You might as well as just embrace it and put on a couple of stone, throw your wallet in the canal and end up sleeping in a ditch like the rest of us. Here’s a list of things you can do in-between…
All Weekend
May Bank Holiday Weekend at Hatch
Thursday 3rd – Sunday 6th May
There’s a LOAD of things going on at Hatch over the Bank Holiday, all nicely running alongside the current food traders as well as Takk and Öl Nano Brewery and Bar. Food-wise there’s Holy Crab, Well Hung, Firebird Hope and Yadda Yadda, while you can expect the following in terms of events.
Friday sees the Manchester Art Jam form 7pm, featuring a live art battle between some of the city’s top artists. They’ll have 40 minutes in which to create a piece before the audience votes on the best.
Saturday sees a special ‘Manchester Keep on Dancing‘ warm-up party hosted by Redbull. There’ll be a range of local DJs sinning tunes from 2pm, as well as FREE drinks and wristbands for the documentary film’s première at the end of the month.
Finally, Sunday sees Hatch go all family orientated with face painting, Thai ice cream rolls and loads of other stuff to keep little gargoyles happy.
The Electric Weekender at The Refuge
Thursday 3rd – Sunday 6th May
The Electric Weekender is back! Yes! Thanks to everyone at The Refuge for sorting us out with this weekend of parties, food and general brilliance.
Friday is when the party really kicks off with the Return to Electric Chair in the basement – with the ticketed Nightmares On Wax vs. The Unabombers. If you don’t fancy shelling out, Jim Spratling/Eastern Bloc & The Social Service will be up in the Public Bar until 1am.
Saturday sees the Return To The Adriatic Boat Party in the courtyard featuring the likes of Balearic Mike & Kelvin Andrews, Billy Scurry and Neil Diablo until 10pm. From then until 4am, it’s a Return To Barbarellas Discotheque in the basement.
Sunday is ‘one for the heads’ with Aficionado Recordings Classics in the courtyard and the fantastic Zutekh presenting the ticketed Midland All Night Long in the basement in the evening.
GRUB at Mayfield Depot
Friday 4th – Sunday 6th May
After spending the winter months hibernating probably somewhere warm and sunny, the GRUB lot are back at Mayfield Depot and they’re bringing their usual collection of booze, street food and music to what will hopefully be an equally sunny bank holiday. This is their first session of the year and so they’re pulling out the big guns in terms of food, with The Gravy Train Poutine, ParmStar and The Ottö-Men (to name a few). Once again Sunday will be set aside for the vegans, so if you’re a meat-eater, cruise down on Friday or Saturday.
Pilot Light TV Festival
If you’re a fan of anything that’s ever been on telly, this is your bag. It’s a collection of special screenings, Q&A’s, new shows, pilots, and awards, all aimed towards that little box in the corner of your front room. Or that massive slender box drilled into the wall of your front room is more adept nowadays. There’s loads going on including a Royle Family bit, a Westworld bit, a Utopia bit and even the chance to sit down and chat with Manc legend Christopher Eccleston. It’s on at HOME and there should still be plenty of tickets knocking about. For more info check this I wrote:
11 Reasons you must go to the Pilot Light TV Festival at HOME
Friday
Audio Farm: Masters of Detroit House & Techno Special at Hidden
Friday 4th May
Audio Farm is the new name for One Tribe Festival (I think) and is a non-profit, fundraising event which aims to both save up some money to save little animals as well as provide a bloody good time for the people that attend. To do this they have put on a proper good line-up this year including a bunch of people I’ve never heard of that do tunes with robots and flutes. I have heard of Masters of Detroit though, who will be heading up this Audio Farm organised night a Hidden this Friday. Taking place from 11pm, the place will be hit up by the likes of DJ Bone, DJ Rolando, Mike Huckaby, Roberto and Audio Farmers.
Gin Fest at The Wharf
Friday 4th May
My mate Jonny will be loving this – mostly because he spends pretty much all his time at The Wharf with his dog, either supping pints or taking pictures of pints to send to me. Friday sees the 3rd annual Gin Fest hit the pub, with over 20 gin experts & enthusiasts showcasing their weird & wonderful array of mother’s ruin for your drinking pleasure. There’ll also be plenty of live music to go along with your never-before-tasted Amazonian cobra venom gin and sausage roll. It starts at 6.30pm and tickets are £15 each.
