📣 60+ Amazing Things To Do In Liverpool This Week & Next (#013)

Grab your calendar—here are the most interesting events coming up in and around Liverpool.

May 01, 2025

BITS & BOBS
What A Week!

🎉 Bank Holiday Madness is coming. Liverpool Sound City takes over, Smithdown Festival brings the local chaos, Crosby Beach turns zen with mass meditation, Bootle hosts a sausage & ale fest, there’s a funfair in Princes Park, and you can even go foraging if that’s your vibe. And that’s just the start. Plus, next weekend brings a full-blown Fire Arts Festival you will not want to miss.

PLAN AHEAD

🌍 Liverpool European Festival sees Liverpool celebrate Europe’s cultures from May 8-June 28, with music, food, and so much more. Highlights include a Fire Gala at the Bombed Out Church on May 10, a Midsummer celebration at the Palm House on June 15, and so much more!

🎶 Philharmonic’s Music Room Turns 10, so it’s time to celebrate a decade of intimate gigs at the Music Room with a two-week festival from Sept 28–Oct 13, 2025.

🎸 Liverpool Sound City 2025 hits the city May 3–4, spotlighting rising stars like Nieve Ella, Rianne Downey, and Panic Shack. With over 250 acts across venues, it's a must for live music fans.

🎉 LFC Victory Parade is set for May 26, celebrating Liverpool’s record-equalling 20th league title. The 15km route begins at Allerton Maze at 2:30pm, winding through Queens Drive, West Derby Road, and The Strand, finishing at Blundell Street.

🍻 Southport Beer Week launches May 22–25, 2025, with 19 venues pouring 80+ beers, a prize-laden ale trail, live music, and special brews from Southport and Hex Breweries.

THIS ONE'S BIG
🔥 There’s a Fire Arts Festival Coming to Liverpool and It’s Going to Light Up The Whole Weekend

Liverpool’s Fire Arts Festival is back for the first time in a decade! Three nights. Three venues. 9th–11th May. Expect fire dancing, aerial acts, DJs, pyrotechnics, projection art, and circus chaos across Wiff Waff, the Bombed Out Church, and The Black-E.

Here's just a taster: Friday, jump into a fire-spinning workshop, then stick around for the Open Fire Stage, and a live Fire Jam where dancers throw sparks to a DJ beat. Saturday’s the main event: the Fire Gala at the Bombed Out Church—intense, immersive, and unlike anything else in the city. Sunday, things get playful with circus games and workshops at the Black-E, led by the same artists who set Saturday on fire.

Tickets range from just £5-£20, with some free sessions for families and kids. But make no mistake, this festival’s built for adults too. It’s a nonprofit, powered by Liverpool’s fire and circus community, and you can show your support here.

This is a weekend not to miss. Grab your tickets before they disappear.

POLL RESULTS
What Would Get You To Spend More Time In The City?

👉 Last week we asked what might actually get you to spend more time in the city centre. The results? Cheaper transport isn’t really the big deal—more frequent buses matter more. But the real winners: better parking, and places you can afford to hang out.

GRAB YOUR DIARY
60+ Things To Do In Liverpool This Week & Next…

Below are the best happenings from this Friday until next Thursday. If you do decide to go to any events after spotting them in this newsletter, please let us know! We’ve marked what we think are the highlights with a ⭐️ for easier scanning!

Note: sometimes errors slip through, so please check details before making plans.

