Entertainment News

Birmingham-based professional dance company, ACE dance and music, are excited to announce dates for the UK tour of their thought provoking and powerful dance production, MANA: The Power Within. The double bill of exceptional dance, directed by ACE dance and music’s Creative Director, Gail Parmel, explores the deep and universal spirit of MANA, in two 30 minute dance pieces with movement styles drawing from Afro-fusion and Martial Arts combined with an essence of Flamenco and Ballet.

The annual Birmingham Chilli Festival is returning to Brindleyplace, giving supporters of all things spicy a chance to indulge themselves in a variety of chilli-themed stalls and entertainment. Marking the fifth year of this fiery fiesta, the Chilli Festival will take place in Brindleyplace’s Central Square on Saturday 19^th September, from 11am to 7pm.

Music lovers can get their Northern Soul fix when American legends The Contours headline a Motown and soul night at Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Hall. Fans can make the most of a rare chance to dance to the band when they perform their 1960s classics Just a Little Misunderstanding, Do You Love Me, First I Look at the Purse, Determination and many more on Friday 25 September, 2015.

Spot some of the scariest creatures in the ocean this 'Hallow-marine' as The Sea LifeLondon Aquarium puts the spotlight on some "Bogey-fish" of the deep. Guests should keep their eyes peeled for spooky images dotted on displays around the attraction revealing where these elusive bogey-fish dwell. Look out for the sneakiest, the Devil's Scorpionfish, which ambushes unsuspecting prey with it's gaping mouth.

This October half term, families heading to Florida can take part in LEGOLAND Florida's Halloweeney Brick-or-Treat festivities – which is even more LEGO-tastic than ever with new LEGO models to spot and nightly fireworks .

The 19th annual Dominican Republic Jazz Festival 2015 will be held 4-8 November 2015, in Santiago, the country's second largest city, and the north coast towns of Sosua, Puerto Plata and Cabarete. World-famous jazz musicians from the United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Israel, Italy, France and the Dominican Republic are scheduled to perform in this popular festival, where jazz lovers will enjoy five straight nights of free concerts.

After years of studies and anticipation, the Waco Mammoth Site has now become part of the National Park System. President Obama designated the site as a National Monument on July 10, 2015. Excavation began on the Waco Mammoth Site in 1978 when a large bone was discovered by two arrowhead hunters and taken to Baylor University's Strecker Museum for identification.

St Albans is gearing up to host its eighth annual food and drink festival, which will embrace the cathedral city's thriving pub culture with a pop-up Village Green at the heart of the city's 9th-century market place.   The Hertfordshire city has a long history in hospitality: It lays claim to having one of the highest number of pubs per square mile in the UK as well as the oldest pub.

Visitors to Aston Park at the weekend will be able to witness a historic battle as part of Birmingham Heritage Week. The Sealed Knot, the oldest re-enactment society in the UK and the single biggest in Europe, will be staging an English Civil War display in the park on Sunday, September 13. Aston Hall, which stands in the grounds, was itself attacked and badly damaged by Parliamentary troops (Roundheads) during the Civil War.

Wolverhampton Bonfire and Fireworks Night will for the first time ever be hosted by Wolverhampton Racecourse this year. The event will take place on Thursday, November 5, and the racecourse, in partnership with City of Wolverhampton Council, have introduced free parking for visitors and discounted advance purchase ticket prices. The evening entails all the attractions that have been enjoyed at West Park in previous years.

Members of the public are being offered a rare opportunity to look around Tyseley Locomotive Works as part of Birmingham Heritage Week. On Saturday, September 12, the works will be offering one-hour guided tours giving visitors an insight into the work undertaken at the site.

This year's firework spectacular at the Legoland Windsor Resort promises a roaring finale to the season as an all new show-stopping display takes a Lego Ninjago theme. Over three weekends in October – 17/18, 24/25 and 30/31 - the skies will light up in a dramatic pyrotechnic performance perfectly choreographed to a ninja inspired soundtrack, where guests will join LEGO Ninjago heroes Kai, Lloyd, Cole and Jay in an epic pyrotechnic battle against the evil Morro and the cursed realm.

Among the events and partnerships lined up for Chocolate week (12-18th October) this year, Divine Chocolate will be popping up with a MasterChef finalist, introducing a special  chocolate workshop and washing everything down with the fairest chocolate cocktail in London.

For a limited time only, the smallest sculptures in the world by internationally renowned micro sculptor, Willard Wigan MBE, are being housed within the landside All Bar One Bar and Restaurant at Birmingham Airport. Following Willard’s hugely successful American and Australian tour, and whose work has recently been featured in promotion of the new Hollywood blockbuster, Antman, it is fitting that such wondrous works, which are sculptured within the eye of a needle, or on the head of a pin, will be on display in Willard’s hometown of Birmingham, for the travelling world to adorn.

The Australian Pink Floyd Show is back in the UK in 2016 for their ‘THE BEST OF THE BEST’ Tour, kicking off the UK leg at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena on the 14 October! Having sold over 4 million tickets in 35 countries, The Australian Pink Floyd Show is hailed as one of the leading concert performances currently operating and have generated their own legacy and heritage.