Saturday
Remake Remodel Bowie Night at The Ruby Lounge
Saturday 5th May
Night legends Remake Remodel are putting on a special David Bowie evening this Saturday featuring a plethora of his hits from midnight, as well as the chance to get dressed up as the man himself, loads of giveaways, FREE Bowie face painting, glitter and sparkles, film screenings, a cake stall and even some special cocktails. They’ve basically gone all out for it, so you should too!
Manchester Margarita Rumble at Albert Hall
Saturday 5th May
Someone stole my idea here, but I’ll let them off because it’s such a good idea that it shouldn’t be contained. It should be able to run free through the fields and be available to all. The concept of the Margarita Rumble is simple. A huge list of the city’s biggest and best cocktail makers will descend on Albert Hall in order to compete for the coveted title of Best Margarita in Manchester. As a punter, you head on down, try out the drinks, get merry and then vote on your favourite. The competition in the city is pretty fierce, so expect to try some truly weird and wonderful creations.
The Terminator at Odeon Great Northern
Saturday 5th May
If your idea of fun is watching a relentless, murderous robot from the future attempt to kill the mother of the eventual leader of the human resistance, then you’re in luck because one of the best films ever is heading to the big screen at Odeon Great Northern this Saturday – The Terminator. Featuring the best example of an 80’s nightclub in movie history, the film also features Arnie killing about a million coppers, popping his eye into a sink and then getting all his skin burnt off to reveal his silver skeleton underneath. It’s a classic and it’s fucking brilliant. Enough said.
Boxing: Bellew v Haye: The Rematch
Saturday 5th May
Because there are only about 5 boxers nowadays who can command any sort of fee from the TV bods, they’re all just fighting each other over and over again until either one of them dies or they both just get brain damage and stop. It’s the rematch of Bellew and Haye this weekend and it only seems like 10 minutes ago that they had their first scrap. I don’t know who is going to win, and I don’t care but if you do then there’s loads of places in the city to watch it. My choice would be The Range, mostly because they have private booths with 120-inch screens in them. Big that.
The Manchester Soul Train at Gorilla
Saturday 5th May
Much better than Thomas, and infinitely cooler than that bloody Hogwarts, The Manchester Soul Train will be stopping off at Gorilla this Saturday with a bloody brilliant mix of Funk, Soul, Disco and Motown classics all night. Taking its influence from the classic US show, Soul Train provides a night of dancing and theatrics, all set to the best the 60s, 70s and 80s had to offer. It’s a top night, so get dressed up and get involved.
Sunday
Glitterbox at The Albert Hall
Sunday 6th May
Four years after its birth, Glitterbox has become a unique clubbing experience both in its home of Ibiza and on an international scale. It has featured stages at We Are FSTVL, Liverpool Disco Festival, Defected Croatia and will now be hitting up the Albert Hall this Bank Holiday Sunday. The event will be wild with lasers, mirror balls, and confetti and glitter cannons. On the decks will be DJs Joey Negro, Todd Terry and Purple Disco Machine as well as performances from Asttina Mandella, Lewis Game and Raven Mandella. I’ll see you there!
Art Battle Manchester XII – A Night of High Drama
Sunday 6th May
Taking place in the Royal Exchange Theatre, this is number 12 in a series of sell-out Art Battles which have been blasting away at the city over the last couple of years. The concept is always the same; 10 artists take centre stage and then have 30 minutes to create a masterpiece which the audience will then vote on who’s is the best. There’s a combination of painters, street artists, illustrators and tattooists so there’s always an exciting variation in ‘art’. While all this is going on you can have some drinks and listen to some tunes.
Sounds from the Other City 2018
Sunday 6th May
The other city they are referring to here is of course Salford, and this festival aims to provide the people of both cities with plenty of new music from around these parts. The line-up includes: Goat Girl, Her’s Aja, Lioness, Barbarossa, Ex-Easter Island head, Boy Azooga, Duds, Have You Ever Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic Vhs? and loads more. For proper in-depth details and to buy tickets – get on the button below.
Supernature ‘Bank Holiday’ Sunday at Electrik
Sunday 6th May
They’re celebrating the extended May weekend at Electrik in Chorlton by inviting down the best daytime Sunday disco party starters ever to stand behind a pair of decks; the Supernature Disco family. Cazza Bush, DJ Rob Jones, James Greenwood & Richie V are responsible for giving many folk a Monday hangover courtesy of their FREE entry monthly party which sees the beautiful people of Manchester converge in a basement to dance, chance & romance to sounds of disco, boogie, classics & beyond. Expect them all to be digging deep into their collections & bringing the vibes to Electrik to entertain the ‘no work the day after’ revellers!
