The Red Bull Music Academy UK Tour hits Manchester this weekend. With a mixture of live music, talks, workshops and clubnights, there’s something for everyone, with some of Manchester’s top venues hosting these special one-off events. Grime heads will want to lock down a place at Gorilla on the Thursday (16 Apr) as Skepta features in conversation (Gorilla, 6.30pm, FREE, waiting list tickets) before he heads over to The Ritz for Tropical (10pm-3am, £15 tickets) – featuring top level MCs such as JME and Flowdan, alongside garage royalty Todd Edwards and grime lynchpins Plastician and Slimzee. Friday night (17 Apr) sees RBMA take over three of the city’s clubs – with Sankeys, South and Soup Kitchen headlined by Derrick May (Industrial City Sounds, Sankeys, 10.30pm-6am, £10 tickets), Omar-S (Deep South, South, 11pm-4am, £10 tickets) and Mount Kimbie (Soup Kitchen, 11pm-4am, £10 tickets – also ft Braiden and Manchester Wire writer and DJ, Dan Hampson) respectively. RBMA Radio then takes over Soup Kitchen during Saturday daytime (noon-6pm, FREE, more info), for a number of interviews and exclusive mixes from some of the city’s finest, including Krystal Klear, Jon K and Paleman, before Zed Bias moves the party to Antwerp Mansion (11am-4am, £10 tickets) where he’s joined by the likes Akkord and Illum Sphere. There’s no chance for rest on Sunday, with Royce Da 5’9 and DJ Premier presenting a music making masterclass at NQ 2022 (Studio Science: PRhyme, 2pm-4pm, FREE, more info) and a special vinyl-only event taking place at the Great Northern Warehouse with DJ Jazzy Jeff, Todd Terry and more (Wax Works, 6pm-2am, £10 tickets). Ticket prices are reasonable throughout and with some events costing zero pounds, there are events for all budgets and tastes throughout the weekend.
Thu 16 – Sun 19 Apr, various venues, times and prices vary, www.uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com
- Words:
- Ruben Platt
- Published on:
- Fri 17 Apr 2015
