By Andrew Mosley
WHEN?: Friday 7 November, tour runs through 10 July 2026
It’s bouncing off the bumps of Yorkshire’s country roads in Richard Gostling’s VW Beatle while When Smokey Sings blasts from the cheap radio. It’s cringing in the pub as Phil Robinson quotes lyrics from the band’s songs as chat-up lines to what he sees as potential girlfriends.
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.
By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum
WHEN? Tuesday 14 October, tour runs through 1 November 2025
I can’t count how many times we’ve seen Welly, kings of observation-ridden indie pop for the thinking fan.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
Tracklist: Glad; Dancing Heart; The Go Betweens; Sweet Melodies; Save It For A Rainy Day; Fade; Brand New Me; Take Me To The Pilot; Two Lovers; Why Are You Calling; He’s Gone; The Last Time
What do Haircut 100’s Nick Heyward, Yazoo’s Vince Clarke, Xenomania’s Tim Powell, Erol Alkan, Chemical Brothers and Orbital have in common?
By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum
WHEN?: Sunday 24 August 2025 (press ticket)
The sun kindly shone on the only UK seaside festival the whole weekend. We all remember the fun we had in the torrential rain during that Prodigy set back in 2018, but it certainly helps when it’s dry. I’m sure I had white Birkenstocks when I went on Friday, but the dust has turned everything brown.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHEN? Saturday 26 July 2025 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)
Like all of the greatest actors, Jack Lowden (Measure For Measure, Donmar) is absolutely unrecognisable as Scottish incel Luka here compared with the role of flawed hero River Cartwright he is perhaps best known for in Apple TV’s fine Slow Horses.
By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum
WHEN?: Friday 25 July 2025
I spy lead singer/percussionist Nikki Belfiglio on the merch stand and she graciously gives me a mini interview.
By Neil Durham
Wendy James tours her 10th album The Shape Of History across the UK later this year and took some time out to tell us about what to expect from those gigs, life after Transvision Vamp and its Australian return.
By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum
WHEN?: All May 2025 at Papillon, Southampton
Snapped Ankles are a Mr H thing, but off we went to our favourite new venue, Papillon in Southampton. We have a tea towel from the tour, Hard Times Furious Dancing, hanging in our disco area. They certainly do make you move!
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.
