ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Fairytale (International) by Saara Aalto (December 2019)

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

OUT? now

TRACKLIST: Every Christmas Day; Christmas Without You; Let It Go; Starry Skies; Can I Keep The Pictures?; Fairytale Of New York

Aalto won our Best Album monsta last year for her Wild, Wild Wonderland LP and, although its follow up is only half a dozen tracks long, it signposts an interesting future for her singing original songs.

  • Read on for reasons including why live is where Aalto always excels

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MONSTAS SHORTLIST: Best Gig of the year: 2018

It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2018? Over the next month we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 14 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2018.

  • Read on for nominees for the monsta for Gig of the year. 2017 winner: Bananarama at Eventim Apollo

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AWARDS: MONSTAS: Our best gig of 2018 so far

We awarded 13 monstas for the best pop, theatre, TV and film of 2017 in December – and here we look at the cream of 2018 so far and what’s to come. Suede, Shura and Bananarama are previous winners in this category.

  • Read on for our top 6 best gigs of 2018 so far and our hopes for the next half year

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GIG REVIEW: Saara Aalto at Under The Bridge

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Under The Bridge

WHEN: 25/4, tour runs to 10/11/18

SETLIST: Queens; Hån; Dance; Diva; Euphoria; Rise Like A Phoenix; Every Way That I Can; Rock’n’ Roll Kids; No Fear; Don’t Deny Our Love; My Touch; Domino; Calm After The Storm; Dance Like Nobody’s Watching; Con Te Partiro; Half A Heart; Wild Wild Wonderland; Monsters

The Eurovision Song Contest might mean a once-a-year event to you but for this year’s Finnish contestant Saara Aalto it is the culmination of a 14-year quest.

  • Read on for reasons including the highlights from new LP Wild Wild Wonderland

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