What's On North 16-23 Jun: Africa Oyé

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.

Africa Oyé
Sefton Park, Liverpool. Sat 18-Sun 19 Jun, 12.30pm

Embracing diversity and stepping in with a call for tolerance at a time when we need it most, the UK's largest free celebration of Africa and its diaspora returns this weekend for two days of live music, performance, street food, crafts, fashion and all-round multi-cultural positive energy. Find out more about the DJ line-up here or read our interview with artistic director Paul Duhaney for info about Oyé Introduces, the strand of the festival's programme showcasing rising local talent.

Photo: Michael Sheerin

Manchester Day
Various venues, Manchester. Sun 19 Jun, 12pm

The annual Manchester Day takes place this Sunday, paying homage to the city's history of science and innovation with a theme of 'Eureka', which also functions as a nod to our status as European City of Science this year. Along with the huge parade, which leaves Liverpool Road at 1pm before winding its way through to Exchange Square, there will also be street food, live music, dance, laughter yoga and more throughout the day.

Photo: Mark Waugh

Yorkshire Festival
Various venues, Yorkshire. Thu 16 Jun-Sun 3 Jul, times vary

18 days of groundbreaking international music, dance, theatre, visual art and outdoor performances kick off this week with the arrival of Yorkshire Festival, which will pack the county with everything from pop-up street performances to a huge party under the luminosity of a giant disco ball. We've compiled a guide of our absolute must-not-miss events, or you can browse the full programme here.

David Cross
Manchester Academy, Manchester. Sat 18 Jun, 7pm

Ah, David Cross. FUNNY, FUNNY MAN. You may recognise him from his role as the spritely, closeted failing actor Tobias Fünke in Arrested Development, sketch comedy series Mr. Show or even from this month's cover, but it's his stand-up comedy that got him where he is today. Never one to shy away from atheism and politics, his latest show, Making America Great Again, takes on a certain blonde-haired US presidential nominee, among other things...

Illustration: Camille Smithwick

Liverpool Craft Beer Expo
Constellations, Liverpool. Thu 16-Sun 19 Jun, times vary

Back for its fourth shebang, Liverpool Craft Beer Expo takes to Constellations this week for an expanded weekend of music, food, art and, obviously, lashings of beer (over 250 keg beers, 50 cask ales and 40 ciders, if we're talking numbers). Welcoming local breweries from across the North – and others from a little further afield – you'll find bevs from Blackjack, Thornbridge, Summer Wine, Alphabet, Siren, Cloudwater, Magic Rock, Weird Beard, Quantum, Shindigger, The Kernel and tons more.

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Alexis Taylor
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester. Tue 21 Jun, 7.30pm

Make your way down to the International Anthony Burgess Foundation this week to seize your rare chance of beholding a stripped-back Alexis Taylor, the famed front man of Hot Chip, whose recent solo output, Piano, sees him ditch the band's twitchy electronic core in favour of a pared-down set-up of just piano and voice. There's definitely beauty in the barrenness – as you'll find here.

Kazimier Garden's Birthday Weekend
The Kazimier Garden, Liverpool. Thu 16-Sun 19 Jun, times vary

Usually when someone insists on a 'birthday weekend' (dinner on Friday, some kind of enforced fun on Saturday afternoon, drinks on Saturday night, brunch on Sunday...), you quietly scorn them for such sense of entitlement. But when it's the good folk of the Kazimier Gardens marking four years since a derelict car park became their well-loved drinking den, putting on a programme of live music, DJs and good times for you, it'll hardly be a chore to grab a beer and soak it all up.

Northwest Zinefest
Islington Mill, Salford. Sat 18 Jun, 11.30am

Following last year's impressive spread of 30+ zinesters, workshops and a pop-up Salford Zine Library, Northwest Zinefest returns to bestow us with a day of self- and independently-published creativity. Try your hand at monoprinting, zine-making or badge-making throughout the day – all either free or charged only to cover materials – or listen to zine readings from the likes of Chris Clavin and others. We also suggest you check out Saffa Khan's brilliant poster in full here.

Illustration: Saffa Khan

Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Arts Club, Liverpool. Wed 22 Jun, 7pm

It was the offbeat, softly psychedelic lo-fi quality of their self-titled 2011 debut and the clever, resonating lyrics in its follow-up, II, that arguably put Portland's Unknown Mortal Orchestra onto the map. But the third and most recent album, Multi-Love, has proven perhaps the most successful, where catchy hooks have helped project the sound onto mainstream airwaves of the UK and beyond, while still promising the substance we love – this one's inspired largely by frontman Ruban Nielson's polyamory.

Photo: Stuart Moulding

Edinburgh Previews: Dan Nicholas, Peter Fleming and Wilbur Bilb
Gullivers, Manchester. Thu 16 Jun, 7.30pm

Gullivers becomes an Edinburgh Fringe testing ground this week, in the form of previews from madcap stand-up comic Dan Nicholas and character comedy from So You Think That's Funny? winners (and Skinny faves) Tom Burgess and Sam Nicoresti – who'll bring to the stage child detective Wilbur Bilb and retired children's television pioneer Peter Fleming, who we caught at Sham Bodie a few months back, in all his bumbling, talcum-powder-hair glory.

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