Fri 2 May

Murders in Victorian St Helens Part 2 — Hear grisly Victorian St Helens murder files, then decide if 19th-century justice hit the mark or missed entirely.
11:00-13:00 | The Dam Bar & Grill | Tickets
⭐️ Sausage & Real Ale Festival 2025 — Sample local sausages, guest ales and craft ciders across a long weekend that pairs pork with pints like nature intended.
14:00-22:00 | Lock And Quay | Tickets
PURE GYM POP UP — Pure Gym pops up every Friday night with free classes—sweat now, decide on that membership later.
18:00-19:00 | Boxpark Liverpool | Tickets
An Evening with Liverpool Author and Musician R. Peter Davies — R. Peter Davies talks novels, plays songs and shows how alt-country and fiction can share a stage.
18:30 | SMITHDOWN SOCIAL ARTS HUB | Tickets
Irish Annie’s — The ELO Show recreates Jeff Lynne’s symphonic rock with full band and string section, minus the travel back to 1976.
18:45 | Eventim Olympia | Tickets
Led Zeppelin and The Doors performed by The Classic Double Band — Classic Double Band tackles Led Zeppelin and The Doors in one set, proving nostalgia can multitask.
19:00-23:00 | Camp And Furnace | Tickets
⭐️ Irvine Welsh: Revolution — Irvine Welsh kicks off 25th-anniversary revelry with trademark fire, reading and riffing on revolution, swearwords optional but probable.
19:30-21:30 | Rough Trade Liverpool | Tickets
The ELO Tribute Show — PRS and PPL host a Sound City panel unpacking the money side of music so your passion project can also pay rent.
19:30 | Floral Pavilion, New Brighton | Tickets
⭐️ Circus By Night Aintree racecourse — Circus By Night blows past big-top nostalgia with adult-only stunts, louder music and just enough danger to make you grip the seat.
20:00-22:00 | Aintree Racecourse | Tickets
Lady Gaga Party with Live Tributes — One night, one Navy Bar, wall-to-wall Gaga hits sung live so you can get that Bad Romance fix without booking Vegas.
21:00-00:00 | Navy Bar 2.1 | Tickets
⭐️ Smithdown Festival — Smithdown Festival fills Wavertree’s pubs, parks and shops with music, art and family gigs—ten years on, still fiercely local.
Smithdown Road | Tickets
PPL & PRS x Sound City 2025 — Liverpool Mod Weekender returns again—same scooters, sharper threads, bigger night spots.
NA | Various Venues | Tickets

Sat 3 May

⭐️ Smithdown Festival — Smithdown Festival fills Wavertree’s pubs, parks and shops with music, art and family gigs—ten years on, still fiercely local.
Smithdown Road | Tickets
Hilbre in Bloom – Carpets of bluebells — Guided walk to Hilbre Island trades city noise for bluebell carpets, seals and stories that stick longer than your phone’s battery.
10:30-13:30 | Hilbre Island | Tickets
Good Market at Penny Lane Church — Good Market turns Penny Lane Church into a summer-ready indoor fair so weather stops being an excuse.
11:00-16:00 | St Barnabas' Church, Mossley Hill | Tickets
The Plant that Stowed Away Celebration — Art, music and workshops celebrate The Plant that Stowed Away, tracing how greenery travels better than most of us.
11:00-15:00 | Tate Liverpool + RIBA North | Tickets
Rooftop Brunch Party — ⭐️ Blackstock Market’s free family funday packs weekend mornings with bouncy castles, live acts and enough distractions to tire out any kid.
11:00-14:00 | Blackstock Roof Garden At Blackstock Market | Tickets
⭐️ Free Family Funday At Blackstock Market — Blackstock Market’s free family funday repeats weekly, meaning you’re out of excuses for cabin fever.
11:00-14:00 | Blackstock Market | Free (Booking Required)
Staging for a People and a Place: Directing Workshop with Amanda Huxtable — Director Amanda Huxtable breaks down staging a play rooted in place, then sets you loose to try.
11:30-13:00 | Downstairs at the Everyman | Tickets
⭐️ VE Day 80th Celebrations — VE Day 80th includes crafts, fairground games and swing dancing—history class disguised as funfair.
12:00 | Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Hall Thomas Lane | Tickets
Liverpool Mod Weekender 2025 — Liverpool Mod Weekender rolls back in with scooters, sharp suits and longer late-night sessions than last year.
12:45 | Cavern Club | Tickets
Film with Live Orchestra: How to Train Your Dragon — Stewart Lee wrestles with a stage-invading werewolf alter-ego in a meta comedy duel that probably ends in existential dread.
13:00 | Liverpool Philharmonic Hall | Tickets
Penny Lane Walking Tour — Walk Penny Lane with someone who actually knows the stories behind the signs—yes, the barber, too.
14:00-15:30 | John Lennon Statue | Free (Booking Required)
Old School Hip-Hop Summer BBQ — Old School Hip-Hop Summer BBQ rewinds to 80s-90s classics all day, proving sun and boom-bap were meant for each other.
15:00-21:00 | Invisible Wind Factory | Tickets
Italian Fine Wine Tasting & Food Pairing — Sip rare Italian wines never before poured in the UK, matched to bites that prove geography tastes better than geography class.
15:00-18:00 | Royal Institution Bar | Tickets
All Day Dancing - The Secret Rave — The Secret Rave meets at a mystery point, marches to a three-room club and finishes before bedtime—sort of.
16:30-22:00 | Liverpool Town Hall | Tickets
Inside the Palestinian Sound Archive — Inside the Palestinian Sound Archive lets you hear, watch and dance through decades of recorded history, then discuss why it matters.
19:00-23:00 | 24 Kitchen Street | Tickets
Dean Friedman - In Concert [Liverpool] — Dean Friedman dusts off Ariel, Lucky Stars and deep cuts for a rare Liverpool set that proves soft rock can still break hearts.
20:00 | Capstone Theatre | Tickets
ParrJazz Presents: Jazz Saturdays — Jazz Saturdays at Ma Boyle’s plants world-class improvisers in a snug alehouse so you can sip bitter while the trumpet catches fire.
20:00-23:00 | Ma Boyles Alehouse And Eatery | Free (Booking Required)

