What’s happening in Manchester this week

Where to go in Manchester: events, concerts, games and shows worth your night

Manchester has a music history most capitals would envy and a present to match: an arena that hosts more shows than any in Europe, a new 23,500-seat venue, a warehouse of a concert hall, two of the world’s biggest football clubs, and a night that runs from the Northern Quarter to Ancoats until the small hours. Below is where to go in Manchester for a night out, with addresses, and what tends to be on when.

Concerts and live music in Manchester

The Co-op Live (Etihad Campus) and the AO Arena (Victoria Station) split the arena tours; the O2 Apollo (Stockport Road, Ardwick), a 3,500-capacity 1938 cinema, and the Albert Hall (27 Peter Street), a Wesleyan chapel with a balcony, take the mid-sized shows, and Band on the Wall (25 Swan Street) and Night & Day in the Northern Quarter the new bands. The Warehouse Project (thewarehouseproject.com) runs its club season at Depot Mayfield from September to New Year, the biggest in the country. The Bridgewater Hall (Lower Mosley Street) is home to the Hallé.

Manchester nightlife: the Northern Quarter, Ancoats and Deansgate Locks

The Northern Quarter has the bars, record shops and late rooms; Ancoats the restaurants and the newer venues; Deansgate Locks the clubs, and Canal Street the Gay Village. Most bars close at 2 am, clubs at 4; the trams stop around midnight and night buses take over.

Theatre and comedy in Manchester

The Royal Exchange (St Ann’s Square), a theatre-in-the-round inside a cotton exchange, produces its own season; the Palace and the Opera House take the touring musicals, and HOME on First Street stages new theatre and film. Aviva Studios (Factory International) on Water Street is the largest arts space outside London. The Frog and Bucket and the Comedy Store cover stand-up.

Sports in Manchester

Manchester United at Old Trafford and Manchester City at the Etihad from August to May; tickets for both go through the clubs first, so what appears on open sale is the smaller fixtures. Lancashire cricket at Emirates Old Trafford in summer, rugby league at Salford, and the National Cycling Centre’s track events.

Museums and galleries in Manchester

The Whitworth (Oxford Road), the Manchester Art Gallery (Mosley Street) and the Science and Industry Museum are free; the Lowry in Salford Quays holds the L. S. Lowry collection beside its theatres, and HOME’s gallery shows contemporary work.

Manchester festivals and events by season

• Winter: the Christmas markets across the city centre from November, and the Warehouse Project’s New Year’s Eve.
• Spring: the Manchester Jazz Festival in May, and Sounds of the City’s summer concerts announced.
• Summer: Parklife at Heaton Park in June, Sounds of the City at Castlefield Bowl in July, Manchester Pride in August, and the Manchester International Festival in odd years.
• Autumn: the Warehouse Project season from September, the Manchester Literature Festival in October, and the football season in full swing.

Things to do in Manchester tonight and this weekend

The listings above are the live version of all this: every concert, show, game, club night and exhibition on in Manchester tonight, tomorrow and this weekend, with times, prices and tickets, updated every hour.