Up and comers from Salford and Dublin brought their national jaunt to the Ruby Lounge

The English National Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty is a technically beautiful ballet, grounded in a convincing emotional reality

The Canadian duo bring their now-more-sedate live show to the Academy

Clayton Fuller visits The Cornerhouse to have a look at the latest cafe-bar exhibition by Fraser Chapman

Following up last week’s contribution from Manchester Uni’s Comic Collective, Tobias Weinald traces the development of a truly collective society

Do you judge people by the covers of their books? If you do you, remember they may return the favour

Check out some of the Books section’s readers’ favourite books of the year

Chart-topper Jake Bugg visits Club Academy as part of his final lap of basement venues

The kiwi synth-popper played tracks from her sophomore LP at Academy 2

Alabama’s finest exports shook the Academy to its foundations at their biggest Manchester show to date

American chart sensations Imagine Dragons made their debut Manchester appearance at the Ruby Lounge

The Swedish sister act brought their hugely successful Lion’s Roar LP back to Manchester at a packed Ritz

Brooklyn’s noisiest purveyors of post-punk deliver a riotous performance

The indie-rockers meteoric rise continues as they deliver a storming set to a sold-out Apollo

AlunaGeorge demonstrate that 2013 might well be their year with an assured performance at the Deaf Institute

Vicky Carter reviews Forced Entertainment’s The Coming Storm at the Contact Theatre

The veteran 90s rockers return to Manchester in support of latest release ‘Generation Freakshow’

Josephine Lane previews the Library Theatre Company’s Christmas show at the Lowry Theatre, Arabian Nights

The Canadian punks bring their legendarily chaotic live show to the intimate confines of the Deaf Institute

Gotye set out to prove he’s no one-hit wonder with his biggest Manchester show to date