faced miserable bastard with a tender heart of gold and a giant cockroach who loves sugar water and wants to use a galaxy to start a war. It’s a great film and it’s FREE – what more do you want?
MIF – Invisible Cities
Starts Tuesday 2nd July
This entrancing theatre production, held in the brand new Mayfield development, is based on a 1972 Italian book where Marco Polo has to describe a load of cities to his Emperor – all taking in ideas of culture, language, time, memory and death. Thanks Wikipedia. So they’ve transformed the space behind Piccadilly train station into a fantastical setting – mixing theatre, choreography, music and architectural design to create a series of alternative worlds where the audience gets to re-imagine what is possible during a live performance. Sounds good eh!?
Hatch Summer Party
Wednesday 3rd July
Now that the sun has arrived it better fucking keep its hat on until Wednesday as Hatch play host to a pumping Summer Party featuring a whole host of LIVE music on their main stage, alongside the usual selection of retail units, street food offerings and a couple of bars serving up some lovely ice cold ciders and lagers. The music will be courtesy of Ren Harvieu – a Salford lass whose banged out a couple of albums recently, alongside Mike Garry – a rare opportunity to hear the words of performance poet and social commentator alongside the music of the Cassia String Quartet.
MIF – Bells for Peace by Yoko Ono
Thursday 4th July
To kick off the brilliant MIF programme, Yoko Ono will be popping down to our fair city with ‘Bells for Peace’ – a mass gathering of thousands of voices and bells that will send out a message of peace to the whole wide world. Everyone knows who Yoko Ono is and this should be a fantastic way to kick off the Festival as well as putting Manchester front and centre on the world map. It’s FREE too.
Cane & Grain 5th Birthday
Thursday 4th July
I promise that this will be the party of the summer – a true celebration of rum, ribs and bourbon in one of the NQ’s best venues. They’ve been going for 5 bloody years now and so this party is going to be a biggie – featuring all 3 floors offering a whole host of live music, free booze from the likes of Goose Island, Portobello Road Gin, Camden Town and plenty more. It promises to be brilliant and not just because I will be in attendance – perhaps it’ll be a good idea to book Friday off work?
MIF Festival Square Launch Party
Friday 5th July
As if the fact that it’s my birthday wasn’t enough to create a serious buzz around the city, this Friday also sees the opening MIF’s Festival Square – which comes complete with 18 days of FREE music and performances. The first day’s programme kicks off at 12:30pm with a ‘Special Guest‘ – (fingers crossed that it’s The Backstreet Boys) followed by Baluji Shrivastav OBE, the Manchester School of Samba, the House of Ghetto and finally Finest favourite and someone who never fails to make me happy – DJ Paulette. Check the link out below for more information on the Festival Square programme…
BB’s Birthday
Friday 5th July
I pop this in every year and I’m still yet to actually receive ANY form of birthday present or even a cheeky little dirty birthday text – but if there’s one thing that my love life has taught me – persistence pays off. Eventually. So here we are. I’ll be 34 years young on Friday and so if anyone wants to shower me with money, Buckfast, love or even a tiny little bit of attention – get involved.
