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THEATRE REVIEW: Radiant Boy: A Haunting at Southwark Playhouse Borough (The Little) starring Stuart Thompson & Renee Lamb

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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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GIG REVIEW: Scissor Sisters and Alison Goldfrapp at The 02

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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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PREDICTIONS/PREVIEW: Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Final starring Erika Vikman, KAJ, Claude, Remember Monday & Melody

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WHEN?: 8pm (UK time) 17 May 2025

WHERE?: St Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland

HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 in the UK SVT Also eurovision.tv

2025 appears very much to be the year of Finland but will it be the country’s Erika Vikman (pictured) who triumphs or the Finns singing a sauna song for favourites Sweden?

  • Read on for reasons including how we predict the finalists will perform on 17 May
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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: Marcus & Martinus at 02 Islington Academy

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Wednesday 5 March 2025, tour runs through 23 August 2025

SETLIST: Like It Like It; Die For You; Gimme Your Love; Follow Me; Wonder; When All The Lights Go Out; Wicked Game; Heartbeat; Together; Plystre på deg; Wild Love; Air; Love Flow; We Are Not The Same; Another Life; The Room; Girls; One Flight Away; Elektrisk; Unforgettable

We weren’t expecting that noise – it’s a long time since we’ve been to a sold-out gig where the teenage shrieking is that ear-splitting in response to every little move these 23-year-old Norwegian twins make on stage.

  • Read on for reasons including how the duo’s older material is treated with the greatest appreciation
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THEATRE REVIEW: Punch at the Young Vic starring David Shields & Julie Hesmondhalgh

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Saturday 1 March 2025, runs through 26 April 2025 RUNTIME: 145 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: Transfers to the Apollo Theatre 22 September through 29 November 2025 Tickets

In 2011 Jacob Dunne fatally punched a man in an unprovoked attack and received a two-and-a-half-year custodial sentence for manslaughter of which he served 14 months. 

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the best new play of the year so far
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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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AWARDS SHORTLIST: MONSTAS: Best Film Of 2024

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

It’s been quite the year, it’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2024? Over the next 2 months we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 17 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2024.

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AWARDS SHORTLIST: MONSTAS: Best TV of 2024

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

It’s been quite the year, it’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2024? Over the next 3 months we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 17 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2024.

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