Entertainment

By Kane Power (@ElHeavio) 21.5.2015, Islington Assembly Hall, London It’s a nice spring evening in Islington and I’m outside the fantastic Assembly Hall drinking beers on a park bench, waiting to go see a band with my wife. That sentence alone makes me smile a little. It’s exactly what I want from a Thursday night, or any night really, and tonight it’s a band we’ve both been looking forward to for quite a while; Unknown Mortal Orchestra. We forewent the opening...

By Felicity Evans Hit show Hannibal returns to Sky Living for a third season on Wednesday, 10 June. Just what is it that’s so incredibly tasty about the critically acclaimed drama? "Psychopaths are not crazy. They are fully aware of what they do and the consequences of those actions." Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), Hannibal It’s been nearly 25 years since Dr Hannibal Lecter appeared to audiences in The Silence of the Lambs, standing neatly and calmly to attention as he...

By Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada Monet, Renoir, Cézanne – today, these painters' and their fellow Impressionists' works are as ubiquitous and well-known as it gets, adorning calendars, mugs and coasters. But of course at the time these young artists started painting in their now recognizable style, they caused quite the stir in the art world and were seen as an abomination by the establishment. Their transformation into respectable artists was not least due to the art collector and dealer Paul Durand-Ruel....

By Will Bateman (WillBateman6611) 22.5.2015, Village Underground, London Leon Bridges takes to the stage with effortless cool, dressed 50s smart with a shirt and bow tie, guitar in hand, launching into his set with one of his lesser-known songs, the swinging and jiving “What Can I Do?” His on-stage-banter is short but appropriately slick. Three songs in he pauses to alter his capo. Beginning again he's stopped by a band member who re-fixes it for him- "Do you still love...

By Emma Silverthorn @HouseOf_Gazelle Saved from triteness (just) by Al Pacino's utterly gratifiying, larger than life performance, Danny Collins takes as its springboard the story of folk musician Steve Tilston who received a letter from John Lennon thirty five years too late. In an interview with a music magazine Tilston had expressed some fear over the potentially corrupting power of the riches and fame integral to the rock-star trajectory.  Lennon took issue with this and wrote to then twenty one...

By  Ben Gelblum, Contributing Editor @BenGelblum The Siege by The Freedom Theatre is the largest tour ever mounted by a Palestinian theatre company in the UK. But according to the Mail on Sunday - the 10 city UK tour is “£15,000 of public money given to show based on the words of Hamas killers.” The Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp in Palestine has been an artistic hub of cultural resistance to occupation since it was established in 2006. Obtaining visas,...

By Kane Power (@ElHeavio) Faith No More is like an old friend that has shown up at your door with a good bottle of 18-year-old whisky. You are so excited to see them again that you get blind drunk and hug more than usual, wiping away tears and promising not to be apart for so long next time. In that perfect, shameful moment you remember why you became friends in the first place and why your friendship has lasted all...

By Julia Prigmore (@JuliaPrigmore) 19.5.2015. Hard Rock Cafe, London The Back Room of London’s Hard Rock Café seems an appropriate setting for the preview of Ben Montague’s new album ‘Back to Paradise’. Set for release next month, the album is the Kentish musician’s fourth, and tonight provides an ideal opportunity to showcase his new material and unearth some previous recordings. The night kicked off earlier than expected. The venue for Montague’s set was already bursting at the seams by the...

By Declan Roberts (@DeclanMR) After a relatively short time in the spotlight The Vaccines have covered a number of indie genre conventions. They straddled garage with ‘Wreckin' Bar’ and ‘Norgaard’, juggled ballads like ‘Post Break-Up Sex’ and the heartfelt love song ‘Melody Calling’. This is a dynamic band. With this said and done, it's hard to know what to expect from English Graffiti, especially after the band openly stated that they want the album to be “something that sounds amazing next year and then...