Mun Sing, one half of Giant Swan, brings his fractured, fiercely original club music to The White Hotel off the back of his latest EP.

Voka Gentle return to Manchester with a headline show in YES Basement, bringing new material that pushes their already elastic sound into darker, stranger territory.

In these cheery, optimistic times, who’d have thought that musical brutalism would be having a moment? Manchester’s own Mandy, Indiana sit right in that current, returning with their second album and a live show in Leeds.

This summer, foundational British synth-pop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark return to Rochdale, the town where they recorded ‘Electricity’, the breakthrough single that helped set their trajectory.

English National Opera takes its first ever bow at The Bridgewater Hall with Così fan tutte – Mozart’s sparkling comedy, presented in two semi-staged concert performances.

Chloe Elms plays and curates an intimate midweek showcase of soul, R&B and alt-pop, spotlighting Manchester’s emerging voices.

Celebrating 10 years as one of the UK’s best underground clubs, The White Hotel is retooling some of the Blackpool’s most recognisable sites for one-off, site-specific performances.

Vintage machines, sci-fi dreams and 30 years of restless invention. Legowelt plays in deepest darkest Salford this January.

Fusing West African funk and disco with modern post-punk and electro, trust Ibibio Sound Machine to inject some much-needed energy into dreary January.

Sorry return to Manchester in February, this time headlining Gorilla with a new album that finally captures the full strangeness and clarity of a band who’ve spent years ducking easy categorisation.

Bar Italia, one of London’s most hyped bands of the last few years, are playing Manchester Academy 2 on 24 March 2026, returning off the back of their newest record, Some Like It Hot.

The Silence of the Lambs is accompanied by a live performance from the Hallé orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall in association with Big Screen Live this January.

A hyped name among London’s underground scene, Mark William Lewis brings his skeletal and introspective indie rock to The White Hotel.

Neil Young is opening his 2026 UK and European tour in Manchester, stepping into Heaton Park on 19 June with his newest band, The Chrome Hearts.

The Hallé’s new season blends classical heavyweights, boundary-pushing premieres, and genre-straddling names like Jonny Greenwood and Anna Meredith – plus a whole festival dedicated to John Adams.