May Day bank holiday: Events in Manchester

Ah, bank holidays. Where carpe diem becomes a whole lot more achievable thanks to that beloved extra day. To well and truly seize it in Manchester you've got May Day clubbing at Mantra Live, Renegade Brass Band at Band on the Wall, Week 53 Festival at The Lowry and so much more. 

Liverpool, we've not forgotten you either – click here to find out what's on for you guys. 

No. 1 pick: Sounds From the Other City

Our favourite party of the year makes its much-awaited comeback for 2016, promising once again to defend its title as the Northwest’s May Day mainstay. How so? Well, with the return of Ex-Easter Island Head after success last year, alongside Irma Vep, Laura Cannell, Tacocat, himHallows' art direction, pop-up street food stalls, craft beer bars and tons more. Read more about the line-up here. We’ll also be there running our photo competition again – just use the hashtag #SFTOCSkinny on the day to show us your best snaps, and you could win a swag bag of SFTOC prizes (Sun 1 May, 3pm, £20).

No-work-tomorrow clubbing

The Zutekh vs T Pot courtyard party at South has been a regular summer fixture for a fair few years now (half a decade, if we’re being precise), and to kick off the season this time round, they’re enlisting the beats of Rush Hour’s Tom Trago, Jordan Peak, Frenchy, Tom Craven, Adam Ross and Zutekh DJs for 12 hours of al fresco dancing (Sun 1 May, 2pm, £15).

[Mantra Live]

CULT, Ossia and Modus Manchester team up for MAYDAY, a mammoth 15-hour party at Mantra Live, which will see the former mill building reborn as a festival site across its club venue and outside courtyard space (the first time this has been put to use). Themed around the traditional English May Day, expect maypoles, bunting and, er, palm trees, plus a line-up of Legowelt, Mike Huckaby, Bambounou, Fjaak, Andrew Bratten, Sulpho, J Derecho, Bad City FM, Manci, Azerbaijack, Fosh Jeek and Kens (Sun 1 May, 2pm, £10-£25).

Meanwhile, Doodle and Etc present Voyage Records’ Andy Hart, who'll be traversing the globe from his native Melbourne to make his Manchester debut at one of the city’s most atmospheric venues, Soup Kitchen (Sun 1 May, £8, 10pm).

Following last month’s successful launch do with Nightmares on Wax, new Joshua Brooks night Reet Petite returns for its second instalment – this time with reggae and dub producer Prince Fatty, the studio pseudonym of Mike Pelanconi, whose set will also feature vocals from MC Horseman, plus support from Dub Smugglers and resident DJs Stu Richards and Kevin Swindells (Sun 1 May, 10.30pm, £8).

May Day music

Live music-wise, this bank holiday there are two strong contenders in the form of May Day Mania at The Ruby Lounge (Sun 1 May, 2pm, £2-£3) and Matt and Phred’s Bank Holiday Special (Sun 1 May, 8pm, free), where it’s a case of thrash metal vs. nu metal and New Orleans jazz, respectively.

If that mention of brassy oomph did it for you, but not via the avenue of straight-up live jazz, Sheffield’s Renegade Brass Band will be hitting up Band on the Wall for an evening of funk, hip-hop and soul fusion from eight horns, two percussionists, a scratch DJ and live MC (Sun 1 May, 8pm, £10).

And because the potential’s there to cram every minute off work with something, Tindersticks will be at Bridgewater Hall on the Monday in support of new album, The Waiting Room, which comes with its own series of specially-commissioned short films produced by La Blogotheque.

Patron of the arts

[Syzygy - Katie Paterson, Timepieces (Solar System) 2014 Adapted clocks. Courtesy Artist and Ingleby Gallery. Photo John McKenzie]

It’s a good chance to catch The Lowry’s Week 53, a festival of innovative, provocative national and international work that promises to reward the compulsively curious. It won’t be bowing out until Sun 8 May, meaning that over the May Day bank holiday you can go and see Syzygy, multimedia artist Katie Paterson’s largest solo exhibition to date. It's worth checking out Clod Ensemble’s An Anatomie in Four Quarters if you’re around on the Thursday, Friday or Saturday, too (festival runs Thu 28 Apr-Sun 8 May, times and prices vary).

A little further out of town, the seventh annual Bury Art Festival commandeers the beautiful Bury Art Museum for a week (and a bit) of high quality pieces by the talented folk of the Northwest. The open art exhibition will also be raising money for charity, with all funds raised going towards sponsoring a nurse providing crucial care for people with life-limited illnesses at Bury Hospital (29 Apr-7 May, £TBC).

Nearer central Manchester but even more removed from the beaten track, it's out to suburbia with Whalley Range’s The Green Walk Open House Arts and Craft Weekend, which marks an admirable 10 year anniversary by flinging residents’ doors open to the public for friendly pop-up exhibitions of painting, ceramics, glass, photography and more. Out on the green there will also be cream teas, cakes and food from Café Ark, Tibetan Kitchen, The Manchester Tart Co. and Ginger’s Comfort Emporium, completing the package for a great weekend of community spirit and local artistic flavour (Sat 30 Apr-Sun 1 May, 12pm, free).

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