GIG REVIEW

GIG REVIEW: An Evening With Bananarama at Omeara

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

58622791_10157491570611929_4722802349997817856_oWORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHERE? Omeara

WHEN? 27/4, tour runs until 2/5 (and then regular gigs continue until 25/8/19)

SETLIST: Love Don’t Live Here; I’m On Fire; Love In Stereo; Every Shade Of Blue; Summer Night City; Movin’ On; Dance Music; Feel For You; Tonight; Look On The Floor; On Your Own; Cruel Summer; Love Comes; Move In My Direction; Venus; Looking For Someone; Love In The First Degree; Stuff Like That

You can never have enough Bananarama in your life and, as if to prove it, the band take audience questions for 45 minutes in what would normally be the support slot before headlining for more than 80 minutes.

  • Read on for reasons including how the Q&A proves just how Ab Fab funny Keren and Sara are

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GIG REVIEW: Robyn at Alexandra Palace

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE? Alexandra Palace

WHEN? 12/4, tour runs until 17/8

SETLIST: Send To Robin Immediately; Honey; Indestructible; Hang With Me; Beach 2k20; Ever Again; Be Mine; Because It’s In The Music; Love Is Free; Between The Lines; Dancing On My Own; Missing U; Call Your Girlfriend; Trust Me; Stars 4 Ever; With Every Heartbeat; Human Being; Who Do You Love?

Fellow blogger A Humdrum Mum makes clear exactly what sort of fan she is when she reviews a gig and, in tribute, we’d explain here that we think Robyn’s 2010 Body Talk is 1 of our favourite ever albums but that the 8-year wait for follow up Honey meant it could never live up to the heightened expectation.

  • Read on for reasons including whether the 8-year wait for the Honey Tour was worth it Read More

GIG REVIEW: Tears For Fears & Alison Moyet at The O2

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: The O2

WHEN?: 6/2/19, European tour continues until 21/7/19

SETLIST:  Everybody Wants to Rule the World; Secret World; Sowing the Seeds of Love; Falling Down; Pale Shelter; Break It Down Again; Everybody Loves a Happy Ending; Change; Mad World; Memories Fade; Suffer The Children; Woman In Chains;Advice For The Young At Heart; Badman’s Song; Head Over Heels/Broken;  Shout

Alison Moyet setlist: I Germinate; Nobody’s Diary; Do You Ever Wonder?; Beautiful Gun; All Cried Out; The Rarest Birds; The Sharpest Corner (Hollow); Situation; Only You; Love Resurrection; Don’t Go

Good things come to those who wait and, almost 36 years to the day after we bought Tears For Fears’ debut album The Hurting on cassette, we see them live for the 1st time.

  • Read on for reasons including how this was the debut bow of both acts at this prestigious venue

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FILM REVIEW: Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Ben Whishaw & Julie Walters

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Released in cinemas in the UK 21/12/18

We’re killing time between a Q&A and performance at Sloane Square’s Royal Court Theatre when we chance upon the 50 Smith Street home in Chelsea where Mary Poppins‘ author P.L.Travers lived and used as inspiration for the Cherry Tree Lane home of the Banks family in this.

  • Read on for reasons including why we shed a tear more than once during the film

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GIG REVIEW: Cardigans at the Eventim Apollo

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE? Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith

WHEN?: 7/12, last night of the current tour

SETLIST: Paralyzed; Erase/Rewind; Explode; Starter; Hanging Around; Higher; Marvel Hill; My Favourite Game; Do You Believe; Junk Of The Hearts; Nil; Live And Learn; For What It’s Worth; And Then You Kissed Me; Don’t Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds); You’re The Storm; I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need To Be Nicer; Communication; Iron Man; Carnival; Lovefool; 03.45: No Sleep

We last saw Sweden’s The Cardigans in Bristol in 1996 as Lovefool hit number 2 after featuring in Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo + Juliet and years before the Gran Turismo album, which is played in its entirety here.

  • Read on for reasons including how the set twice included moments that had never affected the band before

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GIG REVIEW: Claire Richards at the Union Chapel

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE? Union Chapel

WHEN?: 6/12/18, last night of current tour

SETLIST: 7 Billion; End Before We Start; My Wildest Dreams; One For Sorrow; These Wings; All Out Of Love; Ruins; Deep Water; I’ll Never Love Again; Brave; Deeper Shade Of Blue; Liar; In My Blood; Don’t Leave Me In This Love Alone; Shame On Your; River Deep Mountain High; On My Own

While Steps bandmate Faye Tozer is kicking up a storm on Strictly Come Dancing, Claire Richards has completed a 4-date UK taster tour for a debut album that appears to be (almost) strictly power ballads.

  • Read on for reasons including which cover started it all for Claire in her Steps audition over 20 years ago

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GIG REVIEW: Florence And The Machine at The O2

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

SETLIST: June; Hunger; Between Two Lungs; Only If For A Night; Queen Of Peace; South London Forever; Patricia; Dog Days Are Over; 100 Years; Ship To Wreck; The End Of Love; Cosmic Love; Delilah: What Kind Of Man; Big God; Shake It Out

WHEN?: 21/11/18, tour runs to 29/6/19

Florence namechecks Greenwich, New Cross, Peckham and Camberwell as places she grew up ahead of new song South London Forever during this emotional hometown gig.

  • Read on for reasons including how a sky full of pink ticker tape fell on the audience throughout the encore

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GIG REVIEW: Christine And The Queens at Eventim Apollo

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

SETLIST: Comme Si; Girlfriend; Le G; Science Fiction; Make Some Sense; Les Paradis Perdus; iT; Feel So Good; Tilted; 5 Dollars; What’s Her Face; Here; the Stranger; Goya! Soda!; Damn; Nuit 17 a 52; Doesn’t Matter; The Walker; Saint Claude; Intranquillite

WHEN?: 20/11/18, tour runs until 10/3/19

The most striking thing about Christine And The Queens in the flesh is how Héloïse Letissier sings and moves so in sync with her half dozen-strong troupe of athletic dancers.

  • Read on for reasons including why they’re a band we think we should love more than we actually do

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