Lana Del Rey at Glastonbury review – modern pop’s greatest auteur gets cut off in her prime | Lana Del Rey

Bold and experimental … Lana Del Rey.

There were few sets at this year’s Glastonbury festival more anticipated than Lana Del Rey’s Saturday night Other stage headline slot. It’s been nearly 10 years since the cult American singer-songwriter last played on Worthy […]

Foo Fighters secret Glastonbury set review – a band who have learned to fly again | Foo Fighters

Dave Grohl.

It’s one of the cruel rules of love and attraction that the more you try to impress someone, the less you’ll succeed; no-one likes a try-hard. And so it proves with rock’n’roll: heavily produced, overthought […]

Once Upon a One More Time review: Britney Spears’ awful show

The princesses start "Once Upon A One More Time" by singing "Baby One More Time."

Fresh off of “Bad Cinderella” comes the new Broadway musical “Once Upon a One More Time” — an even worse Cinderella. Theater review Two hours and 30 minutes with one 15-minute intermission. At the Marquis […]

Kim Petras: Feed the Beast review – a missed opportunity for a groundbreaking figure | Kim Petras

The artwork for Feed the Beast.

These are high times for Kim Petras. Previously a marginal figure in the world of pop – she attracted a degree of notoriety for 2022’s spectacularly potty-mouthed EP Slut Pop – she was catapulted into […]

Michael Blake/Chroma Nova: Dance of the Mystic Bliss review – joyously audacious jazz | Jazz

The artwork for Dance of the Mystic Bliss

The skilful and imaginative Canadian saxophonist and composer Michael Blake made himself something of an enigma to the straight-jazz crowd by devoting his early career to culture-hopping personal projects, and years with John Lurie’s Lounge […]

Christine and the Queens review – phantasmagoric drama and musical transcendence | Christine and the Queens

Manifesting life … Chris.

“This is going to get more dramatic than I anticipated,” Chris proclaims after his drummer showers him with roses midway through the show. But it’s hard to tell how much of the dialogue between songs […]

‘Squaring the Circle’ review: The zenith of rock album art

'Squaring the Circle' review: The zenith of rock album art

In the vinyl heyday, record-buying was a thrilling process. You rushed home, got the plastic off, let that waxy disc slide carefully out so it met your thumb at the edge and middle finger at […]

Sabrina Carpenter review – pop’s next big thing is best when she lets loose | Pop and rock

Revitalised … Sabrina Carpenter.

Framed by a huge heart-shaped mirror, as if she’s one of Greta Gerwig’s Barbies, Sabrina Carpenter steps into the spotlight. “Back then I didn’t know who I was, not even in the slightest,” she sighs […]

SZA review – voyage of a lifetime with genre-busting R&B superstar | Music

A marvel … SZA performing in Vancouver in March.

On the approach to any arena, you can normally get a good sense of the headliner by looking at the people outside. Not so much SZA. The hordes that await the opening night of the […]

The Weeknd review – spectacular voyage through post-apocalyptic pop | The Weeknd

We are the robots … The Weeknd.

The Weeknd’s 2023 stadium tour – postponed so many times that its title features not just the name of his most recent album, Dawn FM, but its 2020 predecessor, After Hours – is nothing if […]

Christine and the Queens: Paranoïa, Angels, True Love review – a grief-stricken masterpiece | Christine and the Queens

Christine and the Queens: Paranoïa, Angels, True Love album artwork

When Christine and the Queens first appeared in the anglophone world in 2015, the name was an alias for Héloïse Letissier: a French artist with an extraordinary line in immaculately cool, obliquely catchy, 80s-flavoured synthpop […]

Damir Imamović: The World and All That It Holds review – lightning bolts of emotion | Music

Damir Imamović: The World and All That It Holds album artwork

After an adolescence sheltering from the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian war, Damir Imamović dedicated his musical life to researching, performing and making accessible the sevdalinka (AKA sevdah) of his childhood. These emotional southern […]