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My partner grew up in Gosport, and a few weeks ago we drove down there to meet some of her friends and family.

This month featuring, among others: my over-excited Gary Numan nostalgia, Nik Kershaw’s possibly menopause-inducing audience, potentially generational talent Love Spells at the lovely but endangered Moth Club and Jarvis Cocker teasing the end of Pulp.

This month featuring: populist pigs, duovision disaster, sexy fried chimken and Wile E Coyote finally gets his day in court.

It has been a while since the last m-orchestra shows, but I shall be breaking my 2026 duck at Ye Olde Rose & Crown Theatre Pub on Hoe Street in Walthamstow over the August Bank Holiday weekend, as part of their Stow-a-thon.

This month featuring: animated Minion slapstick, the profound sadness of Blue Heron, bleak Welsh decision-making and a Soviet drag-crone Baba Yaga (among others).

Gosh.

I was struck by a sudden fear of never seeing David Byrne play songs by Talking Heads again, and so made an ill-advised last-minute Twickets purchase to go to the Latitude Festival for the day on the Friday.

A strange thing happened to me a little while ago.

I know, I know — it is mid-July and I am fashionably late with June’s gig reviews, but it turns out when you spend the entire month running around venues across the country, it takes a moment to recover.

This month featuring: spooky basements, cursed wishes, alien conspiracy and plenty of John Waters and Divine (plus one of the queerest sci-fi cartoons in history).