Bats Alive! Death Watch Cottage By T. Orr Munro
Is there anyone who does not like people-watching? I can’t imagine so, even if not everyone wants to admit it, so novels like this one which take you into the heart of a community, are ideal. The reader spectates from a safe distance. After a brief, enticing prologue, the novel proper begins when a man dies in the shower, apparently of a heart attack.
Albums: Hector Gannet The Great Shakedown
Hector Gannet might be labelled a folk-rock band, but there’s a lot more going on here than acoustic guitars and catchy choruses. Aaron Duff’s songwriting takes in everything from Celtic folk to jazz, blues and big, sweeping rock songs, giving the album plenty of variety without ever making it feel disjointed.
Poem Of The Week: All By Alison Brackenbury
All And all who died, from winter's sleet, From flu, from guns, from cells gone wrong, Still stand, one breath from fingers' reach, Just out of touch, all colour gone. The dead grow smaller. From a train Mist takes the fields, drinks green to grey, The fog has swept across their face.
Albums; Ashe - The Girl Of Yours Dreams
It’s an ambitious way to end an album that begins with a wedding-day intervention, bringing its themes of heartbreak, second chances and lasting commitment full circle
Albums: Tony Ionmi - From The Dark
Tony Iommi has never needed to shout to make his presence felt. As the guitarist whose riffs helped give birth to heavy metal, the Black Sabbath legend has spent nearly six decades proving that a handful of perfectly judged notes can be more devastating than a thousand guitar pyrotechnics. On From The Dark, his first full-length solo album in more than two decades, he reminds us that the creative fire remains gloriously undiminished.
Classical Music: Lyatoshynsky: Chamber Works, Volume 1
The ensemble was formed in Kyiv just over a decade ago, and its young players move as comfortably through new music as through the classics. Their playing here is shaped with great care. The dialogue between the four instruments is a constant pleasure, the contours of each line are beautifully moulded, and the ends of phrases are communicated with real intelligence, so the lyricism flows unhindered. Textures are clear, colours are varied, and the commitment is never in doubt. Technically they are entirely assured, yet it is the expressiveness that lingers.
This is billed as Volume 1, which is the best news of all. On this evidence, the rest of the cycle cannot come soon enough.
Classical Music: Jeneba Kanneh-Mason: Songs Without Words
Short it may be, but this five-track release says a great deal about Jeneba Kanneh-Mason as an interpreter. Her command of tone and dynamics is marvellous throughout, and the effect is quite entrancing.
An Alpine Symphony
Vasily Petrenko on scaling Strauss’s Alpine peak with the RPO, the adrenaline of recording live, and why the pendulum is swinging back from streaming to the record shelf. As we prepared the countdown to our 80th anniversary season, there was one journey, in particular, that I was determined to make.
Classical Music: Gentle Dark
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What strikes you first is the technique. The accuracy is superb, and the voices are balanced with the kind of independence a fine pianist brings to the keyboard, where the left hand can be shaded beneath the right while the two still sing as one. Skylark achieves the same effect: each part has its own character, yet nothing ever pulls against the whole.
Classical Music: William Grant Still: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4
The National Symphony Orchestra is superbly showcased, every section adding vivid detail, and Noseda draws out both the character and the narrative of each score. In the booklet, the conductor writes warmly of how living with these works has enriched his knowledge of the music America produced in the last century, and he hopes they will find the wide following they deserve.
On this evidence, they should. These are not museum pieces dusted off out of duty but symphonies that sound as though they have been part of the repertoire all along, and we had simply mislaid them. Consider them found.
Classical Music: SHINE Jess Gillam
Her virtuosity fizzes with effervescence, but it is never mere display. Gillam remains as fine an ambassador as the saxophone could hope for, and this disc does exactly what it says on the label: it will make you smile and haul you out of the doldrums. She is refreshingly frank about her aims. “I had one ambition with this project: to make an album that would make people smile,” she says, revealing that she wrote herself a manifesto a year earlier demanding nothing less than “BIG ENERGY”. Mission accomplished, and then some.
Albums: Fontaines D.C. - Dopamine Chamber
Dopamine Chamber is not an especially comforting listen, nor does it pretend to be. Its pleasures are wrapped in tension, its melodies shadowed by doubt. But Fontaines D.C. have always been at their most interesting when refusing to give audiences precisely what they expect, and with a tour on the horizon, these new tracks will sound even better in a live environment.
Albums: Boy In Space The Man WHO Lost It All
Having built a devoted global fanbase on a steady run of singles and EPs, Boy In Space finally steps into full-length territory with The Man Who Lost It All, and the result feels like a significant moment for Robin Lundbäck. More personal than anything he has released to date, the ten-track collection not only offers a deeper insight into the man behind the moniker but also stands as his most cohesive body of work yet.
The Quiet Counter-Revolution For Physical Format Music
Since the arrival of streaming, physical music formats have been largely talked out of existence. Cars no longer have CD players and the smartphone has replaced the once-popular Walkman as the on-the-go music device of choice. But new data suggests all may not be as it seems.
