Free things to do in Manchester this weekend ft. The Witching Way + more

On Friday night, you can catch this free gig at Withington’s Fuel Café Bar. Local dreampop group Pomona XV host this gig, which will be headlined by Sheffield-based electronic artist and DJ Jackie Moonbather in his first Manchester show. Also on the bill are Pomona XV themselves and local solo artist Itsnahtevendark – also known as Sam Frost.

Another gig in Withington, as local record store Wilderness hosts this free afternoon and early evening show, set to coincide with what would’ve been the weekend of Carefully Planned festival (had it not been shelved in 2016). Performing in the store’s cosy interior are minimalist folk singer-songwriter Tekla, alt rock experimentalist Faith Elliott, folk-classical artist Danny Addison and Stevenage-based synthpop producer Byfyn. All this, plus DJ sets from local indie threepiece The Early Mornings.

If you can brave the Printworks on a Saturday evening, then you can catch this fascinating musical event. Dr Chloe Germaine Buckley is a lecturer in English at Man Met, and an expert of witches in popular culture, and here she introduces a suitably Halloweeny coming-of-age musical about a teenage witch (but not THAT teenage witch). The Witching Way was created by theatremakers Ali Matthews and Leo Burtin, and has previously been performed at The Royal Exchange and Lancaster Arts, and features a live rock band playing along with performers.

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation hosts this free workshop for young writers on Sunday afternoon. Historical novelist Catherine Johnson and Tales of Terror author Chris Priestley lead you through a session aimed at getting teen and young adult writers to develop their ideas and explore the macabre (whilst keeping it PG).