- The Divine Comedy at the Barbican
Frontman Neil Hannon celebrates 30 years of his band by performing 10 of his albums in full across this 5-night residency in the Barbican in central London. The run begins on 31 August and continues on successive nights until Sunday 4 September. We last saw the band at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith in 2019 at a show which won our Best Gig monsta that year. Barbican residency review Tickets
- Read on for reasons including Victorious Festival, a new play by Andrew Pollard and Bananarama gigs
2. Victorious Festival starring Suede, Little Boots and Sophie Ellis Bextor
We’ve previously called Portsmouth’s premier music festival ‘Glastonbury by the sea’ and A Humdrum Mum has shared her views with our readers on its evolution since 2018. This year it runs again across 3 days and nights between Friday 26 and Sunday 28 August 2022 including some of our favourite acts like Suede, Little Boots and Sophie Ellis Bextor. Tickets A Humdrum Mum’s preview
3. Play Tom, Dick and Harry at Alexandra Palace Theatre
Author and performer Andrew Pollard is behind our favourite annual pantomime in Greenwich and here he turns his hand to writing about a well-known World War Two escape attempt. Tom, Dick and Harry has already premiered in Bath, with Pollard starring, and it transfers to the atmospheric Alexandra Palace Theatre in north London between 26 July and 28 August 2022. Tickets
4. Edinburgh Festival including Fantastically Great Women and Ursula
2 of our favourite recent new musicals – Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World and Unfortunate: The Untold Story Of Ursula The Sea Witch – transfer to the Edinburgh Festival in August. Fantastically Great tickets Unfortunate tickets
5. The Southbury Child at the Bridge
Alex Jennings (Hansard, National Theatre) stars as a vicar in a new play written by Stephen Beresford who wrote film Pride. Runs until 27 August 2022. Tickets
6. Bananarama album launch
Duo Bananarama celebrate the launch of new album Masquerade, released 23 July, with 2 launch gigs at London’s Lafayette this month. Tickets
7. Treasure Island at Greenwich Theatre
This venue had us with the description for this as ‘perfect for fans of the Greenwich Theatre pantomime‘. That pantomime is traditionally written by Andrew Pollard from earlier in this list and this summer show plays at this family friendly venue. Runs 19 August through 4 September. Tickets
8. Rewind starring Human League
We last visited this 80s festival in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in 2015 and the 2-day event in 2022 stars Human League, Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, Kim Wilde, Scritti Politti and Belinda Carlisle. Tickets
9. New Hyyts album
Hyyts supported Daði Freyr at the concert which won our Best Gig monsta in 2021 and on 18 August they take to the stage at the Omeara in London where they will play their new album in full. Tickets
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