Kings of Leon, The Corrs & David Gray to join Robbie Williams and Fatboy Slim at Lytham Festival 2027
Kings of Leon, The Corrs, David Gray, Bastille, James Morrison and Emily Rhodes are all joining the bill of the North West’s largest live music festival. It is announced today that Kings of Leon will headline the opening night of Lytham Festival on Wednesday June 30 and will be joined on the night by special guests indie-pop greats Bastille.
Alex Warren Announces Further Shows
GRAMMY® Award-nominated, chart-topping, multi-platinum artist Alex Warren has announced two new UK summer shows for 2027: Blenheim Palace Festival in Oxfordshire on Sunday 27 June and Manchester’s Heaton Park on Friday 2 July, along with a headline show in Figueira da Foz, Portugal, on Sunday 18 July.
Live Review: Eddi Reader, Garrick Theatre - Lichfield
Eddi Reader took the long and winding road to success. Having worked part-time at Sirocco Recording Studio in Kilmarnock, she responded to an advert for a backing vocalist for Gang of Four. This started her journey to solo success.
HSAP Are The Champions With Energetic We Will Rock You
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Ellie Morrow, Owen Wardle and Dan Stanford lead a hugely talented cast in a high-energy production that had the audience on its feet by the finale. We Will Rock You is a musical packed with energy featuring the iconic songs of Queen.
The South Announce Remainder Of Tour Dates For 2026
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The South are back on the road and do what they do best - perform the songs of that great British pop institution, The Beautiful South, to the thousands of fans of these timeless classics. The South are an impressive 9-piece band who feature former members of The Beautiful South, including singer Alison Wheeler and lifelong sax player Gaz Birtles.
Newcastle Cathedral Organ Powers New Recording Of The Blaydon Races
Newcastle Cathedral’s historic organ features in a new recording of Geordie football anthem ‘The Blaydon Races’, released this month by Newcastle United to celebrate the region’s musical heritage and bring its much-loved song to a new generation. The track combines the Cathedral’s organ with vocals from North Shields band Hector Gannet and Northumbrian pipes played by Chris Ormston.
The George Michael Singers: Shirley Lewis And Jo Garland On A Year Of Memories, Music And Keeping George’s Legacy Alive
As two thirds of The George Michael Singers prepare to take their deeply personal show on the road this Christmas, Shirley Lewis and Jo Garland reflect on life with one of music’s greatest talents, the memories they treasure most, and why George Michael’s legacy continues to bring people together. It has been quite a year for The George Michael Singers.
Seismic Change, Despair, Survival: Our Friends In The North
I was up at 6am to finish the landmark BBC 2 Our Friends in the North series and wondered how the stage version would pack three decades and nine hours of TV into one hundred and ten minutes. More significantly, how relevant is the storyline in 2026?
Hull To Host National Arts Conference
Hull will play host to OutdoorArtsUK’s national conference next year, following work to bring the event to the city by the Visit Hull and East Yorkshire Conference team at Hull City Council.
The Entitled Sons: “We Want To Keep Things Interesting”
If you think being in a band with your brothers sounds like a recipe for arguments, lateness and the occasional musical disagreement, The Entitled Sons might just prove you right! There’s plenty of sibling banter when we catch up with the lads, from guitarist Raf’s questionable timekeeping to some very strong opinions on other bands.
Stunning Sculpture On Display For The First Time In Twenty Years As Exciting New Exhibition Celebrates Yorkshire Sculptor Betty Miller's Centenary
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A remarkable collection of sculptures depicting life in a traditional Yorkshire mining village will be on display for the first time in more than two decades when a stunning new exhibition opens at the National Coal Mining Museum this October.
Bradford Launches New Plan To Champion Its Music Scene And Unlock Future Opportunities
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Bradford’s music sector comes together at Bradford Live to launch a shared strategy for the district’s music future, with support from the BPI and a foreword from Bradford-born artist Nia Archives.
Leeds Song Festival Looks Inward For 2027 – And Finds A World Of Music
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Keenlyside, Hough, Fatma Said and Gareth Malone’s Requiem for all-comers head a week that honours the recital tradition while refusing to keep it under glass, writes Group Editor Andrew Palmer.
A Glorious Christmas Baroque Concert In Newcastle Cathedral
Internationally acclaimed chamber orchestra London Concertante will perform at Newcastle Cathedral on Friday 20th November for a 7:30pm concert celebrating the splendour of the Baroque era and the magic of Christmas. Set amidst the gentle glow of candlelight, the programme features a stunning selection of seasonal masterpieces.
Jerusalem – A Challenging Evening at Harrogate Theatre
Some plays leave you uplifted, others leave you thoughtful, and some leave you wondering quite what to make of what you've just witnessed. For me, Harrogate Dramatic Society's production of Jerusalem fell firmly into the latter category.
Rigoletto Returns With A Vengeance
Why Verdi's 1851 opera, Rigoletto, has always been, and remains to this day, so extraordinarily popular is something of a mystery to me. It is a dark and evil tale with more than a touch of the Epstein about it, with its themes of unchallenged power and rampant misogyny.