Entertainment News

With a handbag, whistle and a key to the Police Box, WPC Iris Armstrong is ready for whatever the mean streets of a 1950s market town throws at her. Fresh from police training school, she prepares for her first day on the beat. The reality is very different. Stuck at the station, she soon finds her main jobs are typing and making brews.

An unflinching slice of indie-rock that sees twanging acoustic guitars give way to driving choruses filled with fuzzy riffs and forceful vocals, ‘Oh No, I Know’ shines like the light at the end of an increasingly dark tunnel. Of the new track, frontman Ben Rooke explains: “The song is about love and how it helps fight addiction.

‘My 21 Grams’ is a unique east-meets-west rock album by singer-songwriter and Bahraini Prince, Hassan bin Rashid. His fifth album, ‘My 21 Grams’, released 6th October 2023, is a beguiling, heartfelt, thought-provoking marriage of the western rock loved by one who has lived in Florida the Netherlands and New Zealand, to the Arabic sounds of his upbringing.

The future of Irish music, culture and heritage in the UK has received a boost with the award of an Arts Council England grant to Birmingham independent community venue Nortons Digbeth.

Artists, fans, and the Irish diaspora across England are set to benefit from the news, which will help to underwrite investment in grassroots artists and organisations via the 500-capacity popular music venue at a time when the live music landscape is at serious risk across the country. Funding from the Arts Council England will help Nortons to further shape its offering to grassroots music artists, with a particular focus on underrepresented groups including second and third-generation Irish and their families in Birmingham.

Multi-platinum GRAMMY nominated singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist JP Saxe has announced his sophomore album A Grey Area, due out September 22, 2023 on Arista Records/Sony Music Entertainment. The 13-song collection was created alongside GRAMMY Award winning producer Malay and features collaborations with five-time Latin GRAMMY winner and two-time GRAMMY nominated Colombian musician Camilo, folk-pop trio Tiny Habits, Lizzy McAlpine and John Mayer.

With the cost of living impacting so many there's no reason why music should be something you need to give up in order to cut costs, experts at digital headphone magazine Headphonesty.com have revealed how to save you money on your music subscription. 

Spotify recently announced their prices would be increasing to £10.99 a month which is their full-price membership. Students receive 50% off with a student subscription costing £4.99 per month although this only lasts 4 years before you can no longer receive this discount. 

The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) entered the international carnival scene at the Toronto Caribbean Carnival as part of the Department of Tourism's ongoing cultural exchange partnerships to collaborate with various Caribbean and diaspora events.

As one of North America's most celebrated Caribbean-themed events, Toronto Caribbean Carnival's grand parade serves as a spotlighted opportunity for members of the diaspora to showcase aspects of the collective cultures of the Greater and Lesser Antilles. "We are thrilled to be a part of this phenomenal event! The city of Toronto has long had a deep connection to people from the Caribbean, and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival places a prominent spotlight on the wide-reaching influence of the region," said Joseph Boschulte, Commissioner of Tourism for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The National Theatre announces today that its critically acclaimed, sold-out production of Dear England will transfer to the Prince Edward Theatre, in London’s West End, from 9 October 2023 for a strictly limited 14-week run.  This new play by James Graham, directed by Rupert Goold, tells the story of the England men’s football team under Gareth Southgate.  Tickets go on sale to the General Public on 11 August at 10am.

Birmingham Festival 23 came to a momentous close on Sunday evening with a finale that featured a host of the city’s finest established and emerging music, poetry, and spoken word talent in B:Music’s Next Track. Councillor Saima Suleman, Cabinet Member Digital, Culture, Heritage and Tourism at Birmingham City Council said: “What a fantastic 10 days this has been!

Spotify users listened to the 19 songs from the extended edition of The Barbie Album over 372.7 million times in just two weeks after the movie premiere. What Was I Made For, by Billie Eilish, accounts for nearly 78 million of these streams – the most of all the tracks on the official movie album. Meanwhile, Aqua gained the most new listeners among all the artists featured on the album. Five tracks from the Barbie album are currently featured on the Billboard Hot 100, including Ryan Gosling's I'm Just Ken - his first ever song on the reputable chart.

This is according to the educational music platform Music Industry How To, who monitored the Spotify data for all Barbie-related music before and after the movie’s release on July 21^st.

Mikron Theatre, one of the UK's most versatile and unusual touring theatre companies, have announced that it will be touring Twitchers, Poppy Hollman's brand new play with original live music, celebrating all things birds, birders and the RSPB. Mikron tours the country by historic narrowboat and by road when venues aren't quite close enough to a canal or river.

Mischief, the multi award-winning company responsible for the global comedy phenomenon, The Play That Goes Wrong, and the BBC One television series, The Goes Wrong Show, has announces the full casting for its forthcoming UK Tour of Peter Pan Goes Wrong.

The touring production reunites returning Mischief cast members with some courageous new recruits. The full cast line-up includes: Jake Burgum (Trevor), Jack Michael Stacey (Chris), Matthew Howell (Robert), Jean-Luke Worrell (Francis), Ciara Morris (Sandra), Theo Toksvig-Stewart (Max), Clark Devlin (Dennis), Jamie Birkett (Annie), Gareth Tempest (Jonathan) and Rosemarie Akwafo (Lucy). With understudies: Romeo Mika, Clare Noy, Consuela Rolle and Phil Yarrow.  

Despite the persistent rainfall, there was no stopping the party as ‘Carnival’ was at the centre of this Birmingham Festival 23 day of fun. With events on the main stage in Centenary Square washed out, The Rep theatre took centre stage as Karine Annick - aka Black Rose Yogini – got everybody into the party mood.

And boy, was it time to party! From Calypso to Classical the ACE Dance & Music academy got all on their collective toes as three different generations of its current incumbents, and alumnus, brought the best of Soca as the pulsating rhythms of Trinidad within the four walls of the iconic venue, bringing a collage of colour and dance, amidst the incessant weather outside. With great defiance, there was no stopping the Festival.

Using a specially constructed, counterweighted lift that allows the dancers to move as if in zero-gravity, Corey Baker Dance took everyone to space, during lunch, with their interpretation of ZeroG – their exhibition, which influences the movements of stars and space, which brought unified gasps of “Wow,” “Oh My Word” and “I Don’t Believe It,” But, those who were there just, simply had to… believe it, that is!

Global pop sensation, Armaan Malik, is set to captivate the hearts of music lovers worldwide with his new track ‘Sleepless Nights’, which follows on from previous hit singles ‘You’, ‘How Many’, ‘Control’ and the Ed Sheeran collaboration ‘2step’. Armaan has gained support from the Guardian, Clash, Daily Star, FAULT, tmrw, Wonderland, BBC News and continues to be the youngest Indian-origin artist to ever perform at Wembley Stadium's SSE Arena.

As Forró Tempo got things going with the rhythm, beats, and melodies of Brazil, it was the Wan Sheung cultural dance group, from the city’s Chinese Community Centre, who stepped up to the fore as the Birmingham Festival 23 geared up for its long weekend crescendo. Performing their own interpretation of traditional Tibetan Mountain dance, plus dragon dance, Southeast Asia was the destination during what would be a rain-interrupted – yet still fulfilling – day for all.