PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for August

  1. Follies at the National

Imelda Staunton made our Best Theatre Actress of 2017 shortlist so far for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf and stars here at the National with Tracie Bennett and Janie Dee in the Sondheim classic (which features Losing My Mind, see below). Runs 22/8 through 3/1/18. Picture courtesy National Theatre. Tickets

Read More

ALBUM REVIEW: Home Counties by Saint Etienne

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

OUT: now

TRACKLIST: The Reunion; Something New; Magpie Eyes; Whyteleafe; Dive; Church Pew Furniture Restorer; Take It All In; Popmaster; Underneath The Apple Tree; Out Of My Mind; After Hebden; Breakneck Hill; Heather; Sports Report; Train Drivers In Eyeliner; Unopened Fanmail; What Kind Of World; Sweet Arcadia; Angel Of Woodhatch

Saint Etienne are now out on tour, we’ve had a look at a recent setlist and are disappointed that only five songs from this impressive collection made it to their current live shows.

  • Read on for reasons including why this album evokes early Saint Etienne LPs

Read More

Q&A: The Crying Game 25th anniversary reunion

WHERE: BFI

WHEN: 15/2

On 29/3 in 1993 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles Jaye Davidson (pictured above) sat with fellow nominees including Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino to see who had won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

  • Read on for reasons including which of Davidson’s fellow nominees took a shine to him

Read More

MONSTAS SHORTLIST: Gig of the year: 2016

It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2016? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 12 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2016.

  • Read on for nominees for the monsta for gig of the year. 2015 winner: Suede Camden Roundhouse

Read More

MONSTAS SHORTLIST: Song of the year: 2016

It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2016? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 12 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2016.

  • Read on for the details of the 5 songs shortlisted for single of 2016. 2015 winner: Goodbye To Yesterday

Read More

MONSTAS SHORTLIST: Album of the year: 2016

It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2016? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 12 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2016.

  • Read on for nominees for the monsta for LP of 2016. 2015 winner: Florence and the Machine How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Read More

ALBUM REVIEW: Familia by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

OUT: 2/9

TRACKLIST: Wild Forever; Death of Love; Crystallise; Hush Little Voices; Here Comes The Rapture; Come With Us; Cassandra; My Puppet Heart; Unrequited; The Saddest Happiness; Don’t Shy Away

The single which launched this album, Come With Us, is, in our opinion, Ms Ellis-Bextor’s best since 2002’s Music Gets the Best Of Me.

  • Read on for all the gossip about Sophie’s February tour

Read More

LIVE REVIEW: Pet Shop Boys

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHERE: Royal Opera House

WHEN: 22/7 runs to 23/7

SETLIST: Inner Sanctum; West End Girls; The Pop Kids; In The Night; Burn; Love Is A Bourgeois Construct; New York City Boy; Se A Vida E; Twentysomething; Love Comes Quickly; Love Etc; The Dictator Decides; Inside A Dream; Winner; Home and Dry; Vocal; The Sodom and Gomorrah Show; It’s A Sin; Left To My Own Devices; Go West; Domino Dancing; Always On My Mind; The Pop Kids (reprise)

We’ve seen Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe at London venues as diverse as The 02, the old Wembley Arena, Clapham Common, Trafalgar Square and the Savoy Theatre.

  • Read on for details of the Pet Shop Boys new Super tour

Read More

PREVIEW: 11 reasons why we can’t wait for July

  1. Pet Shop Boys play the Royal Opera House

Super is our album of the year so far and the Boys’ only 2016 UK dates are during their four-date Inner Sanctum residency at the Royal Opera House. We saw Rufus Wainwright there a while back and it’s a venue Neil and Chris were born to play. Tickets have sold out but we’d check here for returns.

  • Read on for reasons including Looking: The Movie, Shura, Ab Fab & Groundhog Day premiere

Read More