What's On Northwest 11-18 Feb: Foals

Each week The Skinny team hand pick a selection of the best events from the Northwest cultural calendar to provide you with this here 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 beyond every Thursday morning.

Foals
Manchester Arena. Sat 13 Feb, 7pm

Foals are back, and if you didn't get the memo they're now well into arena territory as they tour their fourth album, What Went Down. But before anyone shrugs them off as sellouts, you can rest assured that, years after bouncing around to Cassius in the late 00s' jumped-up indie era – and, later, playing Spanish Sahara on an angst-ridden loop – you'll still find those delectable riffs and gently epic soundscapes that made Foals' formative years what they were.

Selective Hearing
Buyers Club, Liverpool. Fri 12 Feb, 10pm

Mainstays of the North's heaving house and techno scene, Selective Hearing have been throwing parties in Manchester, Leeds and beyond for over five years – and doing a pretty neat job of it, too. Now, they're spreading their wings even further, taking on Liverpool with their first event in the city, welcoming Nonplus Records boss Boddika to headline proceedings.

Illustration: Verbals Picks

Gein's Family Giftshop's Trophy Collection
The Lowry Studio, Salford. Wed 17 Feb, 8pm

Award-winning sketch troupe Gein's Family Giftshop have been circuit favourites here for yonks, but it seems everyone else is cottoning on now, as the group embark on a UK tour with their latest show. Luckily, first they're gracing their hometown with their presence: expect an evening of their now-signature surreal and blood-splattered comedy.

Photo: Drew Forsyth

MONEY
Leaf, Liverpool. Fri 12 Feb, 8pm

Now a fully established landmark among the high-risers of Manchester's musical skyline, Bella Union-signed Money are off on the road for a UK and European tour in support of their second album, Suicide Songs. Still channelling the murk of their native Northwest, they're now honing what they started with their debut, this time stripping things back a bit to let Jamie Lee's vocals come to the fore – to pleasing effect. Spot their mention in our February gig highlights.

Photo: Joe Wilson

No Scrubs: Anti-Valentine's Karaoke Party
Kosmonaut, Manchester. Fri 12 Feb, 8.30pm

Embrace the year's most saccharine weekend with a dose of decidedly unromantic, sometimes downright horny lyrics, as Kosmonaut's basement becomes a den of people yelling "My mind's telling me no", "I don't want no scrubs" and "Hey baby I like it raw" with an anti-Valentine's 90s hip-hop and r'n'b karaoke party hosted by Radio X's Hattie Pearson.

Illustration: Sam Brewster

ADVERTISEMENT | I Am Thomas
Liverpool Playhouse. Fri 19-Sat 27 Feb, 7.30pm (5.30pm Wed 24 Feb)

Collaborating with award-winning poet Simon Armitage, Told by an Idiot, National Theatre Scotland and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh present I Am Thomas – a brutal comedy with songs, where a rich vein of black humour explodes in this account of the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy. Using Told by an Idiot's internationally celebrated theatrical invention, we glimpse into Edinburgh's dark past to reveal this true story with universal resonance. A riotous and unsettling drama which swings between 1696 and the present day, I Am Thomas is performed with an original live score.

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The Cleverest Thief
The Lantern, Liverpool. Fri 12 Feb, 7.30pm

Smoke Tree Theatre presents a solo show starring Libby Wattis and written by Caroline Coxon that's a moving and, at times, amusing tale of a woman with dementia – deemed here as 'the cleverest thief', thanks to its nature to not only steal from you, but also rob the ability to remember what's been taken. It may not prove easy subject matter for many, but as the number of people suffering from dementia continues to steadily rise, it's certainly one we should relate to.

Launch Pad
Castlefield Gallery, Manchester. Fri 12-Sun 21 Feb, times vary

Showcasing some of the finest rising names on the city's art scene, this exhibition features new work by Manchester School of Art graduates Nina Bristow, Tom Lambe and Aimee Walker (work pictured), whose pieces incorporate cultural criticism, performance, the manipulation of technologies and site-specific research to highlight the sheer breadth available within contemporary visual art.

Valentine's Day film screenings
FACT cinema, Liverpool. Sun 14 Feb, times vary

Whether you're a lover or a hater this V-Day, the cinematic world always harnesses the power to unite the loved-up and lost souls among us – at FACT, they're doing it through romantic classic Casablanca, and You've Got Mail, where post-big-hair-and-diner-orgasms Meg Ryan spars with Tom Hanks. Over Manchester-way there's a Natural Born Killers and True Romance double bill courtesy of RAD screenings at Gorilla, while at Stockport Plaza they're going all-out old-school with Brief Encounter.

Sham Bodie
Soup Kitchen, Manchester. Thu 11 Feb, 7.30pm

The Sham Bodie crew return for their first show of the year, capitalising on mid-February with a romantic comedy mashup. Gein's Family Giftshop's Kiri Pritchard-McLean (pictured) headlines alongside up-and-coming Manchester comedian Tom Short and music from local surf rockers Mirror Gorillas. The squirty cream on top, though, is a Sham Bodie edition of Blind Date, which sees the classic Cilla setup ramped up by the bizarre Bodie stylings we've come to love.

Photo: Steve Ullathorne

Pre-Raphaelites: Beauty and Rebellion
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Fri 12 Feb-Sun 5 Jun, times vary

The Walker Art Gallery's major new exhibition explores the rosy-cheeked world of the Pre-Raphaelites, a brotherhood of English painters, poets and critics who sought to overhaul the art world. Showcasing over 120 Pre-Raphaelite paintings, it also highlights Liverpool's role within the story, reinforcing the city's reputation as Victorian art capital of the North.

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