Sun 4 May

CharJacko presents JACKOS GYM x BOX PARK — Start your day throwing punches to live DJ beats as JACKOS GYM teams up with BOXPARK for a community workout that feels more like a party than a warm-up.
09:00-12:00 | BOXPARK Liverpool | Tickets
Rimrose Runners 5 Miler 2025 — Celebrate a road-free Rimrose Valley with a friendly five-mile run; same scenic course, same grassroots buzz, just another year of breathing space.
10:00-12:00 | Chaffers Running Track, Rimrose Valley Country Park | Tickets
The Liverpool Record Fair — Dig through crates at Liverpool Record Fair, score rare vinyl, then brag about it all year.
10:00-16:00 | The Adelphi Hotel | Free
Singing for Burlesque — Tilly Mint teaches breath, belt and burlesque swagger so your next shimmy lands on key and on beat.
11:00-12:30 | Liverpool Arts Bar | Tickets
Free Family Funday At Blackstock Market — Another Blackstock Market funday? Yes, still free, still full of balloons, magicians and contagiously good moods.
11:00-14:00 | Blackstock Market | Free (Booking Required)
⭐️ Medicinal Herb Foraging Workshop — Walk the hedgerows, learn the plants that heal and leave with a pocket full of notes instead of pills.
11:30-13:30 | Sefton Park | Tickets
WoW's 25th Birthday Party with Frank Cottrell Boyce — WoW’s 25th birthday party gathers Frank Cottrell Boyce and friends for words, poems and cake under Sefton Park’s glass dome.
13:00-17:00 | Palm House Sefton Park | Free
La Rumba Presents Hippie Chic — La Rumba’s Hippie Chic day-to-night terrace party brings last year’s sold-out energy back, minus the ticket panic if you act fast.
16:00-02:00 | Hippie Chic | Tickets
⭐️ The Alternative Bazaar — Alternative Bazaar fills a spring market with art too weird for the high street but perfect for your wall.
16:00-21:00 | Camp and Furnace | Tickets
ONE MORE TUNE PRESENTS - CLAREMONT ACOUSTIC - SUNDAY MAY 4TH — Claremont Acoustic returns with Sunday evening guitars, stories and that almost-forgotten feeling of strangers singing the same chorus.
19:00-23:00 | Claremont Farm | Tickets
⭐️ Smithdown Festival — Smithdown Festival fills Wavertree’s pubs, parks and shops with music, art and family gigs—ten years on, still fiercely local.
Smithdown Road | Tickets
Oasis Tribute v Stone Roses — Two tribute bands, one stage: Oasis anthems meet Stone Roses grooves for a night of Mancunian déjà vu.
19:00-23:00 | Jacaranda Baltic | Tickets
Razorlight — Razorlight’s comeback tour fires Planet Nowhere tracks and vintage bangers with the unpredictability that kept them interesting.
19:00 | O2 Academy Liverpool | Tickets
Merseybeat Tribute Night — Cruise the Mersey to Merseybeat classics performed live; history lesson included, seasickness optional.
19:30 | The Liverpool Gerry Marsden Ferry Terminal | Tickets
The Biggest Afro Caribbean Party - Bank holiday Special — Bank holiday soundtrack sorted: Afrobeats, Dancehall, Amapiano and Soca spun back-to-back for an Afro-Caribbean blowout that leaves Monday optional.
22:30 | City Vaults | Tickets

