Month: January 2021

PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for February 2021 starring Lucy Spraggan

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Lucy Spraggan releases new album

Spraggan won our gig of the year monsta in 2020 and we said then: ‘Her warmth and empathy really shine bright in the guitar-based, folk-influenced material that she writes and performs.’ Her 6th album Choices is released 26/2/21 and includes Sober, a song of the month for us in November. Tickets were on sale for an April tour which has now been cancelled because of Covid-19 but you can watch that gig of the year. Details

  • Read on for reasons including the return of KEiiNO, Melodifestivalen 2021 and Deutschland ’89

Read More

REVIEW: RuPaul’s Drag Race UK starring Ginny Lemon, Bimini Bon-Boulash & Tia Kofi (season 2 episode 3)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WHEN?: Available from 28/1/21

WHERE? BBC iPlayer

For those wondering why RuPaul’s Drag Race has been garlanded with quite so many awards – 19 (count ’em!) Emmys at the time of writing – need look no further than the groundbreaking sensitivity shown here while tackling a new subject.

  • Read on for reasons including how Lemon and Bon-Boulash discuss being non-binary
Read More

PREVIEW: Melodifestivalen 2021 Heat 4 starring Tess Merkel, The Mamas & Eric Saade

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WHEN?: Saturday 27 February 2020

WHERE?: Annexet, Stockholm

Tess Merkel (3rd from left above) is the 4th member of supergroup Alcazar to compete in Melodifestivalen individually with Magnus Carlsson (2nd from left above performing Alcastar) making the final in 2006 and 2015 and Lina Hedlund doing so in 2019.

  • Read on for reasons including the return of former winners The Mamas and Eric Saade
Read More

SONG OF THE WEEK: Discoteque by The Roop (week beginning 26/1/21)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

OUT: now

Lithuania have never finished better than 6th at Eurovision but are 1 of the joint favourites this year after this fine song dropped recently.

  • Read on for reasons including how this sounds like Mika fronting Franz Ferdinand

Read More

REVIEW: RuPaul’s Drag Race UK starring Veronica Green, Ginny Lemon & Tia Kofi (season 2 episode 2)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

Condragulations dear viewer – the combination of a musical theatre challenge and a ‘Ru-sical’ inspired by Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Cats left us feline purr-fect.

  • Read on for reasons including being wowed by Veronica Green and empathising with Lawrence Cheney
Read More

GIG REVIEW: Lucie Jones in Leave A Light On

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: Online via Leave A Light On

WHEN?: 22/1/21

SETLIST: What Baking Can Do; Rainbow; How Far I’ll Go; Someone Like You (duet with Ella Stammers); Landslide; I Can Do Better Than That; When She Loved Me; Marvin; Only Us (duet with Sam Tutty); She Used To Be Mine

Jones was performing in Waitress in her 1st West End leading lady role when Covid-19 closed theatres and so she turned to teaching.

  • Read on for reasons including how Jones duets with a young student and it’s quite moving
Read More

SONG OF THE WEEK: I Love You by Teflon Brothers x Pandora (week beginning 23 January 2021)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

OUT: now

The selection competitions for 2021’s Eurovision Song Contest are starting all over Europe and this synth gem from Finland’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) is our pick of this week.

  • Read on for reasons including to watch the lyric video of I Love You

Read More

PREVIEW: Melodifestivalen 2021 Heat 3 starring Charlotte Perrelli, Klara Hammarström, Alvaro Estrella & Tusse

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WHEN?: Saturday 20 February 2021

WHERE?: Annexet, Stockholm

This year’s Melodifestivalen features no less than 4 former winners however only 1 of them actually went on to triumph in the entire Eurovision Song Contest and it is Charlotte Perrelli (pictured above) who opens this heat.

  • Read on for reasons including acts Klara Hammarström and Alvaro Estrella
Read More

Q&A/PREVIEW: It’s A Sin featuring Russell T. Davies, Olly Alexander, Keeley Hawes & Omari Douglas

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WHERE?: BFI at Home on YouTube

RUNTIME: 46 minutes

WHEN?: available to watch from 18/1/21

Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander remembers watching Russell T. Davies’ groundbreaking Channel 4 series Queer As Folk in secret when he was just 14 years old.

  • Read on for reasons including how Alexander wants to play a ‘sexy gay witch’

Read More

REVIEW: A celebration of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK starring Tayce, Veronica Green & Lawrence Cheney (season 2 episode 1)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

The 2nd season of Drag Race UK started its engines this week and our one to watch from the 1st episode is Tayce (pictured above).

  • Read on for reasons including the best bits from episode 1 but no spoilers
Read More