What's On North 12-19 Jan: PUSH Festival

Celebrate the best of our regional talent with the return of PUSH Festival at HOME, get back to your beer-guzzling ways with Brew-denell Beer and Ale Festival or take advantage of a few January restaurant deals in Manchester, Leeds or Liverpool.

Feature by Jess Hardiman | 12 Jan 2017

Each week The Skinny team hand-pick a selection of the best events from the North's cultural calendar to provide you with this 'ere top ten guide to the most exciting goings-on for the week ahead. From gigs, plays and exhibitions to spoken word, pop-up foodie events and one-off film screenings, we give you the insider's guide to things to do in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds every Thursday morning.

PUSH it Real Good

Showcasing the best of the Northwest's creative talents, PUSH Festival kicks off this Saturday for two weeks of film, theatre and visual art from across the region, along with workshops and talks in everything from funding your own short film to surviving the Edinburgh Fringe.

From Mighty Heart Theatre (pictured) comes work-in-progress Now Is The Moment We Learn Hope, while screenings include a preview of the first feature from Manchester-based filmmaker Jason Wingard, The Crossing – but with so much good stuff on the agenda, we've compiled a Top 5 of our highlights. You can also read our interview with Louise Wallwein, whose promenade piece The Island, The Sea, The Volunteer and The Refugee charts her experience volunteering in Greece with refugee support group Kos Solidarity. Browse the full programme here.

Even with the shitstorm that was 2016, we all know it's only likely to get worse this year. Accordingly, we've got a step-by-step guide to fixing the world in 2017, from big steps like joining a political party to little ones like donating a can of beans to a food bank. With so many bellends walking the Earth these days, do what you can to not be one of them.

The Skinny Food and Drink Survey 2017 results

ICYMI: With categories in Best Pub, Best Newcomer, Best Restaurant, Best Brewery, Best Cafe, Best On-the-Go and Best Food and Drink Shop, your favourites range from Leeds' flagship Indian small plates bar to a vegan fine dining restaurant in Stockport.

January restaurant deals in the North

Strapped for cash after Christmas but still think you deserve a nice meal? Get in on the January food deals in Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, with 50% off at The Alchemist, Busaba, Chaophraya, Evelyn's (pictured), Cane and Grain, Refuge, and much more.

Blue Monday?

Not a chuffin' clue who deemed the third Monday of January the most depressing time of the year, but whether it's total bollocks or not (it is), it's a welcome reminder that not everyone's happy all the time. Whether it's this Monday or any other Monday, take care of yourself (and others) by reading our no-bullshit guide to self care. Illustration: Tom Saffill

Do not miss:

Brew-denell Beer and Ale Festival
Brudenell Social Club, Leeds. Fri 13-Sun 15 Jan, times vary

Having no doubt given yourself the requisite week-and-a-half off the sauce after a debauched festive period, it's time to clamber well and truly back off the wagon with the Brud's annual flagship piss-up that's been going strong for five years. Local beers, street food and live music, along with a Grub and Grog Sunday brunch: what's not to love? Image: Patrik Kristian

Art of Solidarity: Cuban Posters for African Liberation 1967-1989
International Slavery Museum, Liverpool. Fri 13 Jan-Sun 18 Jun

The International Slavery Museum launches a new exhibition this Friday, Art of Solidarity: Cuban Posters for African Liberation 1967-1989, which features over 30 posters produced by the Organisation in Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL). Image: Courtesy Lincoln Cushing/Docs Populi Archive

Advertisement | Psappha presents Eight Songs for a Mad King
Hallé St Peter’s, Manchester. Thu 19 Jan, 7.30pm

Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King tells the haunting story of King George III's descent into madness, where instrumentalists become both jailer and fellow inhabitants of the prison of his mind. Davies' Stedman Doubles, written in 1955, was thought to be unplayable until he gave the manuscript to Psappha. First performed live by the ensemble in 1995, this astonishing work will be presented in its original version for clarinet and three percussionists.

A new piece opens the evening: David Horne’s Resonating Instruments is rhapsodic, virtuosic and volatile, entwining the ensemble around a solo cimbalom.


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Glut: Images, Information and Excess
Holden Gallery (MMU), Manchester. Mon 16 Jan-Fri 3 Mar, times vary

Artists Viktoria Binschtok, James Bridle, Esther Hovers, James Richards and Thomson & Craighead explore our relationship to the image, and the way in which information is captured has changed substantially in recent years. Image: Esther Hovers, False Positives, 2016

Labyrinth
Howard Assembly Room, Leeds. Tue 17 Jan, 7.30pm

The grim reaper dealt a particularly cruel hand for 2016, so it seems only fitting that you start this year off by paying homage to the late, glam-rocking great David Bowie, no doubt one of the most sorely missed. Catch him in action with a screening of cherished cult musical Labyrinth, timed to mark a year since his untimely passing.

Global Roots Soundsystem
Soup Kitchen, Manchester. Fri 13 Jan, 11pm

While the rest of the world continues to shrug off its Christmas hangover, you start to realise you're better than that: you wanna party. Shake off the cobwebs this week with the Banana Hill gang, who return with their latest bash with Thris Tian and Cervo. Image: Andrew Denholm


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