food

THEATRE REVIEW: Sleeping Beauty starring Catherine Tate & Julian Clary at the London Palladium

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK? *****

WHEN? Sunday 7 December, opens 11 December and runs through 11 January 2026 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Bovvered? Christmas is a time of tradition and this year marks the 10th since the return of the pantomime to the boards of the London Palladium.

  • Read on for reasons including why there’s simply no other pantomime in any other venue across the land that can top it for spectacle and laughs
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GIG REVIEW: Jamiroquai at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK? ****

WHEN? Thursday 6 November 2025, tour runs through 18 July 2026

Setlist: (Don’t) Give Hate A Chance; Little L; Space Cowboy; Dynamite; Feels Just Like It Should; Alright; Cloud 9; World That He Wants; Tallulah; Disco Stays The Same; Runaway; Travelling Without Moving; Shadow In The Night; Canned Heat; Queen Machine; Cosmic Girl; Love Foolosophy; Virtual Insanity

Jamiroquai debut 3 songs tonight from their new album out next year, they’re bangers in the same vein as the funk for which they are best known and in the marvellous Disco Stays The Same have a track they could top charts with as they did in their 90s heyday.

  • Read on for reasons including how there’s a new album due out in 2026
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GIG REVIEW: Robert Forster And His Swedish Band at The Gate, Cardiff

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Andrew Mosley

WHEN? Friday 10 October, tour runs through 19 October 2025

It’s almost 40 years since I first clapped eyes on and lent ears to the wonder of The Go-Betweens.

  • Read on for reasons including how the former Go-Between incorporates the band’s songs into this set
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Antidepressants by Suede (September 2025)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

TRACKLIST: Disintegrate; Dancing With The Europeans; Antidepressants; Sweet Kid; The Sound And The Summer; Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star; Broken Music For Broken People; Criminal Ways; Trance State; June Rain; Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment

The 2nd in the black and white trilogy rather than the ballet album that the best band in the world currently had planned.

  • Read on for reasons including how ‘broken’ people will save the world
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THEATRE REVIEW: Radiant Boy: A Haunting at Southwark Playhouse Borough (The Little) starring Stuart Thompson & Renee Lamb

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: **** RUNTIME: 110 minutes (with interval)

WHEN?: Saturday 24 May (matinee), runs through 14 June 2025

Russell is a singing student with cropped bleached blond hair who returns to his north-east home in the 80s where his single mother calls the local priest to exorcise her son’s demons.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is truly shocking and 1 of the best new plays of the year
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THEATRE REVIEW: A Stan Is Born! starring Alexis Sakellaris at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham (review ticket)

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 10 May (matinee) with occasional shows running through 29 May 2025 RUNTIME: 60 minutes (no interval)

In a week when our thoughts are dominated by Saturday’s 69th Eurovision Song Contest and whether 1988 victor Celine Dion will appear live there, it felt like the perfect time to see this autobiographical musical introduction to a performer whose best work we feel we’ve yet to see.

  • Read on for reasons including how Sakellaris may well be worth stanning in the not-too-distant future
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Big In The Suburbs by Welly (April 2025)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

Tracklist: Big In The Suburbs; Home For The Weekend; Knock And Run; Deere John; Soak Up The Culture; Shopping; Cul-De-Sac; Pampas Grass; The Roundabout Racehorse; Under Milk Wood; Family Photos; Country Cousins; It’s Not Like This In France; Life Is A Motorway

Under Milk Wood is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas where the narrator invites the audience to listen to the dreams and innermost thoughts of the inhabitants of the fictional small Welsh fishing town, Llareggub.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is the best album of 2025 so far
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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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9 reasons why we can’t wait for March 2025 starring James Graham’s Punch

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. James Graham’s Punch at the Young Vic

Author Graham (Boys From The Blackstuff, National Theatre) is enjoying a prolific run of theatre and TV writing including Brian And Maggie most recently on Channel 4. This transfers from Nottingham Playhouse and is based on a book by Jacob Dunne about an impulsive punch that leads to fatal consequences at the Young Vic. Runs 1 March through 26 April 2025. Tickets Cast includes Coronation Street‘s Julie Hesmondhalgh. Our review

  • Read on for reasons including Lady Gaga and Welly albums and double Eurovision winner Loreen live
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