Manchester’s own prog-pop group Dutch Uncles return in 2017 with new album Red Balloon – the follow-up to 2015’s acclaimed O Shudder. For their hometown launch show, the quartet have chosen Oxford Road’s Dancehouse theatre – an under-used gem of a venue that offers plenty of creative scope.
With Dutch Uncles’ music crammed full of ideas and twists, it looks to be an ingenious pairing.
Manchester Wine Tours is a relaxed, fun wine tour, full of the city’s best food and drink, led by an effortlessly engaging host.
Friendly pub under a railway arch serving vegetarian and vegan pub food, as well as hosting regular live music.
Independent Leeds-based brewery North has opened its first Manchester taproom, in Oxford Road’s Circle Square neighbourhood.
The apple in Now Wave’s eye, YES boasts four floors of live music and DJs, and offers food via two outlets. It also has a huge outdoor roof terrace!
Bakchich does excellent, reasonably priced Lebanese food – including sharwarma, pickles, meshawi grills and baklawa – in a beautifully tiled, high-ceilinged space.
Beer, cocktails and Asian street food at one of Manchester’s friendliest bars.
Manchester has more than one top-tier Indian restaurant, but Zouk is right up there with the best, and counts Drake as a fan.
Gorilla is a good choice for breakfast, lunch or dinner. From a hearty full English to meaty burgers via good vegan and veggie options. It also hosts some of the best gigs and events in Manchester.
Panchos Burritos is a Mexican street food vendor in the Arndale Market.
Long-established Manchester bar and nightclub, Joshua Brooks is just off student hotspot Oxford Road. Open until 4am on the weekends with regular DJ-led club nights.
A bar and 10-pin bowling alley combined, Dog Bowl is a neon-lit venue that serves up cocktails and Tex-Mex food to go with your time on the lanes.
The bricks and mortar The Modernist shop opened in May 2019 in the Northern Quarter and is the only bookshop in Manchester specialising in architecture and design.
Join Joe Feeley a Mancunian through and through, who guides you into Manchester’s two pillars of cultural excellence with his Rock and Goal tour.
from £9.99
Get priority booking on the best seats, special discounts, invitations to exclusive events and much more. Are you in?
from £45.00
Band on the Wall bring people together to make, as well as watch, music. Join them to learn folk tunes from all over the world.
The Bridgewater Hall’s flagship concert series brings the best international orchestras, celebrated recitalists and world-renowned choirs to Manchester.
from £8
Leeds International Concert Season is on a mission to push boundaries, expand horizons, and ask the question: ‘What haven’t we heard?’ as it presents its city-spanning Sound Out Leeds series.
from £10.00
Playable art installations, Shakespearean adaptations, contemporary cabaret, hip hop and live photography, Factory International bring another electrifying Spring Season.
Open-air club Progress scales up to 5000 capacity and launches a spring/summer season of forward-thinking electronic music and grassroots culture.
from £0.00
All instruments, all abilities are welcome to join a band every week at Altogether Otherwise as part of their Singing and Dancing programme.
free entry
We've got laughs and we've got leftfield on the live literature radar this month. Something for everyone, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.
With these lighter, brighter days and warmer temperatures, it's really starting to feel like summer here in the North West!
Open air clubs, new festivals and long-awaited gigs. The North West's live music scene is heating up this spring.
Eclectic as ever. You'll find inventive reworkings, world-class contemporary dance and Greater Manchester's inaugural Improv Festival in our guide.
Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.
Willow weaving, textile collages, digital arts and ecology - all this and more in our exhibition top picks this month
Live scores, midnight movies and the latest from Wes Anderson are just some of our upcoming film highlights.
Spring is here and the North is buzzing with must-visit new restaurants and bars.