travel

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: International by Saint Etienne (week beginning Tuesday 9 September 2025)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

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?

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the final Saint Etienne album
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Victorious Festival 2025 Day 3 starring Melanie C, Kings Of Leon, Craig David & She’s Got Brass

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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. 

  • Read on for reasons including Craig David, Kings of Leon, Melanie C and She’s Got Brass
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LAST NIGHT: THEATRE REVIEW: The Fifth Step starring Jack Lowden & Martin Freeman @SohoPlace

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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.

  • Read on for reasons including how we laughed a lot at The Fifth Step and the dexterity of the wordplay is quite beautiful
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INTERVIEW: Wendy James formerly of Transvision Vamp on The Shape Of History

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

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.

  • Read on for reasons including what to expect from Wendy James’ solo tour this autumn
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GIG REVIEWS: Panic Shack, Snapped Ankles & The Pill

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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!

  • Read on for reasons including The Pill and Panic Shack
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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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9 reasons why we can’t wait for June 2025 starring Rachel Zegler as Jamie Lloyd’s Evita

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Jamie Lloyd’s Evita at the Palladium

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre hosted Lloyd’s Evita in 2019 but we’re imagining this Palladium incarnation will be different starring as it does West Side Story‘s Zegler. We’re hoping it will be more Romeo And Juliet than Sunset Boulevard. Runs at the Palladium 14 June through 6 September 2025. Tickets Our review

  • Read on for reasons including Omari Douglas, new Pulp LP and Ruth Wilson onstage
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THEATRE REVIEW: A Stan Is Born! starring Alexis Sakellaris at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

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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: A Complicated Woman by Self Esteem (May 2025)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

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

Tracklist: I Do And I Don’t Care; Focus Is Power; Mother; The Curse; Logic, Bitch; Cheers To Me; If Not Now, It’s Soon; In Plain Sight; Lies; 69; What Now; The Deep Blue Okay

There’s a thematic through-line to this album with the final track’s title being referenced in its opening song as Self Esteem sings: ‘We’re not chasing happiness anymore, girls. We’re chasing nothing, the great big still, the deep blue okay – and we’re okay today.’

  • Read on for reasons including how Madonna was in the audience for Self Esteem
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