Mon 5 May

Free Family Funday At Blackstock Market — Get ready for an amazing time at Blackstock Market's Fundays in Liverpool! Every Saturday & Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm for a fantastic range of activities.
11:00-14:00 | Blackstock Market | Free (Booking Required)
⭐️ Smithdown Festival — Smithdown Festival fills Wavertree’s pubs, parks and shops with music, art and family gigs—ten years on, still fiercely local.
Smithdown Road | Tickets
The Kooks: Acoustic — The Kooks strip it down for an acoustic set at Jacaranda Records, sparing your ears and highlighting the hooks.
18:00-20:00 | Jacaranda Baltic | Tickets
⭐️ Beach meditation & sound healing — Sunset beach session layers guided meditation with sound bowls; bring your stress, leave it with the tide.
19:00-20:30 | Crosby Beach | Free (Booking Required)

Tue 6 May

⭐️ Jazz Afternoon — Savoy Jazzmen light up an afternoon with trad tunes made for toe-tapping and the occasional impromptu dance.
14:00-16:00 | Sefton Park Palm House | Tickets
Pasta for a Purpose — Twirl spaghetti, raise a glass and fund Alder Hey—Pasta for a Purpose mixes carbs, wine and raffles into the easiest charity work you’ll ever do.
17:00-19:00 | Casa Italia | Tickets
An Evening with Charlie Bingham at Waterstones Liverpool! — Bird lover Charlie Bingham shares The Life-Affirming Magic of Birds and maybe convinces you to look up from your phone once in a while.
18:30 | 12 College Ln | Tickets
Candlelight Yoga — Candlelight Yoga flows through gentle poses on a high floor with Liverpool’s skyline doing most of the inspirational speaking.
19:30 | 40 Hope Street | Tickets
Stewart Lee — The Waterboys, now with dual keyboards and an Irish rhythm section, prove decades don’t dull a barnburner of a live set.
19:30 | Liverpool Philharmonic Hall | Tickets

Wed 7 May

Stanley Park Market — Torvill and Dean lace up for a farewell tour on ice—catch the legends before the skates go on the mantel.
09:00-15:00 | Stanley Park Market | Tickets
⭐️ A Climate of Lies — Join Mike Berners-Lee, Simon O’Brien and local activists to trade facts and tactics on the climate emergency—no doomscrolling, just action.
19:00-21:00 | The Black-E | Tickets

Thu 8 May

⭐️ Princes Park funfair — Princes Park funfair revives Victorian games beside modern rides where prize cucumbers are thankfully optional.
18:00 | Prince's Park | Tickets
An evening with Robert Macfarlane — Robert Macfarlane unpacks Is A River Alive? and other wild wonders in an intimate talk that might change how you look at water for good.
19:00-20:45 | West Kirby Grammar School | Tickets
RIBA North Film Night: Tokyo Ride — Mark SANAA’s Royal Gold Medal with Tokyo Ride, a road-movie documentary screening that turns a drive through Tokyo into architectural autobiography.
19:00-21:00 | RIBA North | Tickets
An evening of folk music with Tom Kitching — Tom Kitching maps modern London canals through fiddle tunes and tales that drift like the water itself.
19:00-21:00 | Museum of Wigan Life | Tickets
The Waterboys — Irish Annie’s pub musical piles comedy and folk tunes atop a frothy pint of cultural celebration.
19:30 | Liverpool Philharmonic Hall | Tickets
Torvill & Dean — All Things Disco rooftop brunch mixes Mediterranean vibes, plates of brunch and day-long DJ sets above the city.
19:30 | M&S Bank Arena | Tickets

SIGNING OFF
Same Time, Same Place, Next Week