GIG REVIEW

GIG REVIEW: Kylie Minogue at The 02

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Monday 26 May 2025, tour runs through 26 August 2025

Setlist: Lights Camera Action; In Your Eyes; Get Outta My Way; What Do I Have To Do?; Come Into My World; Good As Gone; Spinning Around; On A Night Like This; Last Night I Dreamt I Fell In Love; Better The Devil You Know; Shocked; Things We Do For Love; Dancing; The Locomotion; Hold On To Now; Never Too Late; What Kind Of Fool?; I Should Be So Lucky; Where The Wild Roses Grow; Say Something; Supernova/Real Groove/Magic/Where Does The DJ Go?; Confide In Me; Slow; Timebomb; Edge Of Saturday Night; Tension; Can’t Get You Out Of My Head; All The Lovers; Padam Padam; Love At First Sight

Kylie has been releasing music for almost as long as we’ve been listening to pop and tonight we marvel at the consistency of her hits over 5 decades as well as the showgirl pizzazz with which she performs them.

  • Read on for reasons including how Kylie radiates warmth and is as captivating as she ever was
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GIG REVIEW: Scissor Sisters and Alison Goldfrapp at The 02

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Friday 23 May 2025, tour runs through 15 August 2025

AG Setlist: Ride A White Horse; Number 1; Dreaming; Believer; Find Xanadu; Reverberotic; Rocket; Ooh La La; Strict Machine; Fever

SS Setlist: Laura; Better Luck; She’s My Man; Tits On The Radio; I Can’t Decide; Lovers In The Back Seat; Running Out; Take Your Mama; Paul McCartney; Fire With Fire; Mary; It Can’t Come Quickly Enough; Sex And Violence; Any Which Way; Comfortably Numb; Invisible Light; Let’s Have A Kiki; I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’; Return To Oz; Filthy Gorgeous; Music Is The Victim

It’s the Friday night of a bank holiday weekend and we arrive at our seats early to see an extraordinary greatest hits support set from 1 of our favourite pop stars.

  • Read on for reasons including special guests Self Esteem and Sir Ian McKellen
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GIG REVIEW: Hurts celebrate 15 Years Of Happiness at 02 Academy Brixton

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN? Thursday 22 May 2025, tour runs through to 16 August 2025

Setlist: Silver Lining; Wonderful Life; Blood, Tears And Gold; Sunday; Stay; Illuminated; Affair; Evelyn; Better Than Love; Devotion; Mother Nature; Unspoken; The Water; Verona; Miracle; Some Kind Of Heaven; Rolling Stone; Somebody To Die For; Voices; Ready To Go; Nothing Will Be Bigger Than Us; Under Control; Wings

We join Hurts at their 1st UK gig for ‘7 or 8 years’ where lead singer Theo Hutchcraft describes the band’s debut album Happiness as their passport from the dole in Manchester to the rest of the world, making their dreams come true in the journey.

  • Read on for reasons including why founder member Adam Anderson was unable to join the band
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GIG REVIEW: Olly Alexander at the London Palladium

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Last date of tour Monday 7 April 2025

Setlist: Polari; I Know; Make Me A Man; If You’re Over Me; Whisper In The Waves; Cupid’s Bow; Archangel; King; Dizzy; Starstruck; Worship/Breathe; Desire; All For You; It’s A Sin; Eyes Shut; When We Kiss; Sweet Talker; Heal You; Shine

The voice of Sir Ian McKellen (Player Kings, Noel Coward Theatre) opens the show explaining Polari, the title of Alexander’s debut album, and the actor’s here tonight waving at the delighted crowd from the box above us.

  • Read on for reasons including how Alexander has been rejuvenated by this tour and meeting his audience again
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GIG REVIEW: Ben Watt & Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) at The MOTH Club

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Sunday 6 April, runs through 7 April 2025 Update: New gigs at this venue in June Details

This is the 200-capacity east London venue where we saw our 1st post-pandemic gig and our best show of 2024 but we never dared dream we’d see the 1st concert in a quarter of a century by 1 of our favourite bands here.

  • Read on for reasons including how we hope that the experience has been enjoyable enough for Thorn and Watt to look to repeat it
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GIG REVIEW: Welly at Rough Trade East, London

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Sunday 23 March, tour runs through August 2025 Tickets

Setlist: Big In The Suburbs; Knock And Run; Soak Up The Culture; Shopping; Country Cousins; Life Is A Motorway; It’s Not Like This In France; Me And Your Mates

Debut album Big In The Suburbs has been in the world for less than 72 hours and we hear 3 songs from it tonight that we’ve not heard Welly play live before.

  • Read on for reasons including how things are just beginning for this band
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GIG REVIEW: Pete Wylie & The Mighty Wah! at the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Andrew Mosley

WHEN?: Saturday 29 March 2025, tour runs through 8 May 2025 Tickets

It’s a roar of defiance, a statement of intent and, as it introduced the fantastic Songs of Strength and Heartbreak album 25 years ago, so it does proceedings at a packed Brudenell Social Club tonight.

  • Read on for reasons including how discovering Pete’s music changed what Mozza listened to forever
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GIG REVIEW/INTERVIEW: Welly go acoustic at A Slice Of Vinyl, Gosport

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum

WHEN?: Monday 24 March 2025, tour runs through 3 August 2025

Friday saw the release of Welly’s debut album, Big in the Suburbs. Regular readers will know we have followed them since we “discovered” them at Victorious three years ago, and have been to many south coast gigs since, bought the t-shirts, met the mums/nans, interviewed them and now have even been responsible for a custom-made unlicenced Deere John t-shirt. 

  • Read on for reasons including a Humdrum Mum interview with Welly about the new album
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GIG REVIEW: The Mary Wallopers & Sexy Tadhg at The Octagon Centre, Sheffield

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Andrew Mosley

WHEN?: 20 March 2025, tour runs through 19 September 2025

As Conor McGregor vows to stand for the Irish presidency on an anti-immigration platform after meeting Donald Trump, it shouldn’t need The Mary Wallopers or myself to point out the stupidity and ignorance behind his message.

  • Read on for reasons including how difficult times provoke bands like The Mary Wallopers
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GIG REVIEW: Loreen at Parel-Lel 62, Barcelona

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN? Saturday 8 March, tour runs through 16 August 2025

SETLIST: Jupiter Drive; Gravity; Forever; Warning Signs; Hate The Way I Love You; Statements; I’m In It With You; Dreams; Coming Close; Euphoria; Is it Love?; Tattoo

It’s International Women’s Day and while Sweden is choosing its Eurovision entry for 2025 the only woman to have won the competition twice is performing in Barcelona as part of an extensive European tour that reaches the UK and Ireland for 8 dates later this month.

  • Read on for reasons including how this up-for-it crowd responded magnificently to an artist clearly revelling in their enthusiasm for her
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