Entertainment

Shaw’s Playhouse2 is currently host to Jim Cartwright’s ‘Two 2’ – almost 10 years on from the production of ‘Two’.

This premier musical is an absolute multicultural phenomenon. Manchester’s Opera House is currently home to the brand new DDJL musical ‘Come Fall in Love’, bringing vibrant culture to every punter.

I watched a compelling chat earlier this week with Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, hosted by Rachel Sylvester, political editor at The Observer. 

There’s been an awful lot of hype about the new Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and I was a little surprised last week to read that Disney’s live action remake of Lilo & Stitch made around £1 million more than the latest Tom Cruise action juggernaut in its opening weekend.

Manchester Academy’s now legendary ‘A Tribute To Manchester’ annual Christmas bash will this year celebrate its 10th anniversary, with The Clone Roses once again headlining the main Academy One stage. 

When Tameside Radio and the Not Really Here Group launched the hugely successful ‘Local Music Spotlight’ feature back in January 2023, Craig Lee and The Humblebees were one of the very first acts to feature. Fast forward two years and the band have finally released their long-awaited debut album ‘Come What May’. 

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, I managed to catch up on a couple of things, one of which was “Girl You Know It’s True”, a biopic looking at the rise and fall of Milli Vanilli in 1989. Made by MTV, it was recently shown on BBC2, and is available to watch on iPlayer.

A remake and a reboot

With the spell of sunny weather set to come to an end, I'd imagine the cinema might be a popular choice over the bank holiday weekend, so I thought we'd take a look at some of your viewing choices.

Believe it or not, a fair bit of Willy Wonka-style magic goes into scheduling the music that's played on the radio. Gone are the days of spinning songs from CD players in the studio, which was the case when I did my earliest radio shows back in 1994 (there is a cassette of my first Minster FM show somewhere, but it's buried deep in a vault!).

In February I launched my new podcast ‘Roots’ on Spotify, with the aim of hearing life stories from music’s real roots, by iconic people who don’t always get to tell the story of their journeys in music.

The Rocky Horror Show is back in Manchester - full of chaos but full of life and energy.

It's just over two years since I became the permanent drivetime presenter on Tameside Radio, and tomorrow, Friday February 7th, will sadly be my last day on the show.

A mix this week of stuff that I watched over the festive season and a couple from this week, to start another year of movie watching!

It was tempting to write something this week about the digital darts being fired from the keyboard of the world's richest man, and how it might be better if we just switched social media off for a bit, but for the sake of my blood pressure, I thought I'd share the first part of a musical Top 10 with you.

After the massive success of last year's huge 40th anniversary tour,  legendary soul band Stax Of Soul will be rolling back into Uppermill in November as part of this year's series of tour dates.

Rock n Roll Star, National Treasure, Musical Icon, Manchester legend, and TV hero Shaun Ryder next week begins a huge UK theatre tour which runs until May 2025, telling stories and tales of his life as one of music's most iconic and wildest frontmen

Two days before Oasis's debut album 'Definitely Maybe' celebrated its 30th anniversary, the news broke that 15 years since splitting up, Liam and Noel Gallagher would be getting the band back together next year. If you had asked me a few years ago if i would like them to get back together, I probably would have said no, leave it in the history books just as The Beatles and The Jam did

When we started our Local music Spotlight feature on Tameside Radio and across the Not Really Here Group media outlets back in January 2023, I knew what an important feature it would be for local bands and artists, but I don't think anybody could have predicted just how successful it has been.

Pauline Town MBE is a Tameside hero and a legend. As landlady of The Station Hotel in Ashton, she has made the respected British pub much more than that, it's also a hub for the homeless, victims of domestic abuse, families in need, and those facing poverty in this area.

Its three years since Stereophonics last toured, and last week the band announced their biggest ever UK and Ireland stadium tour which will take place in 2025.

It's almost impossible to review The Substance without spoilers, but I'll try. It's grisly, bone-crunching, shockingly gory stuff, but what a performance from Demi Moore. This is possibly the most bananas movie I've ever seen, and Moore's finest hour in my book.

Back in the day, I used to love watching Top Of The Pops on a Thursday night. It was one of the telly highlights of the week, at a time when there were only three channels, no social media, and Dial-A-Disc was still a thing (ask your parents if this doesn't ring a bell).

It's a rarity, but a trio of films were all released last Friday that I couldn't wait to see. I've managed two of them this week, and both are outstanding.

Starting this week with my film of the month for September. Strange Darling is grisly and twisty as hell The best review I've seen comes from rapper Kid Cudi, who wrote: "Movies like this come every so often. As a fan of horror, I've never been this thrown by a horror movie before. I went in thinking one thing, and left knowing another". The difficulty in reviewing this movie is that it's definitely best enjoyed without spoilers. It's gory, tense, and nerve shredding.

The UK has a rich history when it comes to condiments. A lot add unami taste to our dishes (a Japanese word meaning 'savoury deliciousness'), and a survey carried out recently by Fentimans found brown sauce ranks second in a list of the UK's top 10 favourite bold flavours.

I wrote about stress recently, and feel quite zen this week, apart from the fact I'm writing this column right up against the deadline.I don't know where the weeks are going, and Christmas is now less than 100 days away, whilst the nights are drawing in faster than I can eat a bag of Haribo Tangfastics.

Following the Ellis Mano Band's European tour last year in support of the critically acclaimed "Luck of the Draw" album, fifteen songs recorded in Germany and Switzerland have now been released on their first live album "Live: Access All Areas".

The first of two films based on that Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew hit Netfllix this week, and Scoop was a five star treat in my book. Based on three chapters of a book by producer Sam McAlister, who arranged te interview at Buckingham Palace and has since said it was "hard to keep a poker face" while he was speakin

This week, I watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix, and I would highly recommend that you give it a whirl. As one of the quotes at the beginning says: "Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse" (Sophocles), and if you're anything like me, you'll be left questioning how much information you've given away to social media platforms over the years.

"Fortuna", the long-awaited studio album from the British Blues rock roots guitarist and vocalist Bex Marshall, is a ten-track blues tapestry that bulges to the edges with addictive hooks and story lines.

If you're a John Wick fan, there will inevitably be comparisons with pulpy new action film Monkey Man, which is out this weekend. Armed with little more than a monkey mask and a shedload of grit and determination, Dev Patel's Kid won't rest until the men who took everything from him get what's coming to them.

Stockport based NK Theatre Arts head to New Mills Art Theatre for the very first time with their production of Rock Of Ages. 

Event cinema is pretty popular, with reports that Queen Rock Montreal (IMAX) raked in over $4 million, split across the USA and the rest of the world. Clearly, the lure of a remastered Queen concert from 1981 is strong.