GIG REVIEW: Jarv Is at Camden Roundhouse

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WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Tuesday 9 November 2021, touring until 12 November 2021

SETLIST: She’s A Lady; House Music All Night Long; Slow Jam; Fat Children; Am I Missing Something?; Sometimes I Am Pharoah; Big Julie; Swanky Modes; C**** Are Still Running The World; Must I Evolve?; Children Of The Echo; Further Complications; Aline; My Legendary Girlfriend

We haven’t seen Jarvis Cocker live for a quarter of a century and when we last did his band Pulp were headlining V Festival in Essex but it felt, for us at least, that they’d peaked with the appropriately titled Different Class album.

  • Read on for reasons including who gets a mention ahead of song C**** Are Still Running The World
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SONG OF THE MONTH: The Tipping Point by Tears For Fears (November 2021)

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

Duo Roland Orzabal, born in Portsmouth, and Curt Smith toured in 2019 when we saw them at London’s 02 Arena but this is the band’s 1st new single for 13 years.

  • Read on for reasons including everything we know about new album The Tipping Point
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Drifters Girl starring Beverley Knight, Adam J Bernard & Matt Henry at the Garrick Theatre

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

WHEN?: Saturday 6 November 2021 (matinee), opening 25 November and booking to 26 March 2022

RUNTIME: 135 minutes (includes a 20-minute interval)

There are 2 Beverley Knight solos just before the interval of this jukebox musical when she sings I Don’t Want To Go On Without You into Stand By Me at a particularly emotional moment when you remember that she may just be theatre’s greatest current vocalist.

  • Read on for reasons including how Knight is surrounded by 4 top-notch male performers who make this show come alive
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SONG OF THE WEEK: Crave by Years & Years (week beginning 3 November 2021)

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

Crave is co-written by lead singer Olly Alexander and is an infectious, dancefloor friendly bop which is the 2nd single from the band’s 3rd album Night Call, to be released 7 January 2022.

  • Read on for reasons including how to see Years and Years in concert next year including at Wembley Arena
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Dresser starring Matthew Kelly & Julian Clary at Richmond Theatre

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 30 October (matinee), back on tour from 18 January 2022 until 12 February 2022

The couple behind us are singing ‘Hitler, has only got 1 ball’ to the music evoking World War Two setting the scene for this 1942-set piece about the relationship of a lead Shakespearean actor and his camp dresser.

  • Read on for reasons including how to see Clary and a production of his children’s book series The Bolds before the end of the year
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GIG REVIEW: Little Boots at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

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

WHEN?: Thursday 28 October 2021

SETLIST: Love The Beginning; Silver Balloons; Mathematics; Motorway; Working Girl; Landline; Crying On The Inside; Get Things Done; Every Night I Say A Prayer; Shake; Remedy; SOS/Dancing Queen/Fernando; Stuck On Repeat; Tomorrow’s Yesterdays

We’re here for Boots’ 1st London gig in 2 years because she doesn’t know when she’ll be playing live as a solo act again as she’s big boots to fill, she’s joining ABBA.

  • Read on for reasons including more about Boots’ new album and her role in the ABBA Voyage shows next year
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THEATRE REVIEW: 2:22 A Ghost Story starring Lily Allen & Hadley Fraser at the Noel Coward Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 6 October (matinee), production opens with new cast 4 December running to 12 February 2022 RUNTIME: 125 minutes with a 20-minute interval

This is a review we never expected to write but this production of an outstanding and truly spine-tingling new play is re-opening in London’s West End this winter.

  • Read on for reasons including how good pop star Lily Allen was in her debut West End role
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Magic Still Exists by Agnes (October 2021)

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WORTH A LOOK?: *****

TRACKLIST: Spiritual Awakening; XX; 24 Hours; Freedom; Here Comes The Night; Love And Appreciation; The Soul Has No Gender; Selfmade; Fingers Crossed; Free Your Mind And Free Your Body; Magic Still Exists

33-year-old Agnes Carlsson hasn’t released an album since 2012’s Veritas and that was some considerable time after her commercial peak with the international hit and breakthrough single Release Me which reached number 3 in the UK in 2009.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is an album of the year contender
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SONG OF THE WEEK: What I Want You To Do by Stine Bramsen (Week beginning 17 October 2021)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

Last night Danish pop band Alphabeat played their final gig in Greve as lead singer Stine Bramsen relaunches her solo career with this authentic pop gem that reminds these ears of a more muscular attempt at something as stellar as Adele’s Rolling In The Deep.

  • Read on for reasons including how and where to Bramsen play her new songs live in November 2021
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9 reasons why we can’t wait for November includes Cabaret starring Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Cabaret starring Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne

The West End’s Playhouse Theatre is being repurposed as the Kit Kat Club to stage director Rebecca Frecknall’s (Summer And Smoke, Almeida and West End) vision of this musical and movie classic with film stars Redmayne and Buckley (Romeo and Juliet, Sky Arts). Runs from 15 November 2021 and is currently booking to 16 April 2022. Tickets 1st preview review

  • Read on for reasons including new ABBA album, Dadi Freyr tour, Beverley Knight musical and Rina Sawayama gig
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