Festivals and gigs. A listings calendar, plus previews, news, reviews, and photos
Camden Underworld, Thursday 5th February 2026 (words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey) Camden Underworld is the kind of venue that doesn’t let you stay passive. It’s a room that demands sweat, noise, and something real happening right in front of you. On a cold Thursday night in January, it got exactly that. HotWax’s biggest London…
Read more
Future Sounds, Real Tickets: Catch Our 2025 Festival Finds Live in 2026 Every festival season has that moment: you’re wandering between stages with a lukewarm pint and a “maybe we’ll just go home” posture… and then a band snaps the whole weekend into focus. A hook lands. A crowd lurches forward. You look at your…
Read more
Brixton Academy 2026: bass pressure, guitar bite, and big-room catharsis If Brighton Dome’s diary is a beautifully curated mixtape, Brixton Academy’s upcoming run is a full-volume festival in a single room: drum & bass history lessons, electronic royalty, punk-ska chaos, indie icons doing victory laps (without turning into tribute acts), and one seriously heavy metal…
Read more
Brighton Dome 2026: a run of gigs that covers shanties, synths, swagger and symphonies Brighton Dome’s upcoming diary reads like someone spilled a record collection down a staircase and decided to book the whole thing. There’s post-rock you can get lost in, dancefloor royalty, literate indie, big-voiced pop-soul, folk with a horn section the size…
Read more
Green Door Store Continues Birthday Festivities with Another Standout Night Celebrations for the Green Door Store’s 15th birthday rolled on with a second free showcase, this time bringing three acts that spanned warmth, atmosphere and full‑throttle intensity. Little Grandad eased the room in with their tender indie‑Americana, Goodbye expanded the space with immersive vocal soundscapes,…
Read more
Brighton’s beloved Green Door Store marked its 15th birthday with the first of four free celebratory events. Three acts, three completely different energies: the introspective grit of Lonnie Gunn, the jagged dance indie chaos of Lemonsuckr, and the shadow-soaked experimentalism of Silver Gore. [Words Peter Greenfield, Photos, Sara-Louise Bowrey, Video, John Bownas] Lonnie Gunn New…
Read more
HotWax Set to Bring Hot Shock to the Stage on Major 2026 Tour Hastings rock trio HotWax are gearing up for a significant 22-date headline tour in January and February 2026, marking their biggest run yet in support of their acclaimed debut album, Hot Shock. Released in March 2025, the album has cemented the band’s…
Read more
A night capturing the future of British alternative Words and Pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey The Brighton Centre has seen more than its share of landmark shows, but this one carried a particular charge. With Imogen and the Knife stepping confidently into the support slot and the rapidly rising The Last Dinner Party headlining, it felt…
Read more
Friday 28 November** words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey A Night of Pure, Unhinged Joy Snapped Ankles didn’t just play The Piper on Friday night — they lit the place up from the moment they emerged in their trademark woodland get-ups. One second the room was buzzing with anticipation, the next it was a sweaty,…
Read more
Brighton Centre – 16 NovemberWith Sofia Camara & Nadia Sheikh Words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey Arriving at the Brighton Centre on 16th November, the loyalty of Bastille’s fanbase was impossible to miss. By early evening, fans snaked around the venue — some having queued since 9am, many following multiple dates of the tour. Among…
Read more
Two consecutive nights in London and Brighton revealed Gary Numan at his most intense, most vulnerable, and most deeply connected to his audience. The Telekon 45th anniversary tour was always expected to carry weight — but with the loss of his younger brother only days ago, these shows became something more. There were moments when…
Read more
Here’s a feral, loud-eyed, slightly-unhinged review of the new PWEI album — loose, human, with typical PWEI energy. I’ve tried to let it breathe, snarl and punch as close to the band’s spirit as I can manage, adding a little swagger and sneer for good measure. Author: John Bownas PWEI’s Delete Everything: Smash the Reset,…
Read more
Brighton’s Chalk hosted two of the UK’s most inventive acts: Mercury Prize winners English Teacher, fusing art‑rock intensity with poetic lyricism, and The Orielles, blending indie rock with disco grooves and cosmic textures. Together they brought sonic brightness to a dimly lit Chalk stage, balancing invention with emotion and showcasing confident evolution. Words: Peter Greenfield.…
Read more
The mark of a truly great support act is when they feel less like a booking agent’s afterthought and more like a carefully selected running mate. Birmingham’s two-piece powerhouse GANS (Euan Woodman and Tom Rhodes) felt utterly essential to the night’s proceedings at the Electric Ballroom, injecting a vital, abrasive energy that perfectly primed the…
Read more
Two of New Wave’s most influential and genre-defining acts, The B-52s and DEVO, will unite for a pair of co-headline UK arena dates in June 2026, bringing their acclaimed Cosmic De-Evolution Tour across the Atlantic for a rare double-bill appearance. UK Dates Special guests The Rezillos and Lene Lovich are confirmed to open the shows,…
Read more
KNEECAP Announces Biggest Ever Headline Show: London’s Crystal Palace Park to Host Spectacular 2026 Irish Music Gathering! Possibly the most talked-about group in the world, West Belfast and Derry’s revolutionary hip-hop trio Kneecap, have announced their biggest headline show yet, taking over Crystal Palace Park in London on Saturday, June 27, 2026. The monumental date…
Read more
Big Reference and Aircooled support a sweat-drenched, one-night eruption presented by Hastings Fat Tuesday Words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey A One-Off Built for Chaos — and Hastings Got the Call Hastings was handed a rare and riotous privilege: Babyshambles’ first live show in 11 years. The battleground was the White Rock Theatre Studio —…
Read more
Future Sounds: Our 2025 Festival Discoveries Here’s our pick of the next wave of artists ready to break out into wider circles from this year’s UK festival stages. The UK’s festival scene is bubbling with new talent that’s too good to ignore. Our 2025 playlist spotlights the bands and solo artists who turned our heads…
Read more
Chalk Venue, Brighton 24/10/25 – words and pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey Gogol Bordello + Puzzled Panther + Split Dogs Live at Chalk, Brighton — Friday Night Anarchy Brighton’s Chalk felt less like a music venue and more like a pressure cooker set to “high energy” on Friday night, playing host to a triple-shot of glorious…
Read more
Marilyn Manson isn’t going to feature on any festival line-ups this summer in the UK…so you need to jump on tickets for his autumn tour… Brighton, UK – April 2, 2025 – Rock icon Marilyn Manson has officially announced a highly anticipated UK tour for 2025, including an electrifying performance at the Brighton Centre on…
Read more
The Precarious State of Live Music’s Invisible Workforce [This article is based a recent post made by the CEO of the Music Venues Trust, Mark Davyd] The live music industry, often romanticized as “flexible,” “creative,” or “passionate,” is actually facing a “full structural collapse” due to the precarious nature of its workforce. This isn’t just…
Read more
Sister Suzie and the Right Band are an unmissable part of Glastonbury Festival 2025. For the last few years Suzie has been pulling of the almost impossible and unthinkable feat of securing a residency slot on a Glastonbury stage. With every minute of stage time in such high demand, for a single act to be…
Read more
FMI Clatters, AKA Nigel ‘Clatters’ Clatworthy, is a Plymouth-based musician who we’ve been following intently for a good few years…ever since he wandered into our cross-hairs wearing a swingball hat at Beautiful Days many moons ago… CATCH HIM AT GLASTONBURY AT THE BIMBLE INN ON FRIDAY AT 14:15 We asked our good old AI companion…
Read more
Let’s face it… there’s simply not enough surf guitar music at Glastonbury. In fact we’d go so far as to say that in all our years since 1993 we can’t remember a single band who’ve filled this void…correct us if we’re wrong. We’ve cast our minds back as far as we can over the years…
Read more
Glastonbury’s New Alien Chicks on the Block: Get Ready for Action Alright, Glasto gang – if you’re hitting The Bimble Inn or Strummerville on Friday (and why wouldn’t you) you’re in for a treat if you manage to catch the absolutely bonkers, brilliant, and unmissable Alien Chicks! We stumbled on them at The Great Escape…
Read more
Get Ready for a Wild Ride: Why You Can’t Miss Getdown Services at Glastonbury 2025 The buzz is building, and the stages are almost set for Glastonbury 2025… And to put the icing on the cake, one of the UK’s hottest (not-so) underground acts is about to hit Worthy Farm. Meet Getdown Services, the Bristol-based…
Read more
No matter how hard you try it’s impossible to stay on top of new music these days. And that’s why festivals remain important, relevant, and critical to the process of putting new bands in front of (admittedly increasingly older) audiences. Bearded Theory always delivers the goods when it comes to a line-up that celebrates the…
Read more
It’s an early-doors start at The Forum tonight, but this Sunday session is a sell-out…and that’s not surprising, because headliners HotWax are the current darlings of the indie/grunge/rock circuit – and for good reason. Today isn’t just a celebration of their music and rise to (almost) household name status, it’s also bass player Lola Sam’s…
Read more
Even if you try very hard you would struggle to miss seeing HotWax at some point this year. They are the band on everyone’s lips right now…and indeed they have been since John Robb tipped them as the next Nirvana a few years back. And he should know, being the guy who did the first…
Read more
Florence Adooni, a rising star in the Ghanaian music scene, seamlessly blends the soulful sounds of her Ashanti heritage with the spiritual roots of Frafra Gospel. Born and raised in Kumasi, the heart of high-life music, her unique vocal style stands out from the traditional Frafra Gospel scene that typically originates from northern Ghana. Recognizing…
Read more
English Teacher: A Post-Punk Powerhouse English Teacher are a rising force in the indie rock scene. Their story begins in Leeds, where they formed while attending university. Their music is a potent blend of post-punk, new wave, and krautrock, characterized by driving rhythms, angular guitars, and the captivating vocals of Lily Fant. English Teacher’s sound…
Read more
