Culture Guides
Destination Guides
Seasonal Guides
It’s March, spring’s around the corner (somewhere), and our gig calendar is filling up nicely.
Purveyors of raw, intimate folk rock that increasingly surprises, Big Thief perform at the O2 Apollo on 7 April in support of their critically acclaimed double album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You – their most adventurous release to date.
A perfect fusion of The Flaming Lips’ experimental urges and their pop instincts, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002) is the sound of the lauded psych rock band at their creative peak. Catch them performing the album in its entirety – for the first time in England – at Manchester’s O2 Apollo on 29 April.
Manchester Jazz Festival is back this May with 10 days of live music from some of the best northern, national and international musicians operating in the world of contemporary jazz.
The hallowed collaborative project from electronic music composer Nicolás Jaar and jazz multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington, Darkside dropped their second record, Spiral, in 2021. To fans’ glee, they’re finally taking this alchemic fusion of electronica and psychedelic rock on the road, calling in at Manchester’s New Century on 16 June.
We also round up our top picks from the music side of things at this summer’s Manchester International Festival, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, AFRODEUTSCHE and The Comet is Coming.
What else? Richard Dawson – one of Britain’s best, most humane songwriters – plays at New Century, and Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters continues his This Is Not A Drill tour at Manchester’s AO Arena.
Here are our picks
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1. Big Thief at O2 Apollo
Big Thief by Alexa Viscius -
2. Richard Dawson at New Century
Richard Dawson Richard Dawson at New Century, Manchester, 25 April 2023, from £18.00 - Book now
Richard Dawson, one of Britain’s best, most humane songwriters, returns to Manchester for the first time since the release of his celebrated seventh album, The Ruby Cord.
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3. The Flaming Lips at The Apollo
Blake Studdard, Atria Creative -
4. Manchester Jazz Festival 2023
Image courtesy of Manchester Jazz Festival. -
5. Roger Waters at AO Arena
Roger Waters Roger Waters at Manchester Arena, Manchester, 10 June 2023, from £98.50 - Book now
Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters continues his This Is Not A Drill tour at Manchester’s AO Arena, bringing both solo and Pink Floyd material to the city for the first time in five years.
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6. Darkside at New Century
Tim Jones Darkside at New Century, Manchester, 16 June 2023, from £31.42 - Book now
The hallowed collaborative project from electronic music composer Nicolás Jaar and jazz multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington, Darkside will finally air their long-awaited second album, Spiral, at New Century.
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7. MIF23: Kagami by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum
Ryuichi Sakamoto by Luigi & Iango, 2023. Kagami by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum at Versa Manchester Studios, Castlefield, 29 June–9 July 2023, from £10 - Book now
Watch a ground-breaking mixed reality concert created by legendary composer and musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and world-leading production studio and technology developer, Tin Drum.
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8. MIF23: AFRODEUTSCHE with Manchester Camerata conducted by Robert Ames
AFRODEUTSCHE by Pierre Debusschere. AFRODEUTSCHE with Manchester Camerata at Factory International, City Centre, 5 July 2023, from £10 - Book now
Manchester Camerata and Robert Ames are teaming up to premier a new work for string ensemble from Manchester’s very own AFRODEUTSCHE.
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9. MIF23: John Grant sings Patsy Cline with Richard Hawley and Band
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10. MIF23: The Comet is Coming and Daisy Dickinson
The Comet is Coming by Fabrice Bourgelle.
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