Events
Jamali Maddix: King Crud at The Lowry
Thursday 20th January
As seen on Taskmaster, which is on repeat pretty much 24/7 on Dave, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, and his critically acclaimed series Hate Thy Neighbor for Vice, Jamali Maddix is heading to The Lowry this week, with a brand-new show tackling home truths and universal issues. Everyone’s a bit depressed at the moment so it’ll be good to have a bloody larff for once.
Pop-Up Weekend at Escape to Freight Island
Friday 21st & Saturday 22nd January
The second of Freight Island’s January ‘POP-UPS’, we’ve been told to expect another weekend of all-star DJs and performers, including Me Gusta, Dr.Jive, RebeccaNeverBEcky, Jenna G, KatBrownSugar and loads more. There’ll also be the usual line-up of excellent street food vendors to enjoy, as well as tonnes of booze! Book yourself a table here…
https://www.escapetofreightisland.com/bookings
Food & Drink
Lily’s Vegetarian Deli opens in Ancoats
Tuesday 18th January
A brand-new addition to Cutting Room Square, Ashton Indian royalty – Lily’s – will be opening their new site on Tuesday this week – and we’re very excited indeed. This new deli will offer up a massive selection of Gujarati snacks, alongside chaats, bhel puris, daals and sweets. Lunch time in the city centre just got 1000x better.
Sao Paulo Project comes to Blossom Street Social
From Wednesday 19th January
Caroline Martin’s excellent Sao Paulo Project will be taking over the kitchens of Ancoats’ Blossom Street Social from Wednesday. Offering up a menu of Brazilian-British fusion dishes, there’s nothing else like this in the city – and indeed, you’ll never have had Brazilian food like this ever before – unless you’ve actually been to Sao Paulo yourself of course. They don’t do bookings here, only walk-ins – so if you fancy some serious, high-end Brazilian delights, this place should be on your list.
Kong’s Diner at Dog Bowl
From Wednesday 19th January
Kong’s Fried Chicken are heading to Dog Bowl from this Wednesday, with a new concept – Kong’s Diner. After a few months at different venues around the city, Kong’s will be setting themselves up in the kitchen of Dog Bowl with a new menu, featuring their signature Chicken Sandwiches, new cheeseburgers, their fantastic Poutine dishes and even Nashville Fish & Chips. It all looks bloody gorgeous and we can’t wait to get down there, do some bowling, button bash on the arcades and devour some top-notch fried chicken
NQ Wine Club at Noi Quattro
Sunday 23rd January
Specialising in sparkling and sweet wines for this month, the Noi Quattro Wine Club is your chance to explore four wines specially selected by host Gary Newborough “The Aristologist”; Italian Restaurant Awards judge and one time owner of The Market Restaurant, (the first ever restaurant in the Northern Quarter). Each wine will be introduced and described by the host of the evening, and paired with an appropriate taste prepared by The Pasta Factory and Noi Quattro chefs, and vegetarian alternatives will be available for those pairings that include meat or fish.
Clubs & Music
SUBMIT Winter Warmer with Zed Bias at The Yard
Tuesday 18th January
SUBMIT, the DJ collective, event promoters and record label based in London and Manchester celebrate their 10th birthday this year. After a packed decade of parties, festivals, live music and good times, they’re putting on a party on Tuesday 18th January at The Yard in Cheetham Hill, headlined by UK dance music legend Zed Bias, who’ll be playing an epic 2-hour set.
The Bad Bitches Club
Friday 21st January
From the Loose Fit team, The Bad Bitches Club at Off The Square in the Northern Quarter is a night aimed at spotlighting and supporting bands, acts and artists with women, non-binary, trans and/or gender non-conforming members. This week will see Rita & The Widows, Yasmin Coe and The Strangerz alongside the Loose Fit and Punk Is Dead resident DJs.
HIT & RUN x EPOCH presents The January Sale at Mint Lounge
Friday 21st January
Hit & Run will be collaborating with Epoch to bring you SyRan and Scarlet in their MCR debut, alongside T-Man, Dj Syntax, Rich Reason, Freddy B and Hogg, plus MTC back-to-back with PBZ. Tickets are only a fiver.
Northern Jungle takeover of The Deaf Institute
Friday 21st January
There’s set to be 3 floors of the hottest talent from around the country this week, as Northern Jungle take over The Deaf Institute with their unique blend of Jungle, DnB, Garage, Breaks, Raggae, dancehall! Kenny Ken ft. Ragga Twins, Zoro B2B Jappa, G-Class, plus Bakey, Danny T & Tradesman and loads more – all in one handy night-time package.
Arts & Culture
The Rocky Horror Show at the Palace Theatre
Monday 17th – Saturday 22nd January
Musical royalty this week as Richard O’Brien’s madcap production comes to the Palace from Monday, featuring the charismatic Dr Frank’n’Furter totally corrupting a couple of squeaky clean college kids. The Rocky Horror Show is a guaranteed party, which famously combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation – meaning, of course, getting dressed-up in the most outrageous fancy dress. Tickets start at £10.
Moscow City Ballet presents Swan Lake
Thursday 20th & Friday 21st January
I’m always surprised at how much Russian people absolutely love ballet and the opera – and so you should probably expect this Moscow City Ballet production to he of the very highest quality. Heading to the Opera House this Thursday and Friday, Swan Lake tells the classic story of doomed love, all to a backdrop of Tchaikovsky’s hauntingly familiar score.
Overdrawn x Feel Good Club
Friday 21st January
One of the city’s very best art events comes to Feel Good Club in the Northern Quarter this week, with live artists, £1 Portraits, ‘Illustration Showdowns’ and, of course – the ability to draw on the tables like at every Overdrawn event since the dawn of time. Just head on down and have loads of art-based fun. Register below for your free tickets.
Manchester Open Exhibition 2022
From Friday 21st January
HOME’s most successful exhibition of all time, their Manchester Open is back from this week, sticking around until the end of March. The gallery will see over 400+ Manchester residents’ work, with 543 artworks from a region-wide selection welcoming entries from people of any background and level of experience, including established professionals, new and emerging talent, enthusiastic amateurs, and first-time artists.
FLUX at The Talleyrand
Saturday 22nd – Friday 28th January
Steve Pimlott, Manchester-based jazz instrumentalist, composer and artist presents a series of new paintings in FLUX, a solo exhibition at The Talleyrand. This extensive series of large-scale, expressionist oils encapsulates a unique approach characterised by a strong sense of composition, novel techniques of paint application and a relentless search for the most interesting relationship of form and texture, mirroring the methodology in Steve’s musical output.
