GIG REVIEW

GIG REVIEW: Victorious Festival: Friday starring The Libertines, Shed Seven & The Lightning Seeds

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

BY: Carron Stacey

WHERE?: Southsea Common

WHEN?: 24/8/18

Life is all about which choices you make. Wellies or flip flops? Shorts or jeans? Kaiser Chiefs on the main stage or Prince Brandon DJing in Beats n Swing? Whether to tune up your guitar over the DJ playing Martin Luther King’s speech behind you? Whether to give Pete Doherty another chance after last year, or not?

  • Read on for reasons including whether Carron chose Kaiser Chiefs or The Libertines

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GIG REVIEW: Jake Shears at the Scala

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE?: Scala

WHEN?: 15/8, tour runs to 24/8/18

SETLIST: Good Friends; I Can’t Decide; Big Bushy Moustache; Fit Ain’t One Thing; Laura; Sad Song Backwards; Everything I’ll Ever Need; Take Your Mama; Clothes Off; S.O.B; The Bruiser; Palace In the Sky; I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’; Creep City; Mississippi Delta

The line: ‘The Londoners are swell, and they seem like they adore me’ from new song Mississippi Delta is received rapturously here – and with good reason.

  • Read on for reasons including how Jake Shears sounds very Scissor Sisters

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GIG REVIEW: Years & Years and MNEK at Camden Roundhouse

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE?: Camden Roundhouse

WHEN?: 10/7/18 and touring to 7/2/19

SETLIST: Sanctify; Take Shelter; Shine; Eyes Shut; If You’re Over Me; Karma; Desire; Palo Santo; Rendezvous; Worship; Hallelujah; Real; All For You; Valentino (with MNEK); King

MNEK has transformed himself into a captivating, all-singing, all-dancing performer in the several years since we’ve last seen him live.
  • Read on for reasons including why this was an arena show in all but name

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GIG REVIEW: Steps & Saara Aalto at Greenwich Music Time

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Greenwich Music Time

WHEN: 5/7, touring to 20/7/18

SETLIST: Summer Of Love; Better The Devil You Know; 5,6,7,8; Say You’ll Be Mine; It’s The Way That You Make Me Feel; Chain Reaction; Heartbeat; Stomp; Glitter and Gold; No More Tears On The Dancefloor; Better Best Forgotten/Last Thing On My Mind; Neon Blue; Love U More / You”ll Be Sorry / After The Love Has Gone / Love’s Got A Hold Of My Heart; Deeper Shade Of Blue; Scared Of The Dark; One For Sorrow; Tragedy

Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College sitting imperiously on the south bank of the Thames is a stunning outdoor venue and Steps are a fitting headline act for day 3 of the week-long Greenwich Music Time festival.

  • Read on for reasons including how Saara Aalto’s support slot went down

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GIG REVIEW: Le Gateau Chocolat & Jonny Woo: A Night At The Musicals

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE: Soho Theatre

WHEN: 22/6, runs to 30/6/18

SETLIST: Phantom Of The Opera; Suddenly Seymour; Life Is A Cabaret; At The End Of The Day; I Dreamed A Dream; I Know Him So Well; Mein Herr; Let It Go; Beauty And The Beast; medleys of songs from Gypsy, Follies, Rent, The Lion King and Grease

RUN TIME: 75 minutes

Today is Le Gateau Chocolat’s birthday which is fitting perhaps because his drag queen show with Jonny Woo is the most fun celebration of musicals running in London at the moment.

  • Read on for reasons including how the costumes are as outlandish as the pair’s patter 

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GIG REVIEW: The Bluetones at Wedgwood Rooms, Portsmouth

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

BY: Carron Stacey

WHERE: Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

WHEN: 2/5/18, tour runs to 15/9/18

In 2016, Mr Humdrum and I saw The Bluetones at Shiiine On, Butlins. Maybe it was the nostalgia of my uni days, singing with my bestie to Slight Return, maybe it was the hangover from the night before dancing to Echo and the Bunnymen and The Wonder Stuff, I don’t know, but The Bluetones, supporting Shed Seven that year, were brilliant.

  • Read on for reasons including the link with This Life and The Walking Dead

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THEATRE REVIEW: The Writer starring Romola Garai

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: **

WHERE: Almeida

WHEN: 28/4 (matinee) runs to 26/5/18

A theatregoer is asked what she thinks of the play she has just seen and her response is one of the angriest and brilliant outbursts of new writing we’ve seen for a long time.

  • Read on for reasons including why Ella Hickson’s new play doesn’t sustain its blistering pace

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GIG REVIEW: Kim Wilde at KOKO

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: KOKO

WHEN: 26/4, tour runs to 29/4/18

SETLIST: Stereo Shot; Water On Glass; Never Trust A Stranger; Kandy Krush; Cambodia; Birthday; Yours ‘Til The End; Another Step; Words Fell Down; Bladerunner; If I Can’t Have You; Rosetta; View From A Bridge; Chequered Love; You Came; You Keep Me Hangin’ On; 1969; Pop Don’t Stop; Kids In America

It’s rare for an act of Kim Wilde’s vintage (first hit 1981) to release a new album (Here Come The Aliens in March) that sits so well in a greatest hits set.

  • Read on for reasons including why you should look out for Scarlett Wilde

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GIG REVIEW: Saara Aalto at Under The Bridge

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Under The Bridge

WHEN: 25/4, tour runs to 10/11/18

SETLIST: Queens; Hån; Dance; Diva; Euphoria; Rise Like A Phoenix; Every Way That I Can; Rock’n’ Roll Kids; No Fear; Don’t Deny Our Love; My Touch; Domino; Calm After The Storm; Dance Like Nobody’s Watching; Con Te Partiro; Half A Heart; Wild Wild Wonderland; Monsters

The Eurovision Song Contest might mean a once-a-year event to you but for this year’s Finnish contestant Saara Aalto it is the culmination of a 14-year quest.

  • Read on for reasons including the highlights from new LP Wild Wild Wonderland

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GIG REVIEW: Sheridan Smith at the Royal Albert Hall

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE: Royal Albert Hall

WHEN: 24/4, tour runs to 29/4/18

SETLIST: Don’t Rain On My Parade; Crazy; I Smell A Rat; Addicted To Love; Dinner At Eight; Mad about The Boy; Superstar; City Of Stars; Hey Big Spender; Anyone Who Had A Heart; Take Another Piece of My Heart; Talking In Your Sleep; My Man; 9 to 5; This Is Me; And I Am Telling You; I Will Survive/Happy

Sheridan Smith takes a sip of what she assures us is water (not vodka), belches and observes: ‘I should have left that one back in Wolverhampton.’

  • Read on for reasons including why we think a second album’s on the cards

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