Flaming marvellous events as Olympic torch arrives in Manchester
Indie rockers The Courteeners and The Halle Youth Choir will top an evening of free entertainment as the Olympic Torch is cheered into Manchester city centre.
The evening celebration show will be held in Albert Square from 4pm on Saturday June 23 to mark the arrival of the flame into the city.
The show, organised by Manchester City Council and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) will also feature performances from dance duo Twist and Pulse, who reached the finals of Britain's Got Talent, and up and coming band The Tribes.
There will also be performances from urban athletes and street performers, while children from across the city who were born on 20 December 2004 - the date 20/12 during the Olympics bid - will appear on the specially-built stage - and the Lord Mayor of Manchester Cllr Elaine Boyes will also address the crowd.
Finally, the Olympic flame will be brought onto the stage, carried by Levenshulme's Carl Tilson, who formerly won the Mancunian of the Year award because of the fundraising work he has done for fellow sufferers of the muscle-wasting condition duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The 25-year-old wheelchair user said: "This will mean the world to me. It's a great honour, not only to represent the Olympics but to represent people with muscular dystrophy."
Earlier, the torch will be carried to the city centre's Live Site - set up for residents to watch Olympic and other sporting and cultural events - by Leehom Wang, an American-born singer-songwriter, environmental campaigner and charity worker who performed at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing games.
The torch will enter Manchester from Salford at around 5.40pm on June 23 and will travel along Elizabeth Street, Queens Road to Cheetham Hill Road, where a family event has been organised by a group of residents dedicated to improving Cheetham Park.
It will then travel along Miller Street before a 15-minute stop for another event outside the Co-op store on Corporation Street, in which visitors will be able to be photographed next to torches from previous Olympic Games.
It will then travel past the Live Site on Exchange Square, then onto Deansgate, Whitworth Street West onto Sackville Street and into Sackville Gardens to pause for a photograph by the Alan Turing Statue. It will then travel through Nicholas Street in Chinatown and Cooper Street before finally arriving on Albert Square for the evening celebration.
It will then travel through Nicholas Street in Chinatown and Cooper Street before finally arriving on Albert Square for the evening celebration.
Meanwhile, a civic reception will be held at Manchester Town Hall for torchbearers such as June Kelly, who devotes her free time to coaching children's football in Cheetham Hill despite suffering from health problems, and Sue Blaylock, who supports 400 disabled children a week with her Wythenshawe Wheelers cycling group.
The torch will stay in Manchester overnight before going into Salford and Trafford early on Sunday June 24. It will then return into Manchester to travel through Moss Side, Longsight, Levenshulme before finally leaving the city and entering Stockport.
Cllr Rosa Battle, Manchester City Council's executive member for culture and leisure said: "The torch relay and the evening celebration will provide excellent opportunities for Manchester residents to get involved in this summer's Olympic celebrations, as well as to celebrate the achievements of the torchbearers who have helped transform the lives of those around them.
"Mancunians are used to celebrating the important role that sport can play in their lives and it'll be inspirational to see thousands of people crowded into Albert Square to officially welcome the Olympic flame into our city."
More information on London 2012 in